Just Wait....
Associated Press Texas sports editor Jaime Aron has written an excellent narrative about his premature twin sons' fight for life, "Born Too Soon." There's much to recommend this story – it has just enough details, it moves at a nice pace, Aron shares his thoughts at several key points – but the feature I like best is how he builds and sustains dramatic tension. He begins with a scene where he's giving a speech to parents of preemies.
Eyes widened when I held up red and blue Beanie Babies that were as big as the real boys. Heads nodded when I held up my wedding band — which a dime can just fit through — and described it circling one baby's arm like a hula hoop.
Then I got to the middle of page 3. To the paragraph I'd typed through teary eyes a few days before.
"I'm sorry,'' I said, my jaw quivering, eyes puddling. I reached for a tissue, trying to stall long enough to regain my composure.
"This,'' I continued, "is the part where I always give the update ...''
I tried again. And again.
But I couldn't get the rest out.
From here Aron flashes back to his sons' births. He doesn't reveal the ending until the end, and the photos of the twins show them only as infants.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25063903/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25063900/