I had hurried into the local department store, to grab some last minute Christmas

Gifts, as usual. 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. Sometimes I did wish that I could just sleep through Christmas. Still I did

hurry as 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. I wondered

if my grandkids would even play with them. I found myself in the doll aisle when

out of the corner of my eye I saw a little boy about 5 years old holding a lovely doll.

He kept touching her hair and he held her so gently. It seemed that I could not help myself. I just kept looking over at the little boy and wondered who the doll was for.

As I watched him he turned to a woman and he called his aunt by name and then 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 get some other things

and she would be back in a few minutes. 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, "This 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 mom 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 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 taken at the front of the store. He said "I want my Mama 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 veryexcited 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 Mama. She loves white roses so very, very much."

In a few minutes the aunt came back and I wheeled my cart away. I couldn't keep from thinking about the little boy as I finished my shopping in a totally different spirit then when had started. 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 were 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 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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Equa Unega Wahuhi

Give me no credit for writing this.

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