The Doll
I hurried into the local department store to grab some last
minute Christmas gifts. I looked at all the people and grumbled to
myself. Iwould be in here forever and I just had so much to do.
Christmas was beginng to become such a drag. I kinda 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 grandkids 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 has gone to be with Jesus. My Daddy says that Mamma 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 Mamma 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 won't
ever forget me. I love my Mamma 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 enoughmoney." Then the boy said, "I just asked
Jesus to give me enough money to buy this doll so Mamma 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 Mamma a white rose, but I didn't ask him, but he
gave me enough to buy the doll and a rose
for my Mamma. 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 that 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 mother 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.