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The GrandDaddy of them all!
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This is soooo wrong!
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From joy to heartbreak
Toys' disappearance ruins dying boy's birthday
By ALLAN TURNER
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle
Steven Rael's 13th birthday was the best day of his life -- for three whole hours. Then the joyous day went heartbreakingly sour.
Here's the story the way Diane Lewis, Steven's mom, told it. She choked back tears to get it out.
Steven's dying of cancer. It's eating at his bones and now it's moved into his lungs. Doctors didn't expect him to last much beyond his 11th birthday. So far, he's proved them wrong.
On Monday, the spritely birthday boy -- the youngest of five children born to Lewis and her fiancé, Jose Gonzalez -- got his wish: a three-hour shopping spree at a Toys "R" Us off FM 1960.
With store employees, friends, family and representatives of the Texas Wishing Well Foundation at his side, Steven made his way through the store, packing shopping carts with the items he liked. He started at 3:30 p.m and by the time he finished three hours later, Steven had filled five carts to the brim.
He picked a Play Station 2, DVD movies, computer games, a bike.
The value of the toys as well as donations made by other well-wishers came to about $5,000, Lewis estimated -- more than her family ever could have hoped to spend. Lewis works only in the home. Gonzalez, a construction worker, hurt his back and is awaiting surgery. Without Texas Wishing Well's help, Steven's birthday celebration wouldn't have been as grand.
"He told everyone it was the best day of his life," his mother said. "You had to be there to see his face. There was happiness and joy."
As family and friends milled about outside the store, taxi driver Cedric Edmonson, 25, helped load the boy's presents into his cab. "He hugged me. He cried. He said he was so sorry for what Steven was going through," Lewis said of the driver. "He told me he hardly could wait to meet Steven."
After that, Steven and his folks and a few others climbed into the shiny, silver Hummer that Santos and Rose Matos, owners of a Spring hair salon, brought to chauffeur the boy in style. With the cab bringing up the rear, they entered late-afternoon Beltway 8 traffic en route to the family's West Airport Boulevard apartment.
After a while, other cars pulled between the Hummer and the cab. And what happened next is a matter of unpleasant question.
"We got home and the cab didn't come," Lewis said. "It didn't come in half an hour. It didn't come in 45 minutes." In fact, it didn't come at all.
Finally, Texas Wishing Well head Frank Willis reported the cab missing. "The other cabdrivers began looking for it," Lewis said. "They didn't know whether he'd been in an accident. They finally stopped him -- one pulled in front and the other in back -- and made him stop."
The cab's rear was empty.
Details of the stop are uncertain. Citing privacy and legal restrictions, the cab people won't talk about the incident. The episode crossed police jurisdictions, and Houston Police Department spokesman John Cannon said it is unclear in what manner city officers were involved.
What is certain, though, is that Edmonson was transported to Harris County Jail on four outstanding warrants, including allegations of writing bad checks and failing to appear in court.
Liberty Cab Co., for which Edmonson works as a contract driver, said in a prepared statement that the driver claimed he had been hijacked and the presents stolen. Liberty Cab has pledged $3,000 to help replace the missing presents.
Edmonson was released from county jail late Tuesday after posting bond. He was not initially charged in the toy theft.
While the toys' fate has yet to be determined, Lewis and her son blame the cabdriver.
"We just couldn't believe it," Lewis said. "Why would someone do this to Steven? Don't they have a heart?"
Steven is taking the blow as well as he can, his mother said. "Someone asked him what he would tell" the person who stole the toys, Lewis said. "He said he never wants to see him again. He should stay away. He's a monster."
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That's just wrong on ALL levels. the guy is like the grinch, expect he stole the poor kid's birthday. what an evil bastard!
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"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." - Darrel K Royal
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