Tess was a precocious eight year old
when she
heard her Mom and Dad talking about
her little
brother, Andrew. All she knew was
that he was
very sick and they were completely
out of money.
They were moving to an apartment
complex next
month because Daddy didn't have
the money for
the doctor's bills and our house.
Only a very
costly surgery could save him now
and it was
looking like there was no-one to
loan them
the money.
She heard Daddy say to her tearful Mother
with
whispered desperation, "Only a miracle can
save
him now."
Tess went to her bedroom and pulled a
glass
jelly jar from its hiding place in the
closet.
She poured all the change out on the
floor and
counted it carefully. Three times,
even. The
total had to be exactly perfect. No
chance here
for mistakes. Carefully placing the
coins back
in the jar and twisting on the cap,
she slipped
out the back door and made her way
6 blocks to
Rexall's Drug Store with the big
red Indian Chief
sign above the door. She
waited patiently for the
pharmacist to give her
some attention but he was
too busy at this
moment.
Tess twisted her feet to
make a
scuffing noise. Nothing. She cleared her
throat
with the most disgusting sound she
could
muster. No good. Finally she took a
quarter from
her jar and banged it on the glass
counter.
That did it! "And what do you want?"
the pharmacist
asked in an annoyed tone of
voice. I'm talking to
my brother from Chicago
whom I haven't seen in
ages, "he said without
waiting for a reply to his
question. "Well, I
want to talk to you about my
brother," Tess
answered back in the same annoyed
tone. "He's
really, really sick...and I want to
buy a
miracle."
"I beg your pardon?" said the pharmacist.
"His name is Andrew" Continued the girl,
"and he has something bad
growing
inside his head and my Daddy says only
a miracle
can save him now. So how much does a
miracle cost?"
"We don't sell miracles here,
little girl. I'm
sorry but I can't help
you,"the pharmacist said,
softening a
little.
"Listen, I have the money to pay for it. If it
isn't
enough, I will get the rest. Just tell me
how much
it costs."
The pharmacist's brother was a well dressed
man.
He stooped down and asked the little girl,
"What
kind of a miracle does you brother need?"
"I don't
know," Tess replied with her eyes
welling up. "I
just know he's really sick and
Mommy says he needs
an operation. But my Daddy
can't pay for it, so I
want to use my money."
"How much do you have?"
asked the man from
Chicago. "One dollar and eleven
cents," Tess
answered barely audibly. "And it's all
the
money I have, but I can get some more if I
need
to.
"Well, what a coincidence," smiled the man.
"A
dollar and eleven cents - the exact price of
a
miracle for little brothers." He took her
money
in one hand and with the other hand he
grasped her
mitten and said "Take me to where
you live. I want
to see your brother and meet
your parents. Let's
see if I have the kind of
miracle you need."
That well dressed man was Dr. Carlton
Armstrong,
a surgeon, specializing in
neuro-surgery.
The operation was completed
without charge and it wasn't
long until Andrew
was home again and doing well.
Mom and Dad were happily talking about the
chain
of events that had led them to this
place. "That
surgery," her Mom whispered, "was
a real miracle.
I wonder how much it would have
cost?" Tess smiled.
She knew exactly how much a
miracle cost ...one
dollar and eleven
cents.
A miracle is not the suspension of natural
law,
but the operation of a higher
law.
