"Is It For Me?"

I was ready to leave the store promptly at 6 tonight - it was a hot and slow day, and I was looking forward to being outside in the garden. The lights were off, the door was locked, it was probably 6:05. As I walked up to the door to let myself out, I saw a Dad and a very young girl - maybe 3 - standing at the door looking in. I said hello and the Dad told me "this is our favorite store." I said hello to the little girl who was staring at the small giftwrapped present I had in my hand. "What's that?" she said. I told her it was a present. Completely genuinely, she asked,"is it for me?" I told her that no, it was for a friend who was moving out of town. "What's in it?" was her next question. I described the contents - it was a modest gift for a woman who is leaving the coffee shop next door to move to Maine with her boyfriend. A pack of gum (Blue Q's best), a wish token, a globe marble, an icecream eraser and a note, all wrapped up with festive ribbons in a little coin purse. She sighed. As she and her Dad walked away, I heard her begin "when I grow up . . ." but then they were a bit out of reach and I couldn't hear the rest of her sentence. Maybe she was thinking I'll own a store. Or I'll work in a store. More likely, she was thinking - someone will give me a present like that. In any case, she gave me a present - there's just something so delightful about being young and innocent enough to think that a complete stranger emerging from a store with a wrapped gift might intend that gift for you.