Abba's Gifts

Abba chose her favorite dress and quickly put it on. It’s wide bright stripes and large white collar with the embroidered kite always made her happy. Abba’s eyes lit up an idea popped into her head. She ran out to her mother who was busy clearing the lunch dishes.

“Mom, may I use your big, blue tote bag today?” Abba asked.

“Of course,” her mother answered, “but what in the world are you going to do with such a large bag?”

“You’ll see,” Abba giggled and she ran to her room with the bag. She quickly gathered up some of her small toys and wrapped them in bright paper. Placing the gifts inside the bag, Abba hurried out to meet her mother as she was putting on her coat.

“I want today to be different,” she announced as she slung the bag over her shoulder, “so I’m going to give gifts to people.”

Leading the way, Abba and her mother walked to the bus stop on the corner with the tote bag full of the little presents. When the bus came, Abba found a seat near the front. A small girl in the seat nearby was fidgeting while her mother, holding a crying baby, worked to get her to stay in her seat. The little girl didn’t look happy at all.

Abba reached into bag and handed the girl a present. She didn’t know if she should take it but Abba’s mother told the girl in her best Spanish “Es un regalo- para ti. Abrala!”

The little girl looked at her mother who nodded yes and then she slowly opened the gift. Soon she was sitting happily playing with the small doll that had been wrapped inside. The girl’s mother was able to calm the baby down and the people on the bus were happy now that the bus was quiet again.

Abba and her mother got off the bus long enough to stop at the bank. When they walked into the bank, one of the customers was shouting at the teller. After he stormed away, Abba tugged at her mother’s sweater. She had seen the sad look on the teller’s face and asked, “May I give a grown up a gift?”

“I don’t see why not,” said her mother, “but first let me ask if she’d like one.”

Abba walked up to the counter as her mother told the teller about the gift. Abba handed it to her and watched as a smile broke out on the teller’s face when she saw the pretty yellow airplane. The teller held it up for the other people in the bank to see. As Abba and her mother walked out the door, they could hear the other people laughing and talking happily about the gift.

Abba told her mother jokes as the bus sped past the skyscrapers into downtown.

Her friend Jessica met her at the library. Jessica was moving soon and this would be the last time they would see each other for a while. When the story hour was over, Abba gave Jessica one of her presents to help Jessica remember her. The storybook cheered Jessica up and all of Jessica’s library friends hugged her good bye.

The last stop for the day was Abba’s big sister’s theatre school. Abba loved to go there and play with the other children while she waited for her sister to finish. Today however, instead of being greeted by playing children, one of the teenagers sat crying by the door.

“What’s wrong Olivia?” Abba asked.

Olivia said that one of the boys had made fun of her and called her a name.

Abba was afraid to offer a toy a teenager but she thought about it for a minute and decided that it might help. She was right! After opening the gift, Olivia’s tears dried and she picked Abba up and spun her around in a big hug. Olivia ran inside to show everyone her gift- a sparkly, bouncy ball.

All the children laughed as they played with the ball and soon Olivia had forgotten all about the mean boy.

That night while Abba and her mother were cuddling, she asked why everyone had seemed so happy when she had just given gifts to only one person. Her mother explained that everyone was happy because she had given a gift more important than little toys. She had given the gift of love and everyone had felt it!