when i saw a cashier hand this little boy
his 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.'' The
little boy turned to the old woman next to him, ''Granny,
are you sure I don't have enough money?'' She
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 around. 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 after all, 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 himself. 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
didn'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 of mind 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 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."