Buying a miracle
Tess was a precocious eight-year-old girl 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. Only a very costly surgery (外科手术) could save him at that moment. She heard Daddy say to her tearful mother, “Only a miracle can save him now.”
Tess went to her bedroom and pulled a glass jelly (果冻) jar from its hiding place. She poured all the change out on the floor and counted carefully. Then after carefully placing the coins back in the jar, she made her way six blocks to a chemist’s.
She waited patiently for the pharmacist (药剂师) to give her some attention, but he was too busy at this moment. “Well, I want to talk to you about my brother,” Tess said to the man at last. “He’s really, really sick ... and I want to buy a miracle.”
“We don’t sell miracles here, little girl. I’m sorry, but I can’t help you,” the pharmacist said.
There was a well-dressed man there who was the pharmacist’s brother. He bent down and asked the little girl, “What kind of miracle does your brother need?”
“I don’t know,” Tess replied with tears in her eyes. “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. “One dollar and eleven cents,” Tess answered.
“A dollar and eleven cents ― the exact price of a miracle for your little brother,” smiled the man.
He took her money in one hand and with the other hand he grasped hers and said,“Take me to where you live. Let’s see if I have the kind of miracle you need.”
That well-dressed man was Dr. Carlton Armstrong, a surgeon. The operation was completely without charge and it wasn’t long before Andrew was home again and did well.
Help:
precocious adj. (of a child) having developed particular abilities and ways of behaving at a much younger age than us
sual 早熟的, 智慧超前的