Once I was walking around in a general 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 to the boy, '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 and said, ''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 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 that 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', said the boy. 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 daddy so that he can give it to my sister when he goes there.' His eyes were so sad while saying this. 'My Sister has gone to be with God. Mommy says that Daddy is going to see God very soon too, so I thought that he could take the doll with him to give it to my sister.'' My heart nearly stopped. The little boy looked up at me and said: 'I told mommy to tell daddy not to go yet. I need him 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 daddy to take my picture with him so that he won't forget me. I love my daddy and I wish he doesn't have to leave me, but mommy says that he 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 noticing and we started to count it. There was enough for the doll and even some spare money. The little boy exclaimed, 'Thank you God for giving me enough money!' Then he looked at me and added , 'I prayed last night before I went to sleep for God to make sure I had enough money to buy this doll, so that daddy could give It to my sister. He heard me!'' 'I also wanted to have enough money to buy a white rose for my daddy, 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 and daddy love 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 car, who hit a bike being ridden by a young man with a little girl on the pillion seat. The little girl died right away, and the father was left in a critical state. The family had to decide whether to pull the plug on the life-support machine, for the young man wouldn’t 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 man had passed away…I couldn't stop myself from buying a bunch of white roses and I went to the funeral home where the body of the young man was exposed for people to see and make last wishes before his burial. He was there, in his coffin, holding a beautiful white rose in his hand with the photo of his little boy and the doll placed over his chest. I left the place, teary-eyed, feeling that my life had been changed for ever. The love that the little boy had for his father 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. Please DO NOT DRINK & DRIVE.
