Bobby
was getting cold sitting out in his back yard in the snow. Bobby didn't
wear boots; he didn't like them and anyway he didn't own any. The thin
sneakers he wore had a few holes in them and they did a poor job of keeping out
the cold. Bobby had been in his backyard for about an hour already and,
try as he might, he could not come up with an idea for his mother's Christmas
gift.
He
shook his head as he thought, "This is useless, even if I do come up with
an idea, I don't have any money to spend." Ever since his father had
passed away three years ago, the family of five had struggled. It wasn't
because his mother didn't care, or try, there just never seemed to be enough.
She worked nights at the hospital, but the just wage that she was earning could
only be stretched so far. What the family lacked in money and material things,
they more than made up for in love and family unity.
Bobby
had two older and one younger sister, who ran the household in their mother's
absence. All three of his sisters had already made beautiful gifts for
their mother.
Somehow
it just wasn't fair. Here it was Christmas Eve already, and he had
nothing. Wiping a tear from his eye, Bobby kicked the snow and started to
walk down to the street where the shops and stores were. It wasn't
easy being six without a father, especially when he needed a man to talk to.
Bobby
walked from shop to shop, looking into each decorated window. Everything
seemed so beautiful and so out of reach. It was starting to get dark and Bobby
reluctantly turned to walk home when suddenly his eyes caught the glimmer of the
setting sun's rays reflecting off of something along the curb. He
reached down and discovered a shiny dime.
Never
before has anyone felt so wealthy as Bobby felt at that moment. As he held
his new found treasure, a warmth spread throughout his entire body and he walked
into the first store he saw. His excitement quickly turned cold when the
salesperson told him that he couldn't buy anything with only a dime. He
saw a flower shop and went inside to wait in line.
When
the shop owner asked if he could help him, Bobby presented the dime and asked if
he could buy one flower for his mother's Christmas gift. The shop owner
looked at Bobby and his ten cent offering. Then he put his hand on Bobby's
shoulder and said to him, "You just wait here and I'll see what I can do
for you."
As
Bobby waited he looked at the beautiful flowers and even though he was a boy, he
could see why mothers and girls liked flowers.
The
sound of the door closing as the last customer left, jolted Bobby back to
reality. All alone in the shop, Bobby began to feel alone and afraid.
Suddenly
the shop owner came out and moved to the counter. There, before Bobby's
eyes, lay twelve long stem, red roses, with leaves of green and tiny white
flowers all tied together with a big silver bow.
Bobby's
heart sank as the owner picked them up and placed them gently into a long white
box. "That will be ten cents young man." the shop owner said
reaching out his hand for the dime. Slowly, Bobby moved his hand to give
the man his dime.
Could
this be true? No one else would give him a thing for his dime!
Sensing
the boy's reluctance, the shop owner added, "I just happened to have some
roses on sale for ten cents a dozen. Would you like them?"
This
time Bobby did not hesitate, and when the man placed the long box into his
hands, he knew it was true. Walking out the door that the owner was
holding for Bobby, he heard the shop keeper say, "Merry Christmas,
son."
As
he returned inside, the shop keepers wife walked out. "Who were you talking
to back there and where are the roses you were fixing?"
Staring
out the window, and blinking the tears from his own eyes, he replied, "A
strange thing happened to me this morning. While I was setting up things to open
the shop, I thought I heard a voice telling me to set aside a dozen of my best
roses for a special gift. I wasn't sure at the time whether I had lost my
mind or what, but I set them aside anyway. Then just a few minutes ago, a
little boy came into the shop and wanted to buy a flower for his mother with one
small dime.
"When
I looked at him, I saw myself, many years ago. I too, was a poor boy with
nothing to buy my mother a Christmas gift. A bearded man, whom I never knew,
stopped me on the street and told me that he wanted to give me ten dollars.
"When
I saw that little boy tonight, I knew who that voice was, and I put together a
dozen of my very best roses." The shop owner and his wife
hugged each other tightly, and as they stepped out into the bitter cold air,
they somehow didn't feel cold at all.