5
minutes before the miracle
This
is actually the story of the best day of my life, the greatest
miracle that God ever saw fit to give me... I write tonight for a
friend in pain, about to lose his mother. The difference is I was
losing a child...
When
Sarah was tiny she had a brain mass the size of a man's thumb in the
middle of the brain. If you placed one finger on the top of your head
and one at your temple you would find that spot. My daughter had lost
her hair in spots, suffered, grew up in hospital beds. She had
managed to live to the ripe, old age of 9 but we were told it would
be any day now. (I'll get back to this later.)
We
used to have a dog named, “Sir Trusty Rusty the Great Red
Hippopotamus” and one, fine day at 5 in the morning in 30 degree
weather he wanted out. Now the thing you must understand is that
Rusty was the greatest dog that had ever walked the face of the
earth... except for the fact that at 5 in the morning on the coldest
day in Florida's history he wanted to go out.
At
any rate, at that time I lived in a complex of several buildings (12
to be exact) and the woman who was left to do everything there was a
lovely Haitian lady named Alcina. Now Alcina was an older woman and
our condo association treated her like a slave which always served to
piss me off greatly. They refused her a raise, health insurance (even
after 18 years) they even refused her bereavement pay when she took
off to her mother's funeral.
Now
the thing you have to understand to truly get the story is that I am
like some weird activist wanna-be. The other thing you have to
understand is that Alcina was strict Orthadox and in her belief women
only wear skirts.
Anyway
I take Rusty down the stairs and there stands Alcina in a huge puddle
of cold water, legs exposed from her skirt in 30 degree weather just
moppin' and singin'! This really aggravated me because they aren't
going to give her sick pay or over-time... but what aggravated me
more was Alcina herself. How many times had I mentioned the ACLA?
Unions? BBB? And about a zillion others? And how many times would she
give me a light smile and simply state, “Ms. Angel Life BAD in
Haiti. I not make trouble.”
There
was no explaining to this woman as Rusty said his wag-tail good
mornings that as a US citizen she had rights. There was further no
explaining to this woman that since like 5 of her 10 children were
born here there was no way to deport her and as such she had the
rights of any citizen! So the longer I walked Rusty and thought of
the abuse she was just... taking... the angrier I got. Yet how do you
help someone who doesn't want any help? You can't. Defeated I walked
back wondering how I could help Alcina today.
Getting
Sarah ready for school I decided I would just make an extra hot
chocolate and take it to her. I did so and you would have thought I
handed this woman the Holy Grail as happy as she was. I walked my
child to school and returned home. I had just gotten through the door
when Alcina knocked. I opened the door, Alcina handed me the cup and
stayed for a cinnamon toast. As she left she said, “Jesus gonna
bless you today!” I believe I said something to the affect of,
“Yeah whatever lady,” and proceeded to slam the door.
That
door did not close before the phone rang. I ran to pick it up as
after only 3 rings the machine comes on. This is the conversation as
I remember it:
Voice:
Hello this is Miami Variety. Is Ms. Wineholt there?
Me:
Good morning Dr. Morrison It's me.
Doctor:
We just received your daughter's test results. The brain mass is
gone. We ran it three times.
Me:
But? Dr. Morrison how is that possible?
Doctor:
We don't know We've never seen it before.
PS
They eventually fired Alcina. She now runs a five star hotel on South
Beach.
That's
my side of it,
Angel
www.streetlighthalo.com
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