1 WAS AN only child---~nd so I became an only man.<br > My name is Joshua ~!gg: a joke life played on me， as I am<br >quite small. Five feet， three and three-eighths inches， to be<br >precise. In a world of giants， those eighths are precious to the<br >midget.<br > That was the first of fortune s tricks. There were others.<br >For instance， I was orphaned at the age of three months when<br >my parents were killed in the sudden collapse of a bridge over<br >the Skunk River near Oskaloosa， Iowa. As their pickup truck<br >toppled， I was thrown clear and was found later lying in a<br >clump of laurel， gurgling happily and sucking my toe.<br > People said it was a miracle. But of course they weren t<br >the orphan. Years later， when Roscoe Dollworth was teaching<br >me to be an investigator， he had something to say on the<br >subject. He had just learned that he had a small gastric ulcer，<br >after months of worrying about stomach cancer. Just an ulcer.<br >Everyone told him how lucky he was:<br > "Luck，" Roscoe said， "is something that happens to other<br >people."<br > I was raised by my mother s brother and his wife: Philo and<br ><br >