“I am aprophet, not a fortune-teller.” Samuel said. I looked him in the eye, and he looked like something forbidding was going to happen.

Bill Samuels' kids have always had a sense of their family's business.

“Look at you,” she says pointing at Samuel, age five.

“I'm here to ask you about where our donkeys have gone.” Saul said. He gave Samuel thequarter shekel of silver, but Samuel refused to take it.

But a knee injury in January forced her to quit her job, leaving her at the mercy of Samuels' pantry because most of her daughter's $1, 200 a month income goes to rent, energy and food costs.