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The Doll by John P. McHone

December 24, 2013 Ana Scholtes Read Comments (1)

Congratulations to John P. McHone, winner of Winghill’s 2013 Christmas Story Writing Contest with his Christmas tale, The Doll.

The box was in perfect shape sitting high upon the store shelf. The two dozen identical boxes had left the shelf and gone home with parents eager to bring joy to the children’s lives. On the outside of the box was a picture of the doll and the name Zooey which had been written in a bold bubble type lettering. Around the name were flowers and butterflies and birds. On the inside of these boxes was a simple doll with brown hair in pigtails, huge brown eyes that closed when the doll was leaned back, with a tiny nose and a mouth with slightly puckered pink lips waiting to give its new mommy a kiss. Each of the dolls had the same blue cotton dress on with a pair of white shoes already on the dolls’ feet. All of these simple but cute dolls looked the same except for this last remaining one.

The last doll on the shelf was basically the same, the hair, the little pink lips, and the outfit was all the same. Even the eyes closed the same way on this doll as they did on all the others. The only difference was this doll had one brown eye and one blue eye. This might not sound like a very big deal, but this made a major difference to the parents buying their perfect little girls the perfect doll. No one would want a doll that was different. Now, the different doll in its pretty box was left on the shelf with five minutes until Christmas.

Outside in the snowy parking lot, a young mother rushed into the store with her six year old daughter holding tightly to her hand barely making it before closing time. The mom flagged down a salesperson.

“Do you have any more of the Zooey Dolls?” She asked.

“Right this way Miss. I think we have one left.” The salesperson led them back to the shelf where the last doll was sitting by itself.

“Thank you.” She smiled. She picked the box up and looked at the doll. Before the salesperson could get any further away, she got his attention. “Hey, this one is messed up. It has one brown eye and one blue eye. Do you have any in the back? Santa sent me a text message and specifically said the doll had to have two brown eyes like on the commercial.”

“I am so sorry Miss. Our stockroom is empty, and we won’t be getting any new shipments before the New Year.” He politely explained. “If you don’t mind, I will need to take that and mark it as broken so we can send it back to the factory for a credit.”

The mom hesitated for a minute and looked at her little girl now sitting in the floor at her feet. The mom bit her lip for a minute and started to hand the doll to the salesperson.

“Wait, Mommy!” The little girl exclaimed. “I want the Zooey Doll!”

“This one is broken and they don’t have any more in stock.”

“But Santa promised he would get me one!” The little girl became a little more upset.

“Miss it is closing time. Just hand me the doll and I’ll give you time to make another selection.”

“Give me just a minute.” The mom held the doll down in front of the little girl. “Look. See how this one has two different colored eyes? That’s what is broken on her.”

“Mommy, that’s what makes her perfect.” The little girl got the packaged doll from her mom. “Santa won’t mind if you get this one for me. He’s really nice about things like that. We can leave him a note and a couple of extra cookies to make it up to him.”

There was a moment of silence as the mom looked at her daughter holding tightly to the box. The little girl pled for the doll with her own big eyes that were filling with tears. The mom gently took the doll from her hands and handed it to the salesperson.

“Okay young lady.” She said firmly. “I’ll get it, but you have to write the letter to Santa explaining what happened. Do we have a deal?”

The little girl smiled and nodded as she pulled herself out of the floor.

The mother and daughter walked hand in hand behind the salesperson to the front of the store so they could check out. The salesperson stood behind the counter and smiled sweetly as he handed them the bag holding the doll. He followed them to the door so he could lock it behind them.

“You don’t think Santa will mind that she’s different do you Sir?” The little girl asked the salesperson.

He rubbed her head and smiled. “No. I don’t think he will mind at all.”

“Thank you for your patience and help. Most kids, like adults want things to be perfect. I never would have thought she would have wanted the imperfect one.”

“You know Miss it is life’s little imperfections that makes life so perfect. You and your daughter have a Merry Christmas.”

With that, the pair exited the store and made a dash for their car. Inside the bag, the last remaining doll, with its one brown and one blue eye, as imperfect as it may have seemed, made a perfect Christmas for a little girl who didn’t care about perfection.