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Christmas miracle
Yuri Maslov
All the events described in thisbook begin just a couple of weeks before Christmas and take place in the cityof Zurich. All members of the Rosenberg family live a calm, slow-paced life.The head of the family, Martha Rosenberg has a job she likes a lot in a largeSwiss bank. Her children, Mark and Greta, live the lives of ordinary teenagerswith school on weekdays and various exhibitions and museums on weekends. And nothing meant trouble it seemed.No one thought about it anyway.
Christmas miracle
Yuri Maslov
© Yuri Maslov, 2023
ISBN 978-5-0059-6623-0
Created with Ridero smart publishing system
Israel, 2022
All the events described in this book begin just a couple of weeks before Christmas and take place in the city of Zurich. All members of the Rosenberg family live a calm, slow-paced life. The head of the family, Martha Rosenberg has a job she likes a lot in a large Swiss bank. Her children, Mark and Greta, live the lives of ordinary teenagers with school on weekdays and various exhibitions and museums on weekends.
And nothing meant trouble it seemed. No one thought about it anyway.
However, fate decreed otherwise and a fair amount of trials and obstacles fall to the lot of our characters. Who in the end will be able to help a seriously ill person and who should he rely on in his life? Will his relatives be able to help him, or will professional doctors do it? Or should he wait upon the Creator? Will a miracle happen on the eve of a bright Christmas Day?
You will find answers to all these questions on the pages of this wonderful and fascinating book.
CHAPTER 1
THE BEGINNING
It was winter. Just a couple of weeks before Christmas. Mark Rosenberg was standing near the Swiss National Museum of Art waiting for his mother and sister to come out.
He was born and raised in the city of Zurich. At the moment he was twelve years old. He was a fairly tall young man for his age. He had black wavy hair and green eyes.
Since childhood, he did not particularly like to go to various exhibitions and museums and opposed in every possible way, when he was forced to visit such places.
So, this time he told his mother that he would leave to the toilet for only five minutes, but instead he went straight to the exit of the building. However, before leaving the building, he did go to the toilet, so he had not lied in this case. He went out into the street and began to look around. He started looking for the nearest cafe, where he could buy himself hot coffee. That day it was pretty cold outside. As is often the case in winter in these parts, there was wet snow under the feet of the inhabitants of the city. Of course, in Zurich there were no such frosts and snowstorms, as in Siberia, but the weather remained rather cool.
He didn’t want to stray too far from the main entrance so as not to lose sight of it. He continued to stand outside and look around until he noticed a cafe nearby.
He approached it and read the name on the signboard.
«Café De Zeevaart,» he said aloud.
Without hesitation, he decided to enter.
Once inside the cafe, he immediately saw a barman behind the counter, who was quite impressive in size. He was about two meters tall, with long blond hair that touched his shoulders. He also had a thick gray beard.
He appeared to be about thirty-five. The barman looked straight at Mark and said:
«Hello, boy.»
«Hello.»
«Is it cold outside?» he asked, nodding his head towards the front door.
«Yes, it’s pretty cold.»
«It’s warm in here,» he said thoughtfully. «Have you decided what you want?»
«I would like a coffee.»
«What kind of coffee do you prefer?»
«I think I’ll have a cappuccino.»
«Good choice.»
Mark stood at the counter waiting impatiently for His coffee. He was already looking forward to the moments of joy when he would be drinking it.
«It’s two francs, my young friend,» the barman drew attention to himself.
Mark slowly began to look for his coin purse in a pocket of his jacket. However, in an instant, he realized that today he had left his purse at home.
He was a little taken aback, but continued searching the pockets hoping to find some change. In one of the pockets, he discovered a coin. He immediately grabbed it and took it out of his pocket.
He glanced at the coin hoping that this would be enough to pay for his coffee. However, to his surprise and disappointment it was only one franc.
He remembered all too well that coffee cost two francs. He squeezed the coin in his hand and looked at the barman with eyes full of confusion and despair. The barman understood everything by the expression on the boy’s face and asked him a question himself.
«Well, boy, don’t you have enough money to pay off?!»
«No,» Mark answered sadly. «I have only one franc.»
«Only one franc? It’s funny, but coffee costs two francs!» remarked the barman with a slight smirk on his face.
«I know. I just thought I took my wallet with me, but it turns out that today I left it at home,» the boy said with anguish in his voice.
«Hah, that’s funny! Okay, you don’t have to worry about that. You can take your coffee.
«But I owe you another franc, don’t I?» Mark was a little taken aback by what he heard.
«That’s right. So, bring it in next time. Now, take your coffee before I change my mind.»
«Thank you very much!»
«You’re welcome, young man!» the barman replied kindly.
Joyful and pleased, Mark took his coffee and ran to the building of the National Museum of Art. He reached the exit and waited for his mother and his younger sister to come out. As he stood and waited, he slowly took sip after sip. Coffee indeed turned out quite tasty and flavorful. But most importantly it was hot. At the moment it was all he needed. About five minutes later, he saw his little sister running out of the building. Once on the street, she began to jump joyfully and make snowballs out of the wet snow with her hands. By this time, Mark was already finishing his coffee. Looking at his sister he approached her.
«Here, Mark!» she shouted and threw a snowball at him.
He managed to dodge the snowball flying right at him and approached her closer.
«Stop it, Greta. Where is Mom?»
«She’s coming out now.»
And indeed, a couple of minutes later their mother came out of the building. Her name was Martha and she was thirty-eight years old. She was tall, with long blond hair.
All her life she worked at a local bank called Credit Suisse. She started her career as a bank employee and at the moment she was in charge of a department.
As to Greta, she was ten years old. A cheerful and mischievous girl with a penchant for the exact sciences. She was also quite tall for her age. She had blond hair, often braided. They had a rather friendly and supportive family all the members of which loved and respected each other. However, the kids had never seen their father.
They didn’t know who he was or where he was now. When they asked their mother about him, she usually tried to change the subject of the conversation. The children loved their mother a lot, but also wanted to know something about their dad.
«Mark, where have you been? Greta and I walked around the first floor of the building looking for you. Where did you go again?!» she said with slight indignation in her voice.
«Don’t be angry, Mom. I went out for a breath of fresh air,» he replied calmly.
«Well, we were looking for you. All right, guys, take my hands and follow me!» she commanded in a decisive tone.
In fact, she was a born leader, both at work and at home. And now they were heading towards their car all together, hand in hand.
Silver color Volkswagen Jetta stood in the parking lot for the second hour and, it seemed, was already beginning to miss his owner. When all of them got into the car, Martha turned the ignition key and pressed the gas pedal. Mark started telling her how he went to buy his coffee today and he didn’t have enough money to pay. When Martha heard this story, she immediately had a few questions for him.
«You gave him only one franc, and he still sold you coffee?» she asked in a surprised tone.
«Yes, that’s exactly what happened, Mom!» he answered in a joyful voice.
«Hmm, that sounds pretty weird.»
«Why?!»
«Because coffee costs just twice as much as you paid him. In terms of business, it was not profitable.»
«But he turned out to be a rather kind man and still gave me the coffee. So, he is a good person.»
«Yes, he is. But why did you take the coffee if you didn’t have enough money?»
«He told me to pay him back next time. Moreover, it was quite cold outside so I needed badly a glass of hot coffee.»
«I see. Next time we will be somewhere around that place, you should go there and pay him back.»
«Okay, Mom. That’s exactly what I’ll do.»
«Don’t forget. Do you promise me?!»
«Promise.»
«Great.»
Greta was sitting in the back seat next to her brother and looked out the window. On one hand, it might have seemed that she was not at all interested in what her mother and brother were talking about. In fact, she was listening attentively and absorbed all the information. For a while she sat silently, staring out the window, and then suddenly remarked:
«I also think that you should definitely pay off your debt.»
«I’ll do it another time. I told him I’d pay him back next time,» Mark answered with some irritation in his voice.
«Now you owe him.»
«So what?!»
«You owe him. You owe him.»
«Enough, Greta, stop it! I said I’d pay him back another time!» he replied with obvious indignation in his voice.
«All right, kids, calm down! We are almost home,» Martha said in a decisive tone.
A couple of minutes later they arrived at their house. It was not very large, but it had everything you need for living. There were two floors, a parking garage, basement and five rooms. Near the house they also had a small lawn and, of course, a dog house for the family’s favorite dog named Max. Seeing a car approaching and Mark and Greta coming out of it, Max immediately ran out of his kennel and ran in their direction. He tried to make it to them, but a chain attached to his neck prevented him from doing so.
Max himself was a purebred German. Both of his parents were German shepherds. As soon as Mark got out of the car, the first thing he did was go to his beloved pet.
Max happily wagged his tail and jumped into his master’s arms, looking straight into his eyes. Martha and Greta also greeted their pet and then went into the house. Mark, on the contrary, stayed outside to play with his pet a little more. Mark and Max immediately fell in love with each other right from the first day they met.
So far, Max has been living with the Rosenbergs for several years and has become a full member of the family. Having played enough with Max, Mark finally decided to go into the house.
At this point, Martha was already finishing the preparations for dinner.
«What are we having for dinner tonight, Mom?» Greta asked.
«Today we have fried potatoes with meat for dinner.»
«Mom, what about salads?»
«Good question, son. How about one with fresh tomatoes and cucumbers?»
«Great. I just got hungry.»
«That’s good. Now go wash your hands. Don’t even come near the table until you do it,» she said decisively.
The children obediently got up and went to wash their hands. In fact, Martha was pretty good at cooking and the kids loved eating homemade food.
After dinner they thanked their mother for this wonderful meal. Greta then left the table and went to her room. Mark took the bowl of his beloved pet and filled it with dog food. He put on his coat and hat, grabbed the bowl and left the house. When he approached the dog house, Max immediately ran out to greet him.
Seeing his master, he started jumping around him all at once. He barked loudly and wagged his tail happily. Mark patted him with his hand and put a bowl of food near his kennel.
Apparently, Max was very hungry, so he began to absorb the contents of the bowl right away. Mark got back into the house with a sense of accomplishment. When he entered the house, he saw his mother washing the dishes in the kitchen. The moment he walked into the living room, she suddenly turned around and looked straight at him.
«Did you want to remain unseen?»
«I was just passing by,» he replied calmly.
