Page 22 - LIfesOuttakes5
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                Soup Can Labels And Red Wagons            My little three year old daughter, Celese, let go of     my hand and rushed to the little red wagon.  “Oh,     Daddy.  Can we get it for Christmas?!  Can we?!”            I could see the longing in her smiling face and her     sparkling eyes, but when I looked at the $60 price tag,     my heart sank.  As a college student, I was doing     everything I could, but I was barely able to earn enough     money for my family’s needs.  Besides teaching some     classes, and taking care of race horses at nights and on     Saturdays, I also did work at our apartment complex for     part of our rent.            I knew Celese had dreamed of having a little     wagon for her and her sister.  A neighbor boy had one     that he hauled all sorts of things around in, but he was     not about to share it.  Celese had seen a picture of one     in a colored Sunday ad and had kept the ad in her room,     sleeping with it under her pillow.  I keenly felt her     disappointment when I told her that we couldn’t afford     the wagon.                                       16
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