Mary Ellen Mark

Tragic

Johnny lived out in the country. He hated the city. There was too much chaos and people. He liked being alone. One of his favorite things to do was ride his horse to the mountains and the river that was near his house. He liked sitting on the grass and looking out into the land at the scenery.

One day he took a ride on his horse and was heading to the river. On his way he felt like something was following and watching it. Then suddenly out of no where a mountain lion jumps out and scares the horse. The horse, out of fear, jumps on its hind legs and takes off running. This action causes Johnny to fall of the horse. It would not have been a bad injury, except his head hit a rock and knocked him out of consciousness.

When he wakes up, he is in a hospital. He has not lost his memory, but something is obviously different to him. He does not see any color. The world is in black, white, and grey. The doctor walks into the room to find Johnny with a look of panic on his face. The doctor immediately calms him down and explains everything.

The head injury caused him to be in a coma for 2 weeks and that it also caused him to have total colorblindness, aka cerebral achromatopsia. He would need to have surgery because his head was still not alright. This was a tragic situation for Johnny because another thing he loved was color.