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THE CHRISTMAS PRESENT
1. Della stood at the window of her shabby flat and looked out dully at a grey cat walking on a grey fence in a grey backyard. Tomorrow would be Christmas Day and she had only one dollar 87 cents with which to buy a present for her husband, Jim. She had saved every cent she could for weeks, with this result. Twenty dollars a week does not go very far. Expenses had been greater than she had calculated. Only $1,87 to buy her Jim a present! She had planned for months to give him something fine and rare and sterling.
2. Suddenly she whirled from the window and stood before the mirror. Her eyes were shining brilliantly as an idea flashed into her mind.
3. Rapidly she pulled down her hair and let it fall into its full length. Now there were two possessions of the James Willingham Youngs in which they took a mighty pride. One was Jim’s gold watch which had been his father’s. The other was Della’s hair.
4. So now Della’s beautiful hair fell about her, rippling and shining like a cascade of brown waters. It reached below her knee and made itself almost a garment for her. Then she did it up again nervously and quickly. Once she faltered for a minute while a tear or two splashed on the worn red carpet.
5. On went her old brown jacket; on went her old brown hat. With a whirl of skirts and with a brilliant sparkle still in her eyes, she fluttered out of the door and down the stairs to the street. Where she stopped, the sign read: “Mme Sofronie. Hair Goods of All Kinds” and Della entered.
6. “Will you buy my hair?” asked Della.
7. “I buy hair,” said Madame. “Take your hat off and let’s see it.” Down rippled the beautiful brown cascade. “Twenty dollars,” said Madame, lifting the mass with practised hands.
8. “Give it to me quickly,” said Della.
9. The next two hours tripped by on rosy wings as she ransacked the stores for Jim’s present. She found it at last. It surely had been made for Jim and no one else. It was a platinum fob chain – worthy of The Watch. Twenty-one dollars they took from her for it, and she hurried home with the 87 cents.
...
10. At seven o’ clock everything was ready. Jim was never late. Della doubled the fob chain in her hand and sat on the corner of the table near the door that he always entered. When she heard his step on the stairs she turned white for just a moment and sent up a silent prayer: “Please God, make him think I am still pretty.”
11. The door opened and Jim stepped in and closed it. His eyes were fixed upon Della - there was a peculiar expression on his face. Della wriggled off the table and went to him.
12. “Jim, darling,” she cried, “don’t look at me that way. I had my hair cut off and sold it because I couldn’t have lived through Christmas without giving you a present. You don’t know what a beautiful gift I’ve got for you.”
13. “You’ve cut off your hair?” asked Jim. “You say your hair is gone?”
14. “It’s sold, I tell you, but it went for you. Maybe the hairs of my head were numbered, but nobody could ever count my love for you.”
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