The Graduation Present
Amy bounced into the apartment she shared with her mother, threw her bag on the couch, and grabbed an apple from the bowl on the table. She grinned as she bit into the apple, sighing with satisfaction. She was done with school! What a lovely feeling! She had just finished her last day of high school, graduation was tonight, and then she was free!
Happily walking into the bedroom, she saw two tissue wrapped packages on her bed. "Oh, my," she thought. "Did mom really do it? Did she buy me a graduation dress?"
Amy picked up the larger package and tore the tissue off, remembering the darling dresses she had described to her mother a few weeks earlier. All of her friends parents had bought them beautiful gowns for graduation, but Amy had been sure her mother couldn't afford a store bought dress for her. As the tissue fell away Amy looked in dismay at the pretty dress her mother had sewn for her. It was lovely, Amy's mother was a good seamstress, and she had spent a lot of time putting extra details into the dress, but it was still homemade, and Amy threw it away from her in disgust.
"Does mom really think I want to wear a homemade dress to graduation?" she pouted. "Why can't I ever get anything nice, like my friends?" Then she remembered the other package, now lying under the tissue she had tossed aside. Picking up the smaller package Amy smiled in renewed anticipation. Maybe her mom had bought her a special graduation present, after all.
Quickly ripping the tissue off the gift, Amy stared in dismay at the pearl necklace inside. "Not this old thing!" she exclaimed in despair. "First a home made dress, now a hand-me-down necklace!"
Amy dropped onto her bed in frustration and began to sob. She was graduating tonight, and her mother expected her to go wearing a hand made dress and an old pearl necklace! How was she ever going to face her friends?
Amy was a sweet girl and she had really nice friends, but she always felt out of place with them. They had two parents, beautiful homes, and nice things. Amy had nothing. She and her mother lived in a little apartment above the garage of a big estate where her mother was the housekeeper. They had very little of their own, and it embarrassed Amy. She would never have admitted it to anyone, but her mother embarrassed her, too. Amy's mother walked with a limp, dragging her left leg behind her. She always kept her hair pinned under a cap, but sometimes Amy saw her brush it at night. It was gray and scraggly and thin. At least she kept it hidden. Her mother couldn't hide the red, ugly scars that covered her worn, thin face. When she was little, Amy used to wish her mother would take her places like her friends mothers did. As she grew older, though, she began to appreciate that her mother was always too tired from work to go out. It was easier not to have her friends see her.
After sobbing on her bed for awhile, Amy noticed a letter propped up on her dresser. Her name was printed on the envelope, and suddenly Amy's heart jumped in excitement. She recognized the handwriting, it was from her mother's employer, old Mr. Stevens. "I bet he's given me a graduation present," Amy thought as she jumped up to get the card. Quickly she tore it open. Inside there was a check and a letter. Amy let out a sigh of relief as she saw $100 written on the check! "Wow!" she exclaimed. "Mr. Stevens is such a sweetheart! Now I can buy my own dress to wear tonight!"
With a grin she opened the letter. It began, "Dear Amy, Congratulations on your graduation. You have grown into a fine young lady, and I know your mother is very proud of you. I hope you can use this money to buy yourself something you have always wanted. I know your mother has not been able to give you all the nice things you would have liked.
I also would like to tell you a story. Its a story about something your mother gave you a long time ago, but she is a very humble person, and she didn't want you to grow up thinking you owed her anything. so she has never told you this story herself. I think you are old enough to hear it now.
You never knew your father, Amy, but he was a good man. He was the son of a rich, selfish tirant. Your grandfather wanted your father to take over his business and mary a rich woman whose family lived close to your father's family. Your father didn't love this woman, though. Instead, he fell in love with a simple, sweet girl from a poor family. She was very beautiful, but your grandfather refused to let his son mary her. He told your father that if he married this girl he would throw him out of his house and never speak to him again. Your father loved this girl very much, so much that he was willing to give up all of his inheritance and position, so they eloped and moved to a different city.
Your father was a good man, but he had grown up rich and spoiled, and it was difficult for him to find a job. They rented a tiny, old, run down house on the edge of town. Your father did whatever work he could find, but it was hard to make ends meet. By this time your mother's parents had died, and they had no one to help them. Within a year or two, you were born. Even though times were hard, your mother and father were very happy. They had each other and you, and that was enough. On your parents third anniversary your father splurged and bought your mother a pearl necklace to show her how much he loved her. It wasn't very fancy or expensive, but it was his way of telling her how much he loved her. Then, because he had spent so much money, he had to work nights as well as days to make up for it.
One cold winter night the old stove your parents used to heat their little house blew up and started the house on fire. Your mother was home alone with you. You were sleeping in the room by the stove, because it was the warmest room in the house. Your mother ran into the burning room, picked you up from your little bed, and wrapped you in a blanket to keep you safe. Then she ran back threw the burning room. The only other thing she was able to take out of her house was her pearl necklace. The blanket had kept you safe, but your mothers clothes and hair were on fire. She was rushed to a hospital. Your father, hearing about the fire, rushed home to find the house engulfed in flames. Afraid that his wife and baby were still inside, he rushed into the house and it fell down around him.
Your mother was in the hospital for a long time. Your grandfather was contacted about your fathers death, and he came to the hospital to talk to your mother. He told her she was in no shape to take care of a child. He said he would take you and raise you as his own daughter as long as your mother would never have anything to do with you. She refused, and he never offered to help again.
Dear Amy, your mother has never wanted you to feel sorry for her, or to worry about the great sacrifice she made for you. But I think you are old enough to know just how much both of your parents loved you, and what they were willing to do for you. I hope you will have a wonderful life, I know you will make them both proud of you.
Amy sat holding the letter from Mr. Stevens for a long time, tears running down her cheeks as she thought about the beautiful young woman her mother had once been, and of all the years she had selflessly taken care of her little daughter, never complaining or asking for pity. At last, Amy picked up the pearls she had carelessly tossed on the bed. She fingered them lovingly for a long time. When her mother came in later that evening she found Amy dressed and waiting to escort her to the graduation, looking lovely in the beautiful dress her mother had made, with the pearl necklace clasped around her neck.
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