Two children begging outside a luxury mall at Christmas time are run off by the shop owners, but one kind man changes their lives.
It was late November and the main entrance to the mall was already glittering with Christmas ornaments and lights, even the flocks of snow that drifted down seemed made to order.
One thing spoiled the delightful Christmassy mood — by the side of the door decorated with giant golden bells and boughs of holly stood two children huddled in their coats, carrying a placard that read: ‘Help Our Mother!’
The shoppers passed them by and threw them a disapproving look. “Disgusting!” said one older woman wrapped in a fortune in furs. “What some people will do to get money out of us!”
“Using their children to extort money!” cried another shopper, her arms full of brightly wrapped packages. Word of the two tiny beggars must have spread inside the mall because two store owners came out.
“What are you doing here?” one of them asked angrily. “Our customers shouldn’t be harassed by beggars! Get out!”
“I’m calling mall security,” said the other store owner. “So you’d better get moving!”
The older child, a girl of about 12, shrank inside her coat and looked scared, but the smaller boy stood up straight and glared at the two adults. “This is AMERICA,” he said, “We’re not inside your stinking mall, so we are allowed to be here. It’s a free country!”
“The country, young man,” said the woman angrily, “is the only thing that’s free. Everything else costs money and you won’t get any here!”
The two adults walked back into the warm mall, leaving the two shivering children valiantly holding up their placards. The shop owners were quite right. Their customers, splurging on luxury, weren’t feeling particularly charitable.
It was almost closing time when a man stopped in front of the children. “Hey there,” he said gently. “I got you some food, so I hope you like hamburgers.”
The boy looked at the man scornfully. “Hamburgers? We don’t need hamburgers! Don’t you get it? We need MONEY!”
The girl gave her brother a shove. “Ryan, don’t be rude,” she cried. Then she turned to the man. “I’m sorry sir, Ryan is being rude. Thank you for the food, we appreciate it.”
Never give up, you never know when a miracle may happen.
Next to her, the boy mumbled, “We’d appreciate the cash more!”
“Kids,” the man said, “how old are you? What are your names?”
The girl said, “I’m Meg and I’m nearly twelve, and Ryan here is eight.”
“And you’re out here at this hour? In the snow, begging?” the man asked.
“We need to help our mother, sir,” Meg explained with quiet dignity. “She needs every cent we can get.”
“You MOTHER sends you out here?” gasped the man “What kind of a mother does that?”
Ryan stepped forward, his small hands closed into fists. “Don’t you say anything mean about our mom! She’s sick, she doesn’t know…”
“We wait until her pain medicine sends her to sleep, then we come here,” Meg interrupted her brother. “You see, our dad left when she became ill. He said he didn’t sign up for life with a cripple.”
The man was looking at the children in horror. “He said that? Your mom’s crippled?”
Meg explained. “The doctors say mom has a kind of a tumor thing in her spine, but no one wants to operate on her, and the insurance is running out. We’re trying to get money to get mom help, maybe in another country?”
The man looking over their heads at the glowing baby Jesus in neon lights that flickered over the mall’s roof. “You know,” he said. “Maybe, just maybe, this is an early Christmas miracle!”
The man introduced himself as Kevin and insisted on taking the children home. He walked in with them and saw a frail-looking woman laying on the couch, a cell phone clutched in her hands.
“Meg! Ryan! Where have you been? I woke up and you were gone. I’ve called everyone…” she said. “I was about to call the police!”
Kevin stepped forward, a hand on the shoulder of each child. “I think I can explain. Your children went out looking for me and found me.”
The woman drew herself up on the couch on trembling arms. “YOU? Who are you and what are you doing with my children?” she asked.
“I’m Dr, Kevin Gordon, I’m a neurosurgeon, and I’m one of the best — which is why the children wanted me,” he said calmly. “I’m here to tell you that I’ll be evaluating your condition and will operate on you if it’s at all possible.”
Meg and Ryan were staring up at Kevin, their mouths hanging open. “But, but…” Ryan stammered. “We don’t have money!”
“That’s okay,” Kevin said with a wink. “You can bribe ME with a hamburger anytime.”
It was all a bit like one
of those dreams you don’t want to wake up from. The next day, an ambulance came to take Ryan and Meg’s mom, Sandra Davis, to Kevin’s clinic for a whole lot of tests.
While their mother was in the hospital, the kids stayed with Kevin, who really did live off junk food most of the time. The tests showed that, as Kevin had hoped, Sandra’s condition was complicated but he might just be able to fix it.
Once Sandra was back on her feet, Kevin started dropping in for dinner once or twice a week, and before long, it was every night. One day Kevin said, “Listen, Sandra, I was thinking… It’s such a pain me having to come here for dinner all the time…Why don’t you just marry me?”
So Kevin became Ryan and Meg’s new dad and a loving and devoted husband to Sandra. He never knew that when he stopped by that mall entrance that snowy evening he’d be getting his own miracle of love.
What can we learn from this story?
Never give up, you never know when a miracle may happen. Mge and Ryan believed they could help their mother, and by chance — or maybe by God’s will — Kevin came along.
Helping others brings joy into your life. Kevin never imagined that helping the children would bring him love and happiness.
