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Boy With A Doll, The
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 had so much to do.
Christmas was beginning to become such a drag. I sort of wished
I could just sleep through it, but I hurried the best I could
through all the people to the toy department. Once again I
mumbled to myself at the prices of all the toys, and wondered if
the 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 held her so gently. I
just kept looking over at the little boy, I could not seem to
help myself, and wondered who the doll was for. I watched him
turn to a woman whom he identified as his aunt, and said, “Are
you sure I don’t have enough money?”
She replied rather sadly, “Honey, I’m sorry, but you don’t have
enough money for it.”
His aunt told him not to go anywhere, to stay and look at all the
toys, that she had to get some other things, and would be back in
a few minutes. The boy continued to hold the doll. After a
moment, I asked the boy who the doll was for. He said, “It is
the doll my sister wanted real bad 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
Mama 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 Mama 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 Mama not to go yet. I told
him to tell her to wait till I got back from the store.” He then
asked me if I wanted to see his picture.
I told him I would love to. He pulled out some pictures that had
been taken at the front of the store in one of those quick photo
booths. He said, “I want my Mamma to take this with her so she
won’t ever forget me. I love my Mama so much I wish she did not
have to leave me, but Daddy says she’s going to go be with my
sister.”
The little boy lowered his head and grew very quiet. While he was
not looking, I reached into my purse and pulled out some money. 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.”
As we counted, I carefully slipped the money in with his. Of
course it was plenty for the doll. He softly said, “Oh, 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 Mama
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 Mama a white
rose, but I didn’t ask Him, and He gave me enough to buy the doll
and a rose for my Mama! She loves white roses a whole lot.”
In a few minutes the aunt came back, and I went about my
shopping.
I could not keep from thinking about the little boy as I finished
what I needed to do in a totally different spirit than when I had
started. I kept remembering a story I had seen in the newspaper
several days earlier, about a drunk driver hitting a car, killing
a little girl, and leaving the Mother in critical condition, and
the family with the decision as to whether to remove the life
support or not.
Surely this little boy did not belong with that story. Two days
later, I read in the paper where the family had disconnected the
life support and the young woman had died. I could not forget
the little boy, and kept wondering if the two were somehow
connected. Later that day, I went out and bought some white
roses and took them to the funeral home where the young woman
was. There she lay, 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 - overwhelmed by the love
that little boy had for his little sister and his mother, and how
cruel it seemed that in a split second, a drunk driver had ripped
the life of that little boy to pieces.
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