It's a Miracle 3 (el. knyga) (skaityta knyga) | Richard Thomas | knygos.lt

Aprašymas

The Winning Ticket
Sandy Rish came to the United States from Taiwan when she was twenty-one. Through hard work and determination, she eventually achieved the American dream: owning her own business in a small community just outside Los Angeles.
"I have a little coffee shop next to the Amtrak station in the city of Fullerton," says Sandy. "We cater mostly to the commuters and Amtrak people."
Over the years, Sandy became good friends with two Fullerton police officers who patrol the station, Sergeant Fred Casas and Senior Police Officer Bill Wallis.
"We've kind of adopted the restaurant as our unofficial substation," says Fred. "Sandy's kind of a jokester herself, and she can put up with a bunch of rowdy cops."
"I see her on a daily basis when I'm working," concurs Bill. "She's more than a friend, almost like a sister."
Besides meals, Sandy's cafe dispensed coffee, snacks, and lottery tickets. She managed to earn a modest income until 1998, when months of unusually heavy rain washed out sections of the track.
"My business is dependent on the trains," says Sandy. "Some days I went three, four days without a train. If nobody takes the train, I don't have any business."
Going over her bills at night, Sandy realized that something had to go."I've got to do something about the budget," she said, "but I don't know what to cut back."
One of her employees offered to cut down on hours, but Sandy said no, she needed the help at the cafe.
"The first thing I thought was, Well, I'm in good health. I don't even catch colds," says Sandy. "You know, nothing."And so, Sandy canceled her health insurance. She just couldn't afford it.
"I work eighty, ninety hours a week," Sandy states. "Out of the nine kids in my family, I'm the toughest one. And nobody ever thought anything was going to happen to me."
But a few months later, Sandy suddenly fell ill.
"When I woke up, I thought, I feel kind of funny in my stomach and my leg," Sandy recalls. "It was like having a charley horse in your leg. That's what my whole body felt like."
But Sandy went into work as usual. She checked the cafe refrigerator and made a grocery list.
"I'm going to go shopping, guys, see you in a little bit," she said.
She was on her way to the produce market when Bill and Fred walked in.
"Hey, you're late," she teased them."And they said, 'Oh, come on, have a cup of coffee with us. It's Saturday; you don't have to rush."
Sandy says."No, no, no. I've got to go. I have work to do," she told them."No, you can't go shopping without a little," Fred insisted.
"So I said all right," says Sandy. "Thank God they invited me to sit down, because I would have been out on the street somewhere."
"As we talked, she suddenly reached her hand over the table, and touched me on the arm," recalls Fred, "and at the same time, started to lean back in her chair.""Oh, God, here it comes again," Sandy said."Almost immediately, she got a really contorted look on her face, and she went board stiff," Fred says.