Everyday people deal with the realities of life, and these realities include everything from love to meaningless, senseless tragedy. It is important for people to realize that anything can happen to anybody. A Small, Good Thing is a story about senseless tragedy, and it does a good job on conveying the message that tragedy can happen to us all at anytime, unexpectedly.
The plot in A Small, Good Thing unfolds into a tragic story about a family losing a young child. The author does a good job of keeping the reader in suspense throughout the story, as the reader does not really expect for Scotty to actually die. Examining the first few paragraph gives the every indication that this will be a happy story. It is not until the actual tragedy that the reader understands this is not to be. Now the realization comes about what is to be read. We also see the beginning of the important role the Baker will play, first with Ann ordering Scotty's cake and then with the Baker calling about her picking it up. It should be noted that even with the tragic accident at the beginning of the story, the author does not give way to the fact that the ending is the tragedy. Scotty's parents believe that he will recover. In real life, people often do not come to the realization of what is to come of unexpected events. They always think everything will turn out for the good. Sometimes this is the case, but unfortunately for some people reality hits hard. .
The middle of the story consists mostly of reassurance by the doctors. At this point the reader probably thinks everything will be ok. Also, the author begins unfolding another tragic event within the story. Ann meets a family whose son had been cut by someone who had tried to kill him. The boy had not even provoked it; he was just a bystander watching a fight. Another senseless act and tragedy was now unfolding. At this point, we see Ann needing to assure not only herself, but also the people she met that Scotty would be ok.