| The story began with our first night on Malta. It | | | | happened to rule out the possibility of miracles.As |
| was a comedy of errors, though it didn't seem all | | | | we were leaving, Evie bought a medal for fity |
| that funny at the time. I foolishly rented a car and | | | | Maltese cents, the equivalent of a dollar and a half. |
| we drove around lost until nearly four o'clock in | | | | She put it in her wallet and forgot about it. At |
| the morning when we happened to run into a | | | | noon on that 13th of May she started from her |
| friendly police officer who led us to our hotel.From | | | | office to a nearby printer. After she finished the |
| that point, nothing especially eventful happened | | | | errand, she was to meet our daughter, Katie. |
| except that we found a wonderful little Guest | | | | Katie was about to be confirmed and needed a |
| House in the city of Sliema, the Soleado, and took | | | | dress so the two of them were going to look for |
| up residence there. During our week's sojourn, we | | | | one together. As Evie was about to cross the |
| spent most of our days visiting Valletta and doing | | | | street, a fugitive in a stolen car ran into her at a |
| other touristy things and our nights trying out | | | | high speed, hurling her more than ten feet into |
| new things to eat. I actually liked Octopus and | | | | the air and striking her head against the windshield |
| Rabbit stew. And the snails weren't too bad, | | | | as she came down.At 5:30, Katie came home |
| either. With our time on the island dwindling to | | | | very worried. Mom hadn't shown up. She told me |
| their final hours, we decided we wanted to visit | | | | to turn on the news and we watched a report |
| Gozo, one of the three islands that make up the | | | | about a police chase in downtown Minneapolis that |
| tiny country. We had read about its rustic charms | | | | resulted in the injury of a middle-aged woman. |
| in a guide book. Where the big island of Malta was | | | | She was sure that was Mom. Worried, I called a |
| highly developed, Gozo was a step back in time | | | | friend at Evie's workplace. She told me no one |
| to Malta of the early 1900s. On the next to last | | | | had seen her since noon. When I called Hennepin |
| day of our stay we made up our minds to go. | | | | County Medical Center, I got crushing news. Evie |
| That morning we took a bus up to the 'whale's | | | | was in intensive care.Beside myself, I got into the |
| tail.' Malta is shaped like a whale and the ferry | | | | car and tore off for the hospital. Even now I |
| landing was at the northernmost tip.The ferry has | | | | wonder how I got there without getting in an |
| been in service for more than a century. It wasn't | | | | accident myself. A nurse led me to a hospital bed. |
| fast, but it was dependable. We munched on | | | | The swollen bruised and cut face I saw lying on |
| pastizzi, a Maltese pastry, and drank capuccino | | | | the pillow had me making a dash for the closest |
| while we sat on the deck of the stodgy vessel | | | | rest room.The head nurse was waiting for me. It |
| and watched the landing place slowly come into | | | | was a miracle Evie was alive, she said. She had |
| view. The trip took less than half an hour and we | | | | been struck with such force and had suffered |
| soon landed at the village of Mgarr, (pronounced | | | | such head trauma that in most cases she would |
| Em-jarr.)Not knowing what else to do, we hired a | | | | have been killed instantly. Even more miraculous, |
| local cabbie to show us the sights. He began by | | | | she was awake and lucid when the rescue team |
| taking us to the capital, Rabat, which is also | | | | brought her into the emergency room. Although |
| known as Victoria. After walking along the top of | | | | she couldn't talk, she understood what had |
| the wall of the city and visiting gift shops, we | | | | happened and responded to questions with |
| were ready to try something different. The driver | | | | eyeblinks. I went to her bed and took her hand. |
| suggested that we pay a visit to Ta Pinu. Pope | | | | She squeezed it. The next day, we had our first |
| John Paul II had visited the church, and it was | | | | post-accident conversation. She sounded so much |
| known as a place for miracles. Leon, our cabbie, | | | | like the Evie I had known and loved that I couldn't |
| told us that the walls were lined with discarded | | | | control my emotions and I started to blubber. The |
| canes, casts and crutchs that were no longer | | | | nurse was right. It was a miracle.The second |
| needed after supplicants had made their | | | | miracle wasn't apparent until months later. Despite |
| pilgrimages there.We were happy for the | | | | the horrendous collision, she had sustained only a |
| suggestion. Malta has some of the most beautiful | | | | broken pelvis and a minor brain injury. Her physical |
| churches in the world, and we hadn't grown tired | | | | injuries were the first to heal. But to this day she |
| of looking at them.True to our guide's word, we | | | | still has double vision looking down and problems |
| found hundreds of typewritten accounts as well | | | | with her short term memory.One day months |
| as plaster casts and other accoutrements for the | | | | later, she happened to find the medal she had |
| lame and disabled. Many of the stories were | | | | bought at Ta Pinu. She remembered the miracles. |
| especially touching, dealing with children who were | | | | Was she another? We will never know if it saved |
| born with deformities or had been injured in | | | | her life, but we're both glad she had it with her on |
| accidents. Hopeful parents had brought them | | | | that terrible day.After spending many years as a |
| there and left their testimony to the wonders the | | | | substitute teacher and selling collectibles, John |
| church had performed. We're Methodists, so we | | | | Anderson is a full-time free lance writer. His first |
| were a little skeptical. But we also know that | | | | novel, The Cellini Masterpiece, was published in |
| there are too many unexplained things that have | | | | October of 2004 by iUniverse Press. |