The Black Friday Miracle

The debit card’s stripe was hot.  Lola had run her plastic through so many machines that day that she swore she smelled the smell of it melting. It was Black Friday and she was trying to single-handedly fix the U.S. Economy.  So far, she was succeeding.

She pushed a 90-year-old woman out of the way to get to the last 19-inch LCD HDTV and triumphantly put it in her cart.  A kid who was didn’t get out of her way fast enough felt the pain of the shopping cart running over his toes.  She had heard about the woman with the pepper spray. Seemed amateurish to her.  She would have used a Taser.

“Peace on Earth, goodwill toward men, my butt,” she thought. “Move out of the way so I can get a toaster for a buck. Christmas is about survival of the fittest.”

She looked around and saw that the landscape was picked over. If the three Wise men had shopped at this Mall, the baby Jesus would have been lucky to have ended up with a Snuggie and a set of insulated glasses.

Lola had tried to explain to her husband that what she was doing was like deer hunting. The Mall was like deer camp.  Her hunt involved big bucks and she was looking for a trophy.  Her husband had rolled his eyes; he normally did. But he wouldn’t be complaining on Christmas morning. Oh no.  Ho ho ho and been replaced with Mo’ mo’ mo’.

This was what Christmas was about to her. Buying stuff. In bulk. And on sale.

She walked out to the car and put another rounds of shopping bags into her trunk. Looking into the massive well filled with bags, she began to hum, “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.”  And then she said to herself, “Oh Kris Kringle, I’m beginning to tingle.”

As Lola walked back to the Mall, she noticed an olive-skinned man with a beard and ratty clothes.  He approached her (making her nervous of course) and held out his hand.  “A little something for the poor for this season.”

Lola gripped her Mace with her right hand as she clutched her purse with her left.

She felt fear.  Black Friday didn’t refer to the day of shopping. It was the condition of her heart at that very moment. “I’m reacting like anyone else would in the same situation,” she thought.

The man just stood there and looked at Lola. Lola just stood there and looked at the man.  She nervously fumbled the Mace in her hand as she stared at his piercing eyes.  Seconds seemed like hours.  And then he broke the silence.

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Lolo looked at the man for a minute and felt her grip loosen on her Mace.  She also felt a sudden wave of peace that loosened her heart.  A sense of what the Season was really about washed over her. She looked at the man and said, “Walk with me.”  Her words even shocked her.

Lola burned up her card once again. This time she wasn’t buying stuff to be buying stuff. She bought the man a meal. And then a nice new winter coat. (both on sale, of course).  As the stranger walked out of the Mall, he shouted, “Merry Christmas, Lola.”

“How did he know my name?” she wondered as she followed him outside.

As Lola walked out into the Mall parking lot that cold Black Friday night, she noticed the stranger had vanished. And in his place was a brilliant bright star in the Eastern sky.  For the rest of her life, she’d call it what it was: The Black Friday Miracle.