The Jar with Ears

I live on a counter in Bob's General Store. There are groceries, bins of nails, sewing materials, fishing rods and bait.

I am a glass jar of peppermint sticks. Some children can't afford two cents for them. Wish I could hand them out but the boss likes to make money. I have been here twenty years. Bob keeps me filled up.

I know all the news. Betty Sue Hawkins is getting married in two weeks "because she is pregnant".
Johnny Timbers is in trouble, he's been caught "sippin on the job".

Then there is the Dobbins family. Fred Dobbins "can't keep a job". His wife, Linda, is "part Injun". They have five little children who stare at toys with wide sad eyes. Susie is five with curly dark hair. She smiles and talks to everyone.

Bob said he is getting rid of me. He's not making a profit on candy.

Doris Wheeler comes in, "Bob, did you hear that little Dobbins girl, Susie, was hit by a car? They don't have money for a funeral. Guess she'll lay in a pauper's grave."

Bob looks at me and scratches his head. He writes on a slip of paper "Please put in donations for Susie Dobbins white casket". He put twenty bucks in. Doris huffed but scrapped up five. By the end of the week, I was full of money.

Bob took me to the sad Dobbins house full of money for that casket.

Now, I am the "Friendship Jar" and never empty.

By Kathie Stehr