I was walking around in a
Target store, when I saw a cashier hand this little boy some money
back. The boy couldn’t have been more than 5 or 6 years
old. The cashier said, “I’m sorry, but you
don’t have enough money to buy this doll.” Then
the little boy turned to the old woman next to him: ”Granny,
are you sure I don’t have enough money?” The old
lady replied: ”You know that you don’t have enough
money to buy this doll, my dear.” Then she asked him to
stay there for just 5 minutes while she went to look a round. She
left quickly. The little boy was still holding the doll in
his hand. Finally, I walked toward him and I asked him who he
wished to give this doll to. “It’s the doll that
my sister loved most and wanted so much for Christmas. She was sure
that Santa Claus would bring it to her.” I replied to
him that maybe Santa Claus would bring it to her afterall, and not
to worry. But he replied to me sadly. “No, Santa Claus
can’t bring it to her where she is now. I have to give the
doll to my mommy so that she can give it to my sister when she goes
there.” His eyes were so sad while saying this.
“My sister has gone to be with God. Daddy says that Mommy is
going to see God very soon too, so I thought that she could take
the doll with her to give it to my sister.” My heart
nearly stopped. The little boy looked up at me and said:
“I told daddy to tell mommy not to go yet. I need her to wait
until I come back from the mall.” Then he showed me a
very nice photo of him where he was laughing. He then told me
“I want mommy to take my picture with her so she won’t
forget me. I love my mommy and I wish she doesn’t have to
leave me, but daddy says that she has to go to be with my little
sister.” Then he looked again at the doll with sad
eyes, very quietly. I quickly reached for my wallet and said
to the boy. “Suppose we check again, just in case you do have
enough money for the doll?” “OK,” he said,
“I hope I do have enough.” I added some of my money to
his without him seeing and we started to count it. There was enough
for the doll and even some spare money. The little boy said:
“Thank you God for giving me enough money!” Then
he looked at me and added, “I asked last night before I went
to sleep for God to make sure I had enough money to buy this doll,
so that mommy could give it to my sister. He heard me!”
“I also wanted to have enough money to buy a white rose for
my mommy, but I didn’t dare to ask God for too much. But He
gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose.”
“My mommy loves white roses.” A few minutes
later, the old lady returned and I left with my basket. I
finished my shopping in a totally different state from when I
started. I couldn’t get the little boy out of my mind.
Then I remembered a local newspaper article two days ago, which
mentioned a drunk man in a truck, who hit a car occupied by a young
woman and a little girl. The little girl died right away, and
the mother was left in a critical state. The family had to decide
whether to pull the plug on the life-sustaining machine, because
the young woman would not be able to recover from the coma. Was
this the family of the little boy? Two days after this
encounter with the little boy, I read in the newspaper that the
young woman had passed away. I couldn’t stop myself as
I bought a bunch of white roses and I went to the funeral home
where the body of the young woman was exposed for people to see and
make last wishes before her burial. She was there, in her
coffin, holding a beautiful white rose in her hand with the photo
of the little boy and the doll placed over her chest. I left
the place, teary-eyed, feeling that my life had been changed
forever.. The love that the little boy had for his mother and his
sister is still, to this day, hard to imagine. And in a
fraction of a second, a drunk driver had taken all this away from
him.
BRB crying my
eyes out.