Christmas Shoes
Characters: David Rossi, Spencer Reid
Hi my name is David Rossi, I am a middle aged man and I work as a profiler for the FBI, I am on my third wife. I was tired and over worked and on my way to the mall from his hotel. I was in Las Vegas, Nevada (I had been working on a case) and there was no sign of snow but I knew there would be when I got back home to Virginia tomorrow morning on Christmas Eve, it was likely that there would be a thick layer of snow on the ground. I would rather be in my hotel room with a glass of scotch and a nice book but my wife wanted me to stop and get a few last minute gifts for her sister and her kids.
I left my car in a nearby parking garage and slipped into a department store that was getting closer to closing time. I went to the jewelry department first to get the necklace my wife said would be perfect for her sister. I found it and paid for it right then. After the jewelry department and made my way to the toy department. Once I was there I picked out a few toys for my sister-in-law's kids. With my arms full of gifts I moved toward the front of the store near the main registers. When I got in line there were three people. There was one man holding a small box in his hand. There was a young woman clutching a couple of Christmas stockings. Last but not least there was a little boy holding onto a shoe box for dear life. The shoes were clearly for a woman by the picture displayed on the side.
Looking closer at the little boy I could see that his clothe while they were nice they were a little worn and old. The boys face was even covered in layer of dirt. The boy obviously looked like he had been neglected and I had half a mind to call the Las Vegas branch DFS but even if I wanted to I wouldn't be able to because I left my cell phone back into my car.
"Next." The cashier called. The man walked away and the woman stepped up and placed her things onto the counter. The cashier quickly rung up her things and placed them in a bag and the woman quickly walked away.
David's focus turned to the little boy in front of him.
"How can I help you?" The cashier asked.
"I want to buy these shoes for my mama please; you see she's been sick for quite a while And I know these shoes would make her smile." The boy answered. He pushed the shoes on top of it. He then started to dig through his pants and shirt pockets for all the money he had. The tossed it on to the counter for the cashier to count.
"I'm sorry son there's not enough here." The casher said.
The little boy dug through his pockets again but didn't find any more money. He turned toward David with his pockets turned out.
"Mama made Christmas good at our house; though most years she just did without Tell me Sir, what am I going to do?" the little boy asked. "I have to buy her these shoes."
I couldn't not do anything for the boy so I turned to the cashier.
"How much more does he need?" I asked.
"They cost forty dollars, and he needs twenty five more to cover the whole cost." The cashier said.
I took out two twenty dollar bills and lay them down on the counter.
"Give him his money back." I told them.
The cashier took the money I had laid down and gave me the changed from it and gave the little boy the shoes –now inside a bag—along with the money he was going to use for them.
"Thank you sir, Mama's going to look great." He said to me as he ran out of the store. I would never forget that look of joy ever.
Eighteen Years Later
"All right Rossi what do you do as a Christmas tradition if you aren't home?" Morgan asked.
"Um I just go to a store where people are shopping no matter where I'm at and pay for one person's shopping cart weather they have it filled with food or gifts."
"That's so sweet." Garcia said. "Where did you get that idea?" she asked.
"I got the idea nearly twenty years ago." Rossi said. "I had been in Las Vegas for a case and we had wrapped it up. I went to a mall there to finish up some Christmas shopping and it was the day before Christmas Eve there was a little a boy about ten years old may be older or younger I'm not sure."
Rossi stopped talking for a minutes.
"Come on finish telling us." Garcia said.
"The boy in question was holding a box of shoes, he didn't have enough money for them and turned around to me and said that he wanted to get them for his mother who was sick and usually did without come Christmas time. I paid for the shoes and allowed him to keep the money he was using to pay for the shoes with."
"Do you have any idea what happen to the boy?" Morgan asked.
"No I never even learned his name. He ran out of the store clutching the shoes before I could even ask." Rossi said. "He would be in his late twenties by now."
"I know who that boy was," Reid said.
"How do you know?" Rossi asked him.
"I know who that boy was because that boy was me." Reid replied. "I was nine and my mother hadn't been out of bed in weeks and she hadn't eaten in days, it was before I knew what made her sick and I honestly thought that she was going to die that night."
