by V.A. Bailey

Midi playing is "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 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 was 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". 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 don't
ever forget me. I love my Mama 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 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, but he gave me enough to buy the
doll and a rose for my Mama. 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 the 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 where 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 woman 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.

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Ted and Chris