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，town any．The thin sneakers he wore had a few holes in them and thev did a poor job of keeping out the cold．
Bobby had been in his backyard for about an hour alreadV．And．try as he might，he could not come up with an idea for his mother’s Christ—mas 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 0f five had struggled．It wash’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，thev mOrethan 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．
All three of his sisters had already made beautiful gifts for their mother·Some how it just wasn’t fair．Here it was Christmas Eve alreadv．and he had nothing．
Wiping a tear from his eye，Bobby kicked the snow and started towalk down to the street where the shops and stores were．It wasn’t easybeing six without a father．especially when he needed a man to talk to．Bobby walked from shop to shop，looking into each decorated win—dow．Everything seemed SO beautiful and SO out of reach．It was startingtO get dark and Bobby reluctantly turned to walk home when suddenly hiseyes caught the glimmer of the setting sun’S rays reflecting off of some—thing along the curb．He reached down and discovered a shiny dime．
Never before has anyone felt SO wealthy as Bobby felt at that mo—ment．As he held his new found treasure，a warmth spread throughout hisentire body and he walked into the first store he saw．His excitementquickly turned cold when salesperson after salesperson told him that hecould not buy anything with only a dime．He saw a flower shop and went inside to wait in line．When the shopowner asked if he could help him，Bobby presented the dime and asked ifhe could buy one flower for his mother’S Christmas gift．The shop ownerlooked at Bobby and his ten cent offering．Then he put his hand on Bob—by’S shoulder and said to him，“You just wait here and I’11 see what Ican do for you．”As Bobby waited，he looked at the beautiful flowers and even thoughhe was a boy，he could see why mothers and girls liked flowers．
The sound of the door closing as the last customer left，jolted Bobbyback to reality．All alone in the shop，Bobby began to feel alone and a—ffaid．
Suddenly the shop owner came out and moved to the counter．There，before Bobby’S eyes，lay twelve long stem，red roses，with leavesof green and tiny white flowers all tied together with a big silver bow．Bobby shean sank as the。wner picked them up and placed t11em genuy into a long white box．