It was winter in Boston, Massachusetts. Years ago 12-year-old Danny lived on the outskirts of this large city. Every day he took the bus to and from school.

This particular Tuesday Danny felt as if he were freezing. It was cold outside, and there was snow all around.

When Danny’s bus pulled up, he stepped inside and placed his money in the coin collector’s hand. He was glad to get in because the bus was warm inside. He took a seat near the window, and as the bus started out he dozed off.

“All out for Woburn,” the driver called. Danny panicked. He had missed his stop and was at the end of the bus line. The conductor hurried him out.

It was dark and icy. He looked to his right and to his left. Then he spotted a drugstore across the street and hurried over.

Pushing open the heavy door, Danny saw groups of people standing around and shaking the snow off their boots. As he entered he stepped onto hardwood floors wet with melted snow. At least the store was warm and comforting.

He spotted a telephone booth in the back of the store and made his way toward it. He had two nickels; just one was enough to place a call to his mother. She could come and get him.

Danny put in the first nickel and dialed his mother’s work number. The phone rang but just as someone picked up the phone the line went dead. Now he had just one nickel left.

I’ll call the operator and have her connect me, he thought. That way I won’t lose my last nickel.

He dialed the operator and explained his situation to her. She agreed to connect him, and asked him to deposit his nickel. He did so, and she put him through to the phone number. Again the phone rang and then went dead.

Now Danny had no money and no way to call his mother. How could he get home? Then he remembered something he’d been taught from his earliest years. He closed his eyes and started to pray.

“Dear God, I have no money and no way to get home. I need a dime. If I can get a dime, I can take a local bus to my friend’s house and call my mother from there. Please, God, send me a dime.”

Danny exited the phone booth and stood there. Just then the front door to the drugstore opened. A tall stranger entered and looked all about the room. There were lots of older, taller, stronger boys around, but he pointed straight at Danny.

“Son, how would you like to earn a dime?”

Danny was stunned. “Oh, yes, sir!” he stuttered.

Danny followed the man outside.

“My car is stalled on the street,” the man explained, “and I need someone to steer while I push the car down the hill to restart it.”

Danny jumped in behind the wheel, and the man went to the back of the car to push it forward. In just a few seconds the engine started. Danny jumped out, and as he did so, the man placed a dime in his hand.

Danny ran to the bus stop. Just as he had planned, he took the local bus to his friend’s house and called his mother from there. Soon she arrived to take him home.

As Danny told his mother about his answer to prayer they both realized how much God cared. He had shown it by sending someone to help Danny get home.

Years later my grandfather, Daniel Cotton, returned to his hometown and visited the drugstore where he had experienced his answer to prayer. The store was still the same, and the street was too. However, it was then that he realized that there was no steep incline for the car to roll down and restart! God had truly sent an angel that night to bring him a dime.