Short Stories

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C O M M O N S E N S E

“The Gift”

Once upon a time or so the story goes, a young girl about the age of ten sat on a stoop in her neighborhood contemplating what she was going to do with the gift that she had received for Christmas. It was a brown Koala Bear with white feet and hands that her father had sent her from miles away.

This Christmas was nothing like the Christmases of old. There wasn’t an evergreen tree that stood in the corner eight feet high and dressed out in popcorn strings and bright shinning lights. There weren’t the presents stacked so high that it would cause an avalanche of gifts to fall if you tugged at just one. There weren’t the fresh baked cookies piled high on the plate from their neighbor, Mrs. Southernland, because she had to move away. There wasn’t the fruit stand anymore where she would purchase apples, pears, and bananas to make baskets for her friends. Raymond, her best friend, from cradle to the fourth grade had suddenly vanished from her life when Mr. and Mrs. Bailey had gotten a divorce. Even her father, whom she loved, had abandoned her during this joyous time of year to seek work in another part of the country. And, there wasn’t the love, joy, and hope for the season, because her city had fallen on hard times and many were doing without. All she had for Christmas was this brown Koala Bear with white hands and feet, two buttons for the eyes, wrapped in a white cardboard box from miles away.

So she sat and pondered, reasoning that somehow it was the gift’s fault that all this had happened to her. That if she was able to destroy the gift, then she would be able to destroy the memory of this very bad Christmas. Spying a nearby drum set burning rubbish; she tossed the brown Koala Bear with white hands and feet two buttons for the eyes that had come wrapped in a white cardboard box into the fire. Immediately, it began to burn. She found delight in watching one ear darken and one arm become undone. Suddenly, a hand reached in the fire and saved the bear.

“Why did you do that?” a fatherly old man asked knocking all the embers away. “I hated it, so I threw it away,” she replied unhappily. “Where did it come from that you hated it so much?” He again asked. “It came from my father, who is somewhere seeking work.”

Sitting down on the stoop, he continued. “What you have here is the greatest gift, young lady.”

“Greatest gift? How? It’s nothing more than a small brown bear with button eyes that you can find at any store in town.” She finished.

“No. What you have here is the greatest gift in the world; love.” He said lovingly. “You see, like on the very first Christmas, many years ago, our father sent us His love wrapped up in flesh, dressed only in swaddling clothes lying in a manger filled with hay. Looking just any other child in any other village of the day, He came because of love. Like your father, who is unable to be here with you today, he sent his love wrapped up in this brown bear with white hands and feet and button for eyes.”

“Oh, “ she said, realizing the value of the gift. “May I have it back?”

COMMON SENSE SAYS: Gifts of gold and silver, games and silly toys all have little value when compared to tomorrow, but it is the love that means so much.

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