PETER HILL'S life has been peppered with signs.
Years ago, all four tyres blew out one after the other
when he suggested to his future wife in the car that God created all
things and therefore must be responsible for evil.
More recently, Pope Benedict XVI kissed his baby
daughter, Claire, at Randwick in Sydney while in the midst of a throng
of devotees.
And then, on Tuesday afternoon, he rolled his 22-seater bus on top of her in a queue for petrol on the South Coast.
When he saw the three-year-old lodged under the dual rear
wheels of the four-tonne vehicle, Mr Hill was certain that Claire was
dead.
But this morning she is likely to be sent home from hospital with little more than grazes and minor bruising.
The tyre marks were yesterday visible on her tiny
abdomen, but she astounded her parents and medical specialists by
surviving the ordeal without internal injuries, broken bones or lasting
physical damage of any kind.
As Claire lay in bed at Sydney Children's Hospital with a
Catholic prayer book, red-eyed but smiling and talkative, she said it
was her dad and God that saved her.
Her father struggled to find an explanation for his youngest child's remarkable escape.
''I couldn't think anything other than a guardian angel was holding that bus up and keeping the weight off her,'' Mr Hill said.
''I jumped in the driver's seat and just rolled
forward,'' he said. ''And Claire opened the door and hopped out of the
car, and the next thing I know, someone's banging on the bus. I went to
look and saw Claire lying underneath the two back wheels, pinned to the
ground. At that moment I thought: 'God, I've killed her.' ''
His wife, Sue Hill, a mother of 11, was inclined to believe in the power of prayer.
''I had put a miraculous medal [of Mother Mary] on her
just an hour before,'' she said.
As Claire lay at the Woolworths service
station in Nowra, Mrs Hill told her to pray to Jesus and Mother Mary.
In the hours that followed, family and friends on the
South Coast and beyond reached out through church and social networks to
draw hundreds more into prayer, she said.
''All my children rang all these other families,'' Mrs Hill said.
''My sister rang the Mother Teresa nuns in Sydney.''
The Children's Hospital said it was hopeful Claire would make a full recovery.
''Despite experiencing a major trauma, she has no broken bones or serious internal injuries,'' a spokeswoman said.