Sunday, December 10, 2006

BROTHER'S LOVE

I was  walking around in a store. I saw a cashier hand  this little boy his money back saying "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 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 this doll to.  

"It's the doll that my sister  loved most and wanted so much for this Christmas.  She was so sure that Santa Claus would bring it to her."

I replied to him that maybe  Santa Claus will 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 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. "What if we checked again, just in  case you do have enough money?''

"Ok" he said "I hope that I 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 yesterday before I slept  for God to make sure I have enough money to buy  this doll so that mommy can 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 came again 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 2 days  ago, which mentioned of a drunk man in a truck, who hit a car, where  there was one young lady 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-assisting machine,  because the young lady 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 lady 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 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 this 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.

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