It is wrenching to think what must have been rushing through Harlan Bean’s mind that night in September that he lofted an e-mail into the ether, a soft cry for help that he had no idea would find human eyes. His smart and beautiful daughter, Brenna, a track star at her high school in western Massachusetts, was at the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital after a horrible car crash left her paralyzed from the waist down. The moment was heartbreaking. The future was overwhelming. So he typed a message of quiet desperation to Fire + Ice, Brenna’s favorite restaurant from her occasional trips to Boston. He described her plight, asked if they did takeout, and added, “I don’t know Boston very well.’’
