Mr.Bauman's doctors had warned him and his wife that the was at high risk for a heart attack. But when the attack actually came, Mrs.Baumann still wasn't prepared. Gripped with shock, fear, and panic, she rode by her husband's side in the ambulance, repeatedly crying.

 

At the hospital, the nurses had to pull Mrs.Baumann away from her husband so the doctors could examine him. After they had successfully stabilized¹ his heart, Mrs.Baumann rushed down the hall to the telephones to call each of their seven children. With tears of exhaustion² and relief, she told them of their father's heart attack, assuring them that his condition was now stable.

 

But when Mrs.Baumann returned to her husband's room, she gasped³ at the sight before her. Two nurses stood over her husband. Tubes ran in and out of his trembling body, and machines and monitors were humming and beping. His face was bright red, and he was gasping⁴ for breath.

 

"What have you done to my husband?"she cried.

 

One of the nurses explained, as sympathetically as possible, that he had suffered a massive stroke.

 

A stoke! On top of the heart attack! Mrs. Baumann couldn't control her emotions, Overcome with grief and blinded by tears, she grabbed her husband's head off the pillow. She held him tightly in her arms, calling out his name and kissing his lips.

 

At that very moment, the doctor walked in and demanded, "Mrs. Baumann, what do you think you're doing?"

 

She turned to the doctor and hotly declared, "The question is, Doctor, what have you done to my husband?"

 

For a moment, Mrs.Baumann was so stunned⁵ she couldn't speak. Then she looked more carefully at the man on the bed.

 

"He's …he's…not!" she cried, turning a dark shade of crimson⁶. "Oh no! Oh dear! Oh no!"

 

Gently a nurse escorted Mrs. Baumann out into the hall.

 

"Why didn't that man try to stop me?" asked Mrs.Baumann.

 

"Because of his stroke, he's unable to move or to speak," the nurse answered.

 

Mrs. Baumann gasped."And now he must be wondering why that strange lady kissed him!"

 

As soon as they entered her husband's room, Mrs.Baumann rushed to her husband's side and kissed him. Then, still very shaken, she related her mistake. "He had so many tubes and…and…I hope I didn't hurt him, Bernie!"

 

A few days later the doctor dropped by Mr.Baumann's room for him final checkup.

 

"Mrs.Baumann," he said, "you'll be glad to know that your husband and my patient across the hall have both made miraculous⁷ recoveries. Do you suppose it was my good doctoring, your prayers,or your passionate⁸ kisses?"

 

"Why, why…" she fumbled⁹.

 

"Maybe it was all three?" the doctor added with a wink¹⁰.

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