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 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. 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
noticed 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 neatly 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
open for Bobby, he heard the shop keeper say, "Merry Christmas, son."
As he returned inside, the shop keeper's 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 the cold at all.
Author Unknown
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