The Doll and a White Rose
(Love and Sadness)
I hurried into the local department store to grab some last minute
Christmas gifts. I looked at all the people and grumbled to
myself. I would be in here forever and I just had so much to do.
Christmas was beginning to become such a drag. I kind of wished
that I could just sleep through Christmas. But I hurried the best
I could through all the people to the toy department. Once again
I kind of mumbled to myself at the prices of all these toys.
And wondered if the grand-kids would even play with them. I found
myself in the doll aisle. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a
little boy about 5 holding a lovely doll. He kept touching her
hair and he held her so gently. I could not seem to help myself. I just
kept looking over at the little boy and wondered who the doll was for. I
watched him turn to a woman and he called his aunt by name and said, "Are
you sure I don't have enough money?". She replied a bit impatiently, "You
know that you don't have enough money for it."
The aunt told the little boy not to go anywhere, that she had to
go get some other things and would be back in a few minutes. And
then she left the aisle. The boy continued to hold the doll.
After a bit I asked the boy who the doll was for. He said, "It is
the doll my sister wanted so badly for Christmas. She just knew
that Santa would bring it". I told him that maybe Santa was going
to bring it. He said, "No, Santa can't go where my sister is...I
have to give the doll to my Mamma to take to her". I asked him
where his sister was. He looked at me with the saddest eyes and
said, "She has gone to be with Jesus.
My Daddy says that Mamma is going to have to go be with her." My
heart nearly stopped beating. Then the boy looked at me again and
said, "I told my Daddy to tell Mamma not to go yet. I told him to
tell her to wait till I got back from the store." Then he asked me
if I wanted to see his picture. I told him I would love to. He
pulled out some pictures he'd had taken at the front of the store.
He said, "I want my Mamma to take this with her so she won't ever
forget me. I love my Mamma so very much and I wish she did not
have to leave me. But Daddy says she will need to be with my
sister." I saw that the little boy had lowered his head and had
grown so very quiet.
While he was not looking I reached into my purse and pulled out a
handful of bills. I asked the little boy, "Shall we count that
money one more time?". He grew excited and said, "Yes, I just
know it has to be enough." So I slipped my money in with his and
we began to count it. Of course it was plenty for the doll. He
softly said, "Thank you Jesus for giving me enough money." Then
the boy said, "I just asked Jesus to give me enough money to buy
this doll so Mamma can take it with her to give to my sister. And
he heard my prayer. I wanted to ask him for enough to buy my
Mamma a white rose, but I didn't ask him, but he gave me enough to
buy the doll and a rose for my Mamma.
She loves white roses so very, very much." In a few minutes the
aunt came back and I wheeled my cart away. I could not keep from
thinking about he little boy as I finished my shopping In a
totally different spirit than when I had started. And I kept
remembering a story I had seen in the newspaper several days
earlier about a drunk driver hitting a car and killing a little
girl and the Mother was in serious condition. The family was
deciding on whether to remove the life support. Now surely this
little boy did not belong with that story.
Two days later I read in the paper that the family had
disconnected the life support and the young woman had died. I
could not forget the little boy and just kept wondering if the two
were somehow connected. Later that day, I could not help myself
and I went out and bought some white roses and took them to the
funeral home where the young mother was.
And there she was holding a lovely white rose, the beautiful doll,
and the picture of the little boy in the store. I left there in
tears, my life changed forever. The love that little boy had for
his little sister and his mother was overwhelming. And in a split
second a drunk driver had ripped the life of that little boy to
pieces.
[ Author Unknown -- from 'andychaps_the-funnies' ]