The Doll and a White Rose

I hurried into the local department store to grab somelast
minute Christmas gifts. 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. 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 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 my 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 had taken at the front of the store. He said "I
want my Mamma 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 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 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 my Mama." "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 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 where 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 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.

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