I was walking around in a Target store, when I
saw a cashier hand this little boy some 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.” Then the little boy turned to the old woman
next to him: ”Granny, are you sure I don’t have enough money?” The old lady
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 a
round. 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 afterall, 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 him where 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 doesn’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 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
exposed 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.
