I was
walking around 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.