A Boy's Love

 

Part 1

On the last day before Christmas, I hurried to the stores to buy the remaining gifts I didn't manage to buy earlier.
When I saw all the people there, I started to complain to myself. It is going to take forever here and I still have so many other places to go. Christmas is really getting more and more annoying every year. How I wish I could just lie down, go to sleep and only wake up after it...
Nonetheless, I made my way to the toys section. Once I was there, I started to curse at the prices as I wonder if all kids really play with such expensive toys.
While looking in the toys section, I noticed a small boy of about five years old, pressing a doll against his chest. He kept on touching the hair of the doll and looked very sad. I wondered who he wanted to give the doll to.
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.”
Following that, she asked him to stay put for five minutes while she went to look around. She left quickly.
The little boy was still holding the doll in his hands. Finally, I walked towards him and asked him who he wanted to give the doll to.
“It is 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 told him that maybe Santa Claus will bring it to her after all and not to worry.
However, he replied sadly, “No, Santa Claus cannot bring it to where she is now. I have to give the doll to my mother so that she can give it to her when she goes there.”
His eyes looked so sad while saying this.
“My sister has gone to be with God. Daddy said that Mommy will also join God very soon so I thought that she can bring 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 asked him to wait until I come back from the store.”

Part 2

Then, he showed me a very nice photo of him where he was laughing.
He told me, “I also want Mommy to take this photo with her so that she will not forget me.”
“I love my Mommy and I wish she didn't have to leave me but Daddy says that she has to go and join my little sister.”
Then he looked at the doll again quietly with sad eyes.
I quickly reached for my wallet and took a few dollars out.
I said to the boy, “What if we checked again, just in case, to see if you have enough money?”
“Okay. I hope that I have enough.” he said.
I added some of my money into his without him seeing and we started to count it together. There was enough for the doll with some spare money.
The little boy said, “Thank you God for giving me enough money.”
Then he looked at me and added, “Yesterday, I asked God before I slept to make sure that I have enough money to buy this doll so that mommy can give it to my sister. He must have 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. However, he gave me enough to buy the doll and the white rose. You know, my mommy loves white roses.”
The old lady came back a few minutes later and I left.
I finished my shopping in a totally different state of mind from when I started. I couldn't get the little boy out of my mind. Suddenly, I remembered an article in the local newspaper two days ago which is about a traffic accident. In the accident, a truck driven by a drunk driver hit a car. There was a young lady and a little girl inside the car. 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-support machine because the young lady would not be able to get out of the coma.
Was that the family of the little boy?

Two days after the encounter with the little boy, I read in the newspaper that the young lady had passed away.
I couldn't stop myself from buying a bunch of white roses and going to the mortuary where the body of the young lady will be placed for people to pay their final respects 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 crying as I felt that my life had been changed forever.
The love that the little boy had for his mother and sister is still, to this day, hard to imagine. In a fraction of a second, the drunk driver took all this away from him.