The Lost Doll

A story from Colombia, South America

 

                The only child of Roberto and Rosa Soto was Maria del Carmen. She was beautiful. She was bright, kind, and loving but she was always sick. By the time she turned four, she was very weak and died a few days later. After Carmen’s death, Rosa gave away Carmen’s things to the local priest of the other village because the doctor had said that they would not have next child. However, Roberto had hope. Rosa thought that it was only a false hope.

                As Roberto was looking out to the backyard where Carmen often played, he remembered a little doll which Carmen used to play with. It was not given to the priest and was in Carmen’s hand when she died. Rosaalso did not know about it and neither did Roberto. They looked everywhere and asked friends, the neighboring children, and even the undertaker but nobody knew about the lost doll. So, they forgot it.

                On the first anniversary of the death of Carmen, Rosagave birth to another baby girl proving that the doctor was wrong. The baby girl was baptized ‘Evangelina’ that meant ‘good news’. She was same as Carmen in appearance, action, and characters. The big difference was that Evangelina was healthy. The priest even thought that God took their sick child, healed her, and gave her back to them.

                One day when Evangelina was four, she said that she had been sick long ago. She even told to her aunt who was from Bogata. They did not give more attention to her thinking because she knew about Carmen by learning from her parents. During their  conversation, Evangelina said that she knew about the doll. She took her mother and her aunt into the backyard and asked her mother to dig up hard, strong ground next to the tree. To their surprise, they found the lost doll under the ground.

                Evangelina said that when she was sick, the priest came and prayed. Then she went to sleep but a real nice man woke her up. He did not let her take her doll with her. She wanted to bury the doll in the yard. So, he helped her put it under the ground without a shovel. Rosawas speechless.