It was a cold winter night when Claudette was selling matches on the streets of Paris. Claudette was born with a crippled left leg, and no one else loved her but her mother, who laid ill in bed. Claudette was so determined to buy the medicine to cure her mother, that she got a job as a match girl. But sadly, no one wanted matches from her because she was crippled in one leg. As her mother’s illness grew worse and worse, Claudette grew more and more determined to get the medicine. One night, while returning home, a hair seller offered to buy her hair for more than enough money for the medicine to cure her mother. Claudette accepted this, and the man led her into the barbershop. After a few minutes, Claudette’s hair was sold, but she didn’t cry, because she had the money to buy the medicine. She rushed to the Doctor who examined her mother, gave him the money and said, “I have your money, now please, give me the medicine so my mother can get better.” Sternly The Doctor gave her the medicine and written instructions on how to administer the medicine. When Claudette arrived home, her mother was dead. Claudette was heartbroken, she rushed back to the Doctor and told him angrily, “Because you refused to give me the medicine when my mother was alive and had a chance to live, she’s dead and it’s all because you refused to give her the medicine!” Then Claudette burst into tears of grief and passion for her mother. The Doctor looks at Claudette and rudely said, “your mother would have died anyway.” This made Claudette furious, she brought the medicine back, and said, in a low, intense voice, “Give me my money back.”
“All sales are final.” The Doctor snarled in return. Then Claudette tossed the medicine bottle on the ground, liquid pooled onto the ground along with shattered glass. “Hey!” The Doctor snapped and was about to grab her by the arm, but Claudette hit him with her crutch and heard a satisfying groan and blood coming out of his jaw. Claudette limped out of the house as fast as she could with her crutch. Tears came down her small face, as she opened the house door and locked it behind her. A few days after her mother had died, the same Doctor who she blamed for her mother’s death, entered the house, hoping to make amends for his words. But instead, found Claudette, dead. She had died of a broken heart. And so, Claudette and her mother were buried side by side in the cemetery. But no one knew how happy Claudette was, when she and her mother were reunited in heaven.