{Straight From the Heart} *What's It Worth To You* 12/21/99
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What's It Worth To You?
By: Teresa Higginbotham
I couldn't believe my incredible luck. I had searched for years and now I had
finally found it. The snow globe. Well, it wasn't the exact snowglobe but it
was just like the one I had grown up with. It was just like the one I had seen
sitting on the crocheted doily on top of my mother's piano at Christmas time.
It was sitting on an a cluttered table at a flea market. The man sitting behind
the table, inched his beer belly up to the edge and looked at me with blood-shot eyes.
"What's it worth to you?" he said, a noticeable gap now showing in his teeth.
"That's a real pretty plaything there." He tried to give me a look of neighborly
warmth and all I could think of was how I would like to move out of his neighborhood.
I looked back down at the shimmering snow of the glass dome.
"My mother had one just like this. After she died...it ended up going to somebody
else."
I explained it so matter-of-factly. As if there had been no emotional strain,
no sadness. Just an object that went to a person. I had been devastated when I saw
my older sister stick the snow globe in a box with her name on it. I never said
anything though, because I just didn't want to fight so soon after my mother's
death. We were all so sad already, I couldn't handle someone being angry. I let
it go. Whenever I visited my sister's house I would see it, sitting on a white
built-in bookcase in her new home, surrounded by art books and pottery bought at
some upscale shop, no doubt. It never looked right to me.
I looked at it and wanted to hear my mother play jingle bells on her old piano.
I wanted to smell gingerbread cookies in the oven and hear my father reading to
my little brother in the old recliner. All I heard at my sister's house was the
sound of her answering machine "screening" her calls.
"So...how much?" he interrupted, now impatient with my daydreaming.
"I can see it means a lot to you, being like your mama's and all. You
sure don't want to let this get away from you." He slanted his eyes
toward and took a bargaining stance. "How's about...$50?"
I staggered back at the price. My goodness, he was mercenary. I was
sure my mother paid a tenth of that for hers. I set it down for a second,
but as I did I looked at the little house inside the snow globe. My mother
told me once, she always dreamed that could be our house someday. Because of
my father's job, we had always had to live in the city. My mother said she
dreamed of us having a house in the country with room to spread out and no
one around for miles. No traffic, no sirens, no crime on the evening news.
This wasn't just a snowglobe; it was my mother's dream. I couldn't just let
it go...not now.
I was jostled by a family that had come to look at items on the man's
table. I tried to focus on the snowglobe when I could see on the other
side of the sphere a pair of big brown eyes distorted by the glass. I
pulled the snow globe up and saw a little girl about nine years old. She
was fascinated by the cascading snow and the little house.
She drew in a breath, "It's really beautiful, isn't it?" She said, her
voice a slight drawl. "It looks like my grandpa's house. He doesn't live
there any more. He had a farm out in the country, but didn't have any money
to run it. He lives with us now. I wish he was out there again and us with
him. He's so sad all the time now. He just wants to go back to his house.
He said he even dreams about it."
There was a sadness in this little girl that was way beyond her years.
Her clothes were clean but worn. Her sneakers looked like they were on
their last week of wear and her coat looked a little short at the sleeves.
Her mother was trying to find kitchen utensils on beer belly's table. This
little one would not be getting too much for Christmas--I could just tell.
I looked back at Beer Belly. "I'll give you $10."
He picked up his double chin and eyed me in surprise. "Well, that's got to be
an antique. I'm sure I could get more..."
"O.k., $15 and that's my final offer." He looked at me again as if he was
trying to see if he could squeeze any more money out of me.
"I shouldn't, but alright...$15. You're gettin' quite a bargain there,
regaining a family memento and all. Just cause I'm a nice guy, you know."
I handed him the cash and he put the snowglobe in my hands. I had it back.
It was like it was a part of my mother standing there. I could feel her there
with me, in the middle of the flea market mayhem. I could also feel what I
knew she wanted me to do.
The little brown eyed girl looked up at me and smiled. "You bought it!" She
said, excited for me. "Where you going to put it?"
I reached out and her took her little hands and put them face up, "I'm going
to put it...right here." Her eyes widened as I gently laid the snow globe into
her tiny hands.
"You mean, you're giving it to me?" She looked at me as if I had just bought a
ticket to the loony bin. Her mother continued to dig through silverware looking
for matching forks.
"Why?"
"Just promise you'll take good care of it and think of your grandpa's house.
Maybe someday you're family will get back there. Everyone needs a dream, you know."
I walked away from the flea market and zipped up my coat as I headed for the
door. Faintly, ever so faintly, I could hear it...Jingle Bells.
©1999 Teresa Higginbotham
Atticwindo@aol.com
Send Teresa and email and let her know what you thought of her story!
Teresa Higginbotham is a homeschooling mom and a free-lance writer from Texas.
As well as stories, she writes articles on frugal living, parenting, organization
and family humor/inspiration. Her writing has been published in many ezines on
the internet including Frugal Moms, The Dollar Stretcher, The New Homemaker,
Housewife Magazine, The M-Word, Amazing Grace, etc.
Her website is "Tightwad Tess" at
TightwadTessDecIndex
http://www.geocities.com/heartland/creek/6123
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Winter's Night
out of the darkness
of the winter sky
revealed the silhouette of
a couple passing by
the moon casts erie
shadows on the trees
the stars twinkle
just for you and me
my eyes shine as
the street lights glow
experiencing love while
walking in new fallen snow
i am safe and cozy
in your arms
for love is the insulation
keeping us warm
new found feelings
and hearts afire
love burns hot
with desire
this is a time
we will always remember
on a winter's night
in December
Copyright 1999
Corky Ferguson corky5@urec.net
and
Sandi VanderSluis
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REQUEST:
From: Debbie@pell.net (Blevins)
Merry Christmas, Michael and Family!
I received this letter from a friend that is an attorney. He was asking me to
help out a little boy and now I want to ask you.
Seven year old Craig Steford has a brain tumor and has only a little time to live.
He contacted the Children's Make a Wish Foundation expressing his desire
to have an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records for the largest
collection of business cards received by an individual. Time is of an
essence. Please send a business card to:
Craig Steford
Make a Wish Foundation
320 Perimeter Center East
Atlanta, Ga. 30346
Please ask others to send the card. He's not asking for money, only a business
card and a little time to send it. Please pray for him and his family also. My
family is asking for material things and here is someone that just wants his
name in a book. With your help and the help of others, then maybe he will
get it. Maybe doing this will put the real reason for Christmas back into our
hearts. God bless you and your family and Merry Christmas.
Debbie
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Thought For The Day:
"Kind words can be short and easy to speak, but their echoes are truly endless."
(Mother Teresa)
Verse for the Day:
"She opens her mouth in skillful and Godly wisdom, and on her tongue
is the law of kindness."
Proverbs 31:26
Kid's Thought For The day:
"Don't wet your pants in school more than once."
Parent's Thought For The Day
"If you want a baby, have a new one. Don't baby the old one."
(Jessamyn West)
Coach's Thought For The Day
"There are three types of players. Those who make it happen, those who
watch it happen, and those who wonder what happened."
(Tommy Lasorda)
Deep Thought For The Day:
"Santanism: The belief that when you die your soul gets stuck
in the chimney."
_
/_/\/\ MICHAEL T. POWERS
\_\ / THUNDER27@aol.com http://members.aol.com/Thunder27/index.html
/_/ \ "For I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but
\_\/\ \ Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live for the Son
\_\/ of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20