Chapter 5: The Results

The rest of that day we spent in the Ibirapuera Mall. We wanted to spend a few hours walking around in air conditioning. It had been a hot and sweaty morning, and we wanted to distract ourselves with realistic endeavors, like shopping. We had received invitations for that evening but declined. We wanted to have a quiet night and go to sleep and plan our trip to visit John of God, the most famous healer in this part of the world.

I received an unexpected phone call at 6:00 a.m. the next day. It was Leon. He asked me how my hand was. I looked at my hand, and it didn’t shake. I asked him to wait a minute and went to the bathroom to grab a glass of water. It didn’t shake. I grabbed my toothbrush. The usual tremor had totally disappeared. I started shouting at my wife, “I’m cured, I’m cured!” Leon must have heard my shouting, because when I finally picked up the phone, he had hung up.

I hugged my wife and she hugged me and we enjoyed a moment of bliss, a moment of monumental joy and achievement. We had attempted the impossible, the improbable, the absurd, and we had been successful.