A Collection of Stories

Mary kept me on her shelf next to a box with a few other jars in it. She had once tried to stuff me inside like the others but I didn’t fit. I was much larger and had a handle. My purpose was to boil stuff like oils or herbs, not store roots or leaves.

Mary was a nice lady, and so was her partner, Ann. They always dusted the room I lived in. The took care to clean my shelf and the shelves above and below me.

They came downstairs every day. They dusted, cooked, boiled, brewed, and so on.

Then one day, they stopped coming. No big deal. Sometimes they leave on business. But this time I was collecting dust. I never collected dust.

Plants began to wilt. Old spices turned to mould. My community was dying.

It was a month before Ann came downstairs. She was crying. She watered the plants, but she didn’t look at me. She gave each plant a heavy amount of water, but completely ignored me and my shelf.

She did this every day. Sometimes she came in crying. I didn’t understand. Why was Ann crying? Where was Mary?

Mary never let us get dirty. Was she. . . gone?

Ann kept returning to water the plants. She got rid of things that had gone bad and started to smell. She never dusted. One day there was screaming upstairs. After that, silence. Ann stopped coming. A few people, ones I didn’t recognize, came and went. They took some things from the basement and left boxes behind. Then, once people stopped coming altogether, I met Sam.

Sam was 10 at the time. He stared at me with wide eyes as he plucked me from the shelf. His tiny, warm hands carried me upstairs to the kitchen. There was another man, much older, doing the dishes.

“Grandpa, look what I found!” Sam called.

His grandpa turned to him with a smile. “Well, if that isn’t the strangest looking jar I’ve ever seen. Where did you find that, Sammy?”

“On the shelf in the basement!”

“Yes, of course!” His grandpa knelt to give me a better look. “It’s completely covered in dust, like everything else down there. I’ll give it a wash then you can take it to your mother. How’s that sound?”

Sam nodded and placed me into his grandpa’s soapy hands. The water was as hot as the fires I used to sit on, from what I can remember. It had been a while since someone used me for anything. The water surrounded me for a minute until Sam’s Grandpa took me out and scrubbed me with a cloth. The bubbles brought back my blue-ish colour. He placed me on a towel to dry with the rest of the dishes.

I felt each drop evaporate from my surface. By the time I was dry, Sam had dragged his mother into the room and convinced her to let me go home with him.

His grandpa wrapped me in a newspaper and placed me into something. It felt like a box.

“Sam!” I heard a scream. It was a girl.

“What is it?” Sam called. “Caleigh, you look scared!”

“It’s mommy. She’s scaring me!” Caleigh cried. “Wh-Where is Grandpa?”

Dishes clinked. I heard heavy footsteps. “Caleigh?” Sam’s grandpa spoke. “C’mon honey, let’s go to your room and you can tell me what’s wrong, okay?”

I heard sobbing. The sound grew distant.

I spent a few days in the dark once again. It wasn’t as long as I had spent on the shelf but it was still something of a wait. When I could see next, I was in a whole new room. I saw Sam reach towards me and place 10 coins inside me. There was a birthday card in his hand. Sam left another 10 coins out on the desk I was sitting on.

“That’s half,” I heard Sam mutter.

He did this once a week on Saturdays. He would put some money in me and keep the rest for himself. About a year and a half later, sometime in April according to Sam’s calendar, Sam dumped out all the money.

Sam began to count. “5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 50, 55… 180!”

$180 wasn’t bad for a kid who spent a lot of money on Yu Gi Oh cards.

“Mom!” Sam shouted. “How much was it again!?”

“$169.99, honey! Are you sure that’s what you want to spend your money on?”

Sam grinned at his money. “Yes! This will make Caleigh happy again!”

He scooped all his money into his hands and poured it back into me. The following day, Sam picked me up and brought me upstairs. He set me in his lap and couldn’t stop bouncing me around. Every time his right leg moved up or down, the coins inside me rattled.

“Mom!” Sam called. “How long until we can go?”

“You have to eat your breakfast first.”

Sam set me onto the dining room table. His mother pushed me aside to make room for Sam’s breakfast. I watched him make a bowl of Cheerios disappear so fast that I swear he was a witch too.

His mother watched with her hands on her hips. She rolled her eyes and chuckled, a proud smirk keeping her from commenting. I suppose she was proud that Sam was eager to buy something for Caleigh. Selfless Sam. He was different from Ann. I’m sure she wouldn’t have recognized him as related to her, except, perhaps, on Ann’s final days.

“I’m finished, Mum!” Sam jumped from his seat.

“Alright,” she replied, grabbing Sam’s forgotten bowl. “Go get in the car. I’ll be out in a minute. You know where the keys are, hon. So, unlock it but don’t start it!”

“Yes, Mum,” Sam said, bouncing down the stairs. He pulled his shoes on before he came back for me. He hugged me with one arm while he grabbed the keys then opened the door with his other hand. He pulled the door shut and ran down the walkway. The car clicked as it unlocked. Sam climbed into the back seat and set me down next to him.

The heat inside the car reminded me of the hot water in the sink. I felt Sam’s hand grow sweaty while he was holding me, but he seemed fine waiting with the door open.

Once his mother arrived, she helped Sam get into his seat belt. Sam insisted that I wear a seat belt too, so his mother threaded the middle seat belt through my handle. I wasn’t sure where we were going, but I was grateful that I didn’t have to sit in a dark box again.

When the vehicle stopped, Sam turned to look at me. He smiled. His mother helped him out of the car then handed me over to Sam. He kept me hugged against his chest as we wandered through the store.

We approached the outdoors section. There was a never-ending line of bikes on the floor. I felt Sam’s heartbeat quicken.

“This one?” His mother asked.

“Yeah!” He screamed. He nodded and kept the rest of his body still. He didn’t want to drop me.

The cashier gave me an odd look when Sam placed me on the counter. Sam tilted me over and the coins poured across the counter.

“It’s enough for the bike, right?” He asked.

The man gave him a warm smile. “Yes dear. It’s exactly enough.”

About a two weeks later I heard some rumbling upstairs. There were frantic footsteps followed by a loud singing of ‘Happy Birthday’. I could hear paper shredding and Caleigh, Sam’s younger cousin, let out an ecstatic laugh. “Wow!” I heard her gasp. “It’s a bike, Dad! Sammy got me a bike!”

Caleigh was a tough girl. I know Sam looked up to her. He never cried when he couldn’t beat her at a video game. He didn’t get upset when she could draw better stick figures than he could. Sam’s eyes shone with pride when she beat him at anything. I wanted to smile. Sometimes Sam was so amazed by her victories that he would sabotage himself to see her win.

Still, Sam never gave up. One day his unwillingness to back down earned him a victory. Caleigh’s mouth fell open and she stared at the board game for a long time. She was so used to winning, she didn’t know what to do.

Sam poked her. “Cal?”

Caleigh blinked. “Oh! Congrats Sam!”

But as they got older, they grew distant.

“Sam,” I overheard her speaking to him on the phone, “I’m in high school now. Almost college. I can’t afford to come over to your house every weekend.”

I noticed Sam frown. “C’mon, Caleigh. It’s one game.”

She sighed, “Alright, maybe, but only if you agree to help me with my homework first.”

Sam groaned. “And what’s your homework?”

“I have to get something from our great-grandmother’s house.”

Sam’s shoulders tensed. “No.”

I heard Caleigh huff. “Alright, you don’t have to go inside, but can you meet us there? Bring your camera if you can. Tell your mom and dad that I need photos of the house for my assignment. I’m telling my dad the same thing. See ya tomorrow!”

She hung up. Even after the call had ended, Sam’s shoulders were shaking.

He grumbled and plopped down on his chair. Sam lowered his forehead to the table and closed his eyes. He sat there for nearly two minutes before he dragged himself to his feet. “Mom! Dad!” he called as he left the room, “Caleigh wants me to help her with a school assignment! Where’s the camera?”

The next day, Sam only looked paler. He said nothing as he paced the room. Sam kept glancing at the clock, then at his watch on his wrist, then at the camera on his bed. Another hour later, he shoved the camera into his backpack and marched out.

Sam, Caleigh, and someone I’d never seen before burst through Sam’s door. Caleigh collapsed onto Sam’s bed, the stranger sat next to her. Sam fell back into his desk chair. The stranger leaned forward and placed his head between his knees. I noticed him shaking.

Sam turned towards Caleigh, his back to me. “What was that all about?” he asked.

Caleigh locked wide eyes on him, her expression almost crazed. “We thought we were in trouble. Some guy yelled at us after we left the house. We thought he would call the cops or something. You know, since it looked like we broke into the house?”

Sam scoffed, “Well, yeah, technically you did.”

“Well!” Caleigh folded her arms. “We wouldn’t have had to break in if you’d been there on time!”

“Consider yourself lucky I showed up at all,” Sam muttered. “You know I don’t like that place... ever since...”

Caleigh nodded.

Sam moved his backpack onto his lap and unzipped it. “So, where are the letters you want me to take photos of?”

“Here.”