Toothless Grin

I was doing some last minutes Christmas shopping in a toy store and decided to look at fashion dolls. A nicely dressed little girl was excitedly looking through the same dolls as well, with a roll of money clamped tightly in her little hand. When she came upon a doll she liked, she would turn and ask her father if she had enough money to buy it. He usually said “yes,” but she would keep looking and keep going through their ritual of “do I have enough?”

As she was looking, a little boy wandered in a cross the aisle and started sorting through some of the video games. He was dressed neatly, but in clothes that were obviously rather worn, and wearing a jacket that was probably a couple of sizes too small. He, too, had money in his hand, but it looked to be no more than five dollars or so, at the most. He was with his father as well, but each time he picked one of the video games and looked at his father, his father shook his head.

The little girl had apparently chosen her doll, a beautifully dressed, glamorous creation that would have been the envy of every little girl on the block. However, she had stopped and was watching the interchange between the little boy and his father. Rather dejectedly, the boy had given up on the video games and had chosen what looked like a book of stickers instead. He and his father then started walking through another aisle of the store.

The little girl put her carefully chosen doll back on the shelf and ran over to the video games. She excitedly picked up one that was lying on top of the other toys, and raced toward the checkout after speaking with her father. I picked up my purchases and got in line behind them. Then, much to the little girl’s obvious delight, the little boy and his father got in line behind me.

After the toy was paid for and bagged, the little girl handed it back to the cashier and whispered something in her ear. The cashier smiled and put the package under the counter. I paid for my purchases and was rearranging things in my purse when the little boy came up to the cashier.

The cashier rang up his purchases and then said, “Congratulations, you have been selected to win a prize!” With that, she handed the little boy the video game, and he could only stare back in disbelief. It was, he said, exactly what he had wanted!

The little girl and her father had been standing at the doorway during all of this, and I saw the biggest, prettiest, toothless grin on that little girl that I have ever seen in my life. Then they walked out the door, and I followed close behind them.

As I walked back to my car, in amazement over what I had just witnessed, I heard the father ask his daughter why she had done that. I’ll never forget what she said to him, “Daddy, didn’t Nana and PawPaw want me to buy something that would make me happy?” He said, “Of course they did, honey.” To which the girl replied, “Well, I just did!” With that, she giggled and started skipping toward their car.