Fixing Holes In The Story

My mom and Katarina have an American Girl book system - mom buys a set at Christmas, and sends them to Katarina two books at a time throughout the year. On Easter she sent books five and six instead of books three and four.

Every true reader knows you can not read a book series out of order. Each book builds upon the last one. Katarina set the books on her shelf, and I let mom know the wrong books were sent when I emailed her that the package arrived. Katarina was disappointed, but we did not stress about it; I knew mom would send the others when she had time.

Saturday evening we were on the phone, and mom said, "I can't believe I sent the wrong books." Her husband, Don, heard. He asked her about it as soon as we hung up the phone, and couldn't believe she had known for several days without doing anything to fix it.

The phone rang. It was Don, and he asked to speak to Katarina. Don told her that when we was a kid in Chicago, they were poor, but he always went to the movie theater on Saturday mornings to see the Superman serial. One week they did not have enough money for him to buy a ticket, and he missed part 12. It was sad, because it was shown for just one day. The next week he was behind in the story, and he never did get to see part 12. Then he said goodbye, and hung up.

When Katarina said goodbye, and handed the phone to me, I expected him to still be on the line, but he was gone. "I guess he just wanted to commiserate with you about missing part of a story," I said with a shrug when I heard the dial tone, and Katarina told me the Superman story. We went back to what we were doing, and did not give it more thought.

Two hours later, the phone rang again. It was my mom letting me know books three and four were on their way.

As soon as he got off the line with Katarina, Don had pulled the books out of the closet so they could mail them. Don and mom went to three places until they found someone who would send them out that night. It was important to him that Katarina was not left with holes in her storyline.

That moment of love and kindness from Don warmed my heart. It is a beautiful thing to fill in the holes of a story, and give a child something you did not have when you were small.

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