f she hadn’t tried to remove the ring, he would have been assumed dead, and the next day his body would have been laid out on the pathologist’s table.

Seconds felt like an eternity. Anna realized: her habit of stealing had just saved a man’s life. She ran to get help, calling the doctor.

Later it was discovered that the man had suffered a rare episode — a deep lethargic sleep. His heart had slowed to the extreme, his breathing was almost imperceptible, and even an experienced doctor had thought he was dead.

But thanks to Anna, thanks to her criminal but fateful act, the man survived.

And only she knew that the reason for this miraculous rescue was not her conscientiousness, but her greed.