Angel-at-Work---那是天使在工作.doc

那是天使在工作
文 唐纳德·柯蒂斯 译 赵朝永
在整理桌子上一沓厚厚的信件时，一个字迹打印得异常漂亮的信封突然映入我的眼帘。这封信不知何故吸引了我，于是最先拆开了它。
昂贵的信笺纸上，工工整整地流淌着同样漂亮的浅褐色字迹。整封信简直就是私人信件的典范。我禁不住读了起来：
亲爱的柯蒂斯博士：
过去数月，您在心智科学教会主日礼拜上的布道让我激动不已，我从中获益非浅。您讲课的内容应当发表出来，以便让更多的人跟我一样受到启迪。
我有个建议。您若能将每周讲课的录音带给我，我愿为您转换为文字稿，完稿后与录音带一并奉还。
期盼您能同意我用这种方式为您效劳。我愿同他人共享您给我的恩惠。请让您的秘书来电，每周一会有人来取录音带。
愿上帝保佑您，也保佑您伟大的事业！
诚挚的：玛丽·路易斯·佐拉斯
落款也是同样漂亮的打印字迹，通篇没有一个手写字。
读完信，我有种祈祷得以应验的激动。数月以来，我一直在寻觅能把我周日布道录音转换成文字稿的人，可没有一个人愿意直接用我自己录制的磁带转写。那时，录音机上尚未发明“播放/暂停”键，一边手动操作录音机，一边打字的确太费周折。与此同时，顿积如山的录音带也让我倍感沮丧起来，没有文字稿，我的书稿便没了着落。
如今，玛丽·路易斯·佐拉斯的信不期而至。我急忙按照信中给的号码打了过去，想跟她谈谈。
“我很乐意帮您转达留言，”一个友善的女士回答我。
“我能亲自跟她聊聊吗？”我问道。
“她现在不方便接电话，”那头回答。“请留言好吗。”
“谢谢，”我说。“请转告她唐纳德·柯蒂斯打电话来确认她的来信已收到。”
“收到您的来电她会很高心。”那头答复。“能否告诉我们何时方便派人去取您周日讲课的录音带呢？”
“我很乐意亲自送过来，”我坚持说，很急切地想亲眼目睹这位上帝赐予我的天使。
“不必了。请您明天中午在办公室准备好录音带，会有人来取。对了，佐拉斯小姐自己有录音机，可以放音转换文稿，录音带和文字稿将在周末前如数奉还。”
“非常感谢，”我回答。“录音带会如期在办公室备好。”
这种看似神秘的处事方式让我倍感困惑，可还是很乐意如约办事，因为这实在是天赐良机。
两天后，第一本录音带及其文字稿如期返还到我的办公室。字迹和淡褐色的墨痕依然那么独特，每页都堪称完美。字体间隔整齐划一，边距调得规规矩矩，连一个拼写错误也没有。通读文稿，我倍感欢愉。这正是我书的初稿所需要的。于是迫不及待地给佐拉斯小姐打了电话，电话那头还是那个友善的声音。
“您好，”我开口说。“我是唐纳德·柯蒂斯，请问佐拉斯小姐在吗？我想感谢她把录音转换成了如此漂亮的文稿。”
“噢，您好柯蒂斯先生，”那边回答。“我将向佐拉斯小姐转达您的谢意。收到您的来电她会很高心。别忘了，请在周一将您周日讲课的录音带在办公室备好。我们按时取走。”
这种同样的步骤持续了将近一年时间。字迹完美的文稿每周源源不断向我涌来，渐渐地，我终于收集齐了第一本书必需的“素材”。可那个为我转换文稿的天使却素未谋面。她从不接我的电话，感谢信却必回，封封都写得热情洋溢，布满她那完美又独特的字迹。
一天下午，我接到一个私人电话，又是那个熟悉的声音，“柯蒂斯先生，我是替佐拉斯小姐打来电话的，她想邀请您今天下午五点钟一起喝茶，您是否方便呢？”
我一口应承下来，五点钟准时出现在约定的地点。接待我的是一位热情贤淑的女士，我立刻听出了她的声音。“下午好，柯蒂斯博士。欢迎光临，佐拉斯小姐在会客室等候。”
我被领进一个温馨、舒适的房间，里面有位女士坐在轮椅上。她的头向一边痛苦地扭曲着，身体抽搐不止，两手紧紧夹在膝盖中间。她开口说话时面带微笑，脸上露出一丝光彩。虽然一举一动都疼痛难忍，玛丽·路易斯依然流露出欢乐和喜悦之情。
紧靠轮椅的前方是个突起的台子，上面放着一大台录音机和一台老式手动打字机。一番寒暄后，玛丽·路易斯用一只脚打开录音机，放一阵子音，然后用脚趾在打字机上敲打出录音文字，如此反复。她因自己能用脚完成这一切而深感自豪，而为了不让胳膊乱动，她把双手牢牢地夹在两膝之间。
玛丽·路易斯患有先天性痉挛性麻痹症，但她幽默、豁达，双脚训练有素，克服了残疾带了的种种不便。她的伴儿，同时也是朋友、保姆加助手，就是那位我在电话里认识的友善的女士。两人如影随形，通力合作，她们活得充实，活得有意义。
接下来的几年时间，玛丽·路易斯继续为我转换录音稿，除她自诩的工作乐趣外，从未开口要过任何报酬。玛丽·路易斯用脚趾打出了几千页的文稿，从中我未发现一个错误。
多少年来，这个非凡的女子一直是我最好的朋友，拥有一颗最最美丽的心灵。她助人为乐的充实生活还在继续，似乎丝毫没有受到一举一动都要依靠双脚这样不便的困扰，倒是发自内心的幽默感让这种充实得到不断的加强。
我的生命也因这位以助人为乐为己任的天使而丰富和幸福起来。

Angel at Work
By Donald Curtis
An envelope addressed to me in unusually beautiful typescript caught my eye as I sorted today’s mail which was piled high on my desk. Something about the letter commanded my attention, so I opened it first.

The same beautiful typescript in light brown unfolded in balanced precision across the sheet of expensive stationary. The entire letter was a model of perfection for personal correspondence. It invited me to read it:
Dear Dr. Cutis:
I have been thrilled by your talks at the Sunday service of the Science of the Mind Church at the Fox Wilshire Theatre during the past months. I get so much out of them. Your lessons should be published so that everyone can be inspired by them as I am.
Here is a suggestion. If you send me the tape-recording of your Sunday talk each week, I will transcribe it for you can return the tape along with the typed transcription.
I pray that you will allow me to be of service in this way. I want to help others share the great good which you have given me. Just have your secretary call and someone will pick up the tape each Monday morning.
God is blessing you and your great work.
Sincerely yours,
Mary Louise Zollars
The signature was typed in the same unusual typescript. There was no handwriting.
As I finished the letter, I experienced excitement that always accompanies an answered prayer. For months I had been looking for someone to transcribe my Sunday sermon, but could find no one who would transcribe directly from the tape I used on my tape record. I start-stop mechanism had yet not been invented and operating the record by hand and taping at the same time was just too much to handle. In the mean time, I was frustrated as the tape recording piled up. I had no transcriptions upon which to base a book.
And now, out of the blue, came this letter from Mary Louise Zollars. I hastened to call the number given in the letter and asked to speak to her.
“I would be happy to give her a message,” a friendly female voice replied.
“May I speak to her personally?” I asked.
“She can’t come to the phone right now,” the voice replied. “Please give me your message.”
“Thank you,” I said. “Just tell her Donald Curtis called in response to her wonderful letter.”
“She will be glad you called” was the answer. “Could you tell me when someone can pick up the tape of your Sunday lesson?”
“I would be happy to deliver it personally,” I persisted. I was eager to have personal contact with this angel who had been sent to me.
“That won’t be necessary. Please have the tape ready at your office at noon tomorrow, and it will be picked up. Oh---Miss Zollars has her own tape recorder to play the tape on for her to transcribe. The tape and the transcription will be returned to you before the end of the week.”
“Thank you very much,” I replied. “The tape will be at my office tomorrow as you requested.”
I was puzzled by the seeming mystery of the arrangement, but I gladly went along with it because of the great good fortune that had come to me.
Two days later the first tape and the pages of the transcription were returned to my office. They were in the same unusual typescript and light brown ink, and each page was perfect. The space was consistent, the margins justified, and there wasn’t a typo anywhere. I was happy as I read through the manuscript. This was exactly what I needed for the first draft of my book. I hastened to call Miss Zollars to thank her. The same friendly voice answered the phone.
“Hello,” I spoke. “This is Donald Curtis. Could I speak to Miss Zollars? I want to thank her for the beautiful transcription.”
“Oh, hello, Dr. Curtis,” came the answer. “I’ll give Miss Zollars your message. She will be glad you called. Remember, be sure to have the tape of your Sunday talk available at your office on Monday morning. We’ll pick it up as before.”
This same procedure went on for nearly a year. The flow of perfectly typed transcription continued to reach me each week, and I gleaned enough good “stuff” from them to complete my first book. But I still had no personal contact with my transcribing angel. She didn’t answer my phone calls but answered my “thank you” letters with warm letters of her own, all written perfectly in the same unique style.
A personal call came for me one afternoon, and a familiar voice greeted me, “Dr. Curtis, I am calling for Miss Zollars. She would like to invite you to tea this afternoon at five. Can you come?”
I answered in the affirmative, and at five o’clock sharp I presented myself at the address given. I was greeted by a pleasant matronly lady whose voice I immediately recognized. “Good afternoon, Dr. Curtis. How good of you to come. Miss Zollars is waiting for you in her sitting room.”
I was ushered into a warm, pleasant room where a young woman sat in a wheelchair, her head twisted to one side in a grimace, and her body twitching as her hands were held firmly between her knees. Her face lip up as she endeavored to smile and speak. The entire experience was painful to behold, but joy and light radiated from Mary Louise.
Side by side on a raised platform in front of her wheelchair were a large tape recorder and an old-fashioned manual typewriter. Following our greeting, Mary Louise started the tape recorder with the toes of one foot, let it play for a moment, and then typed the message with her toes on the typewriter, before repeating the process. She beamed with pride as she accomplished the entire process with her feet, holding her hand tightly between her knees to keep her arms from flailing.
Mary Louise had been spastic since birth, but overcame her handicap with a great sense of humour and the skilled training of her feet. Her companion, friend and nurse-helper was the friendly lady whom I had gotten to know on the phone. The two were inseparable and working together, their life was full and meaningful.
Mary Louise continued to transcribe my tapes for several years and never asked any reward except what she called the joy of doing it. One the thousands of pages of transcriptions that Mary Louise typed with her toes, I never found one error.
This remarkable lady had been one of my closest friends for many years, and is the most beautiful soul whom I have ever known. She continues to live a full, dedicated life of service, and seems completely untroubled by the fact that her every action is performed be her feet, reinforcing by the humour which bubbles up from within her.
My life has been enriched and blessed by this angel who lives to help others.