In Nebraska gifts
are singular not plural.
A truck?
A gun?
Perhaps a nice picture book?
Something suitable for a boy.
The request for a doll lay like a dead bird on the dining room table.
Awkward and difficult to remove.
And when the singular gift had been given,
when the paper and ribbons had been removed,
when the gift had been lifted from the box,
it became clear.
A compromise had been reached in the color of the doll.