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The Doll and a White Rose
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 grandkids 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: V. A. Bailey
Only you can stop something like this from ever happening
again to a family. It is simple, if you have been
drinking,
don't drive. If you are with someone
that has been
drinking, stop them from driving
or call them a cab.
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