Testimony of Healing April 14, 2014 Issue

Fire quelled; manuscript intact

Rosalie E. Dunbar

Many years ago I was responsible for the publication of the college catalogues for New York University’s undergraduate and graduate schools of arts and science. Each catalogue was roughly the size of a paperback book and had several hundred pages. Besides course offerings, they defined the university’s and the students’ responsibilities. Each time we printed a revised edition—about every two years—we had to type a new manuscript. Since it was important for the information to be accurate, my assistant and I spent hours proofreading the original pages, the revisions, and the printer’s proof pages.

One afternoon we both went out to lunch at the same time, but in different directions. As I locked the office door, I briefly thought about how pleasant the room looked. When I came back about an hour later, I tried to open the door, but found that I could not. Finally throwing myself against the door, I got it open, but instead of the pretty room, I saw nothing but blackness. There was a fire in the office, which was filled with smoke. I slammed the door shut and began to tell other occupants of the small building that they needed to leave. I called security, which in turn called the fire department. At some point during this period, I called a Christian Science practitioner and asked her to pray for me.

A crucial issue with this fire was that we had a contract with a printer in Texas that included fixed deadlines for us and for them. This meant that if we missed any of our deadlines, we could no longer hold them to their deadlines. It had been meant to protect us from any delays on their end, but now that was in jeopardy. The printer’s proofs and the only copies of the manuscript we had were in the room with the fire. If we had to reconstruct the manuscript, we would almost surely miss our deadline. This would void their contract obligation.

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