A Little Girl’s Gift

Another day, another dollar.  Actually, a lot of dollars, especially with tips.  But it is work, after all.  Where did I put my belt?  I have to find it.  I can’t pull this off without the belt.  Think!  Last night, I started dumping the uniform at the door.  Then there was the quick trip to the frig for a couple of cold ones.  Oh yeah, check the TV.  Yep, there it is sitting on the TV right where I threw it.   The gold buckle sat right in the middle of Wolf Blitzer’s face as he proclaimed the latest breaking news.  I think a cat was stuck on the White House roof, but I wasn’t paying much attention.

 

Everyone thinks I have an easy job.  You try sitting for eight hours a day listening to Here Comes Santa Clause and see if you can remain sane.  Prisoners of war have had better treatment.  It’s especially hard because you have to smile and pretend to laugh all the time.  I try to channel manic depressive and hallucinate a lot.  This surprisingly brings a great response from parents.  Kids, not so much.  They see me as a creepy dude.  Smart kids.The altered state helps me get through the long lines of rug rats.  I have a quota to make.  Three minutes per kid, that’s 20 per hour and 160 in an eight hour shift.  That doesn’t count pee breaks.  There are a few kids that I have to cut off at two minutes to make quota.

 

God, what a line.  I want tbis, I want that.  The wants have gotten bigger each year.  I want a horse.  I want a pool.  I want a horse in the pool.  I want Deleware, it’s pretty small after all.  Ok, I’m getting low on candy canes and I need a pee break.  One more kid.

 

Yes little girl, what would you like for Christmas?  She looks more serious than most.  She probably has a list of stocks for her portfolio.  What, just a small doll?  Don’t you want a closet full of designer cloths for your doll?  No?  Don’t you want a Ken doll to be her date, just after he’s graduated from Harvard Law?  No?  What’s that?  You want something for your brother?  He’s sick?  He’s in bed most of the time?  Your mom and dad cry a lot and you want to make them happy.  So you’d like me to please bring a toy remote control car that he talks about a lot.  And you want the doctors to help him, if that’s ok?

 

Automatically and instantly, without thought or plan, words flow from my mouth like I am a dummy controlled by a ventriloquist.  I gently touch her hair and whisper in her ear, “Your brother already has everything he needs- a loving and caring sister”.

 

A tear sits on the edge of my eye as I lean over to give her a hug and kiss her on the cheek.  The tear sits in the edge of the eye peering over to the vast rolling cheek below.  It contemplates whether it should take the plunge or simply retreat behind the safety of the eyelid.  The decision is made quickly, onward!

 

The little girl gently embraces my huge head and neck in her little arms and with one finger touches the tear breaking it’s fall into oblivion.  As she withdraws her damp little finger she proclaims confidently, “Thank you for helping”.   She smiles as she accepts two candy canes and walks slowly to the embrace of her parents.

 

Yes Michael, I know you would like the latest $150 Star Wars Lego kit.  I lean close and whisper in his ear, “I bet you will become an explorer astronaut some day and you might fly to Mars and discover great things!”  He smiled and hugged me and then he jumped off my lap shouting “I can do that!” running to his psrents with a big smile.

 

Not such a bad job after all.

 

Lee