提 要

有人作過一個測驗，正常狀況，人可以單腳「金雞獨立」至少幾秒鐘，但若讓他突然閉眼，就會開始搖晃、站不穩。喝了酒之後，「不穩」的情況更嚴重千百倍，絕對不要拿生命開玩笑。其實，沒睡夠，甚至心情不好，都不要操作任何會害人害己的器械。

I was walking around in a Target store, when I saw a cashier hand this little boy some money back.The boy couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 years old.

The cashier said, "I'm sorry, but you don't have enough money to buy this doll."Then the little boy turned to the old woman: "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." Then she asked him to stay there for just 5 minutes while she went to look a round. She left quickly.

The little boy was still holding the doll in his hand. Finally, I walked toward him and I asked him who he wished to give this doll to？ "It's the doll that my sister loved most and wanted so much for Christmas. She was sure that Santa Claus would bring it to her."

I replied to him that maybe Santa Claus would bring it to her after all, and not to worry. But he replied to me sadly. "No, Santa Claus can't bring it to her where she is now. I have to give the doll to my mommy so that she can give it to my sister when she goes there.

"His eyes were so sad while saying this. "My Sister has gone to be with God. Daddy says that Mommy is going to see God very soon too, so I thought that she could take 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 need her to wait until I come back from the mall." Then he showed me a very nice photo of him where he was laughing. He then told me "I want mommy to take my picture with her so she won't forget me." "I love my mommy and I wish she doesn't have to leave me, but daddy says that she has to go to be with my little sister."

Then he looked again at the doll with sad eyes, very quietly. I quickly reached for my wallet and said to the boy. "Suppose we check again, just in case you do have enough money for the doll?" "OK" he said, "I hope I do have enough money."

I added some of my money to his without him seeing and we started to count it.

There was enough for the doll and even some spare money. The little boy said: "Thank you God for giving me enough money!" Then he looked at me and added, "I asked last night before I went to sleep for God to make sure I had enough money to buy this doll, so that mommy could give it to my sister. He 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. But He gave me enough to buy the doll and a white rose." "My mommy loves white roses."

A few minutes later, the old lady returned and I left with my basket. I finished my shopping in a totally different state from when I started. I couldn't get the little boy out of my mind. Then I remembered a local news paper article two days ago, which mentioned a drunk man in a truck, who hit a car occupied by a young woman and a little girl. 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-sustaining machine, because the young woman would not be able to recover from the coma.

Was this the family of the little boy? Two days after this encounter with the little boy, I read in the news paper that the young woman had passed away. I couldn't stop myself as I bought a bunch of white roses and I went to the funeral where the body of the young woman was exposed for people to see and make last wishes before her 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, teary-eyed, feeling that my life had been changed for ever....., The love that the little boy had for his mother and his sister is still, to this day, hard to imagine. And in a fraction of a second, a drunk driver had taken all this away from him.

解 說

我在逛目標商場時，看到收銀員遞回一些錢給一個小男孩，男孩最多只有五、六歲。

收銀員說：「我很抱歉，但你沒有足夠的錢買這個娃娃。」小男孩轉向那位老婦人說：「奶奶，你確定我沒有足夠的錢？」老太太回答：「親愛的孩子，你知道你不夠錢買這個娃娃的。」然後她請他待在那裡五分鐘，她必須去別的地方看看，然後迅速離開了。

小男孩還是把娃娃握在手裡，我終於忍不住走向他，問他希望送這個娃娃給誰？「這是我妹妹的最愛，最希望有的耶誕禮物。她確信，耶誕老人會送給她的。」

我回答他，「也許耶誕老人終究會把禮物帶到她面前」，「不！」但他傷心地回答我，「她現在的地方，耶誕老人不能帶到了」，「我得把娃娃給媽媽，她去那裡時，可以交給妹妹。」

說這句話時，他的眼神是那麼悲傷，「妹妹已經上天了，爸爸說，媽媽也快要去了，所以我認為她可以帶娃娃給妹妹。」聽到這兒，我的心幾乎要停了。

小男孩抬頭看著我說：「我請爸爸告訴媽媽先別走，我需要她等到我從商場回來。」然後，他給我看他的一張拍得非常不錯的照片，照片中的他笑容可掬，接著他告訴我：「我要媽媽帶著我的照片，這樣她才不會忘了我。我愛我媽媽，希望她不要離開我，但爸爸說她必須去跟妹妹在一起。」

說完，他用悲傷的眼神看了娃娃一眼，默不作聲。我迅速掏出錢包，對男孩說：「也許我們再檢查一次，說不定你有足夠的錢買娃娃呢？」「OK！」他說：「我希望有足夠的錢。」

在他沒注意時，我加了一些我的鈔票進去，然後我們開始算錢。

有足夠的錢買娃娃，甚至還有剩。小男孩說：「謝謝上帝給了我足夠的錢。」然後他看著我說，「我昨晚睡覺前，向上帝禱告，讓我有足夠的錢來買這個娃娃，讓媽媽可以把它帶給妹妹，祂聽到了！」

「我也想有足夠的錢買一朵白玫瑰給媽媽，但我不敢求上帝太多。但他還是給了我足夠買娃娃和白玫瑰的錢，我媽媽喜歡白玫瑰。」

幾分鐘後，收銀員老太太回來了，我提著購物籃離開。我的「血拚」開始與結束迥然不同，我無法不一直想著那小男孩，然後我想起了當地報紙的一則新聞，兩天前，一個酒駕的卡車司機，撞到一輛小汽車，車內的小女孩當場死亡，母親則情況危急。她們的家人不得不決定是否要拔掉維生器，因為那位年輕媽媽已經不可能甦醒。

那就是小男孩的家庭？與小男孩相遇之後兩天，報上看到年輕媽媽已經過逝。不由自主地，我買了一束白玫瑰，到殯儀館瞻仰遺容。那位年輕媽媽躺臥棺木中，手裡有一束美麗的白玫瑰與小男孩的照片，娃娃放在她胸前。

離開時，我熱淚盈眶，覺得自己的生活永遠被改變了。這小男孩對他母親和妹妹的愛之深，直到今天仍然難以想像。而在那幾分之一秒的瞬間，就讓一個醉酒的司機剝奪了這一切。