

The Shopping Trip

Geoffrey Stone, the automotive manager at the Manchester Wal-Mart, was excited. His efforts to help Takira had paid off. He had convinced Kaplan Computers to donate a refurbished computer and games, and gotten the Shell Foodmart and Hometown Buffet to offer gift certificates. And he had raised more than $1,600 for the family at Wal-Mart. Today, a Saturday in August, he would get to meet Takira and give it all to her family; the girl would get to go on a shopping spree.

"I begged for all of it. I saw her picture in the newspaper and figured we had to shed a little light on this. Who gives a rat's butt about medical bills? For one big minute, Wal-Mart is a village. It's time to stop the violence and little kids getting hurt," Stone said.

Outside, Delphine's father, John Williams, pulled up in his black Lincoln, and out into a rainy afternoon climbed Takira, Delphine and the rest of the family - Takara, John, cousin Shaniqua, and Linda Holden, Delphine's sister-in-law. They filed into the store.

The Wal-Mart staff gathered around. They handed Delphine hundreds of cards for Takira that had been signed by customers. Stone held up another sign drawn on hot pink cardboard that said, "Welcome to Wal-Mart," and another employee handed Takira a teddy bear they had named "Missy." Three other employees came up the aisles pushing empty shopping carts - one each for the twins and Delphine.

"Every time has a season," Stone blurted out. "There's a time to laugh. A time to cry and a time to GO GET SOME TOOOOYS!!!" The crowd clapped. Delphine gasped. She had been planning to allow the children to get three toys each and some school clothes. But this was out of her control.

Takira, Takara and Shaniqua followed two Wal-Mart workers toward the Barbie section in the toy department. Takira and Takara started tossing dolls, doll clothes and accessories into their carts. Shaniqua stood behind the pair, holding a doll, tears in her eyes. "They get all that!" she said. "What about me?" The carts quickly filled. All smiles, Takira and Takara tried to jam giant purple and pink balls into their carts. They followed the Wal-Mart workers past the children's bicycles, and then Takara saw the rack of guns in the sports department and slowed down. "That's bad. Guns are bad," she said, then ran to catch up with Takira and Shaniqua.

Delphine walked through the children's aisles and put purple bathrobes and pink pajamas in her cart with three video games for John. When she saw the girls' carts stuffed with toys, she said, "Oh no. You need to get panties. Let's go. Let's go. We'll find something to wear for church tomorrow. Then, we've got to go. We have enough stuff right now." She held up three black and blue printed dresses with blue denim vests for the girls' approval.

The children ran up to the checkout line. Delphine didn't want to make a scene. She handed the register clerk the $1,603.90 gift card Stone had given her. Delphine felt a headache coming on: She tried to subtract in her head as the clerk ran up the 88 items, mostly toys, and placed them into big plastic bags. The total came to $1,125.22.

"This is not what I expected," Delphine quietly told Holden. "I'm bringing most of this stuff back."

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