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 small 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
salesperson after salesperson told him that he could not 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."
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.
alx