Bixby’s Under-Awning Surprise — Every morning, Bixby rolled the first crate onto the roadside stand, lined up the potted berries, and painted one wobbly strawberry on the sign before the barn rooster cleared his throat. Read the full story →
Every morning, Bixby rolled the first crate onto the roadside stand, lined up the potted berries, and painted one wobbly strawberry on the sign before the barn rooster cleared his throat. He wanted the stand to make shoppers laugh, so he tucked squeaky leaves in the baskets and balanced one berry wearing a flower hat. Then one day, the striped awning went flap-flap-flump and dropped a tiny envelope onto his nose.
Because of that, Bixby climbed the counter, sticky with berry juice and sawdust, and peeked under the awning seam where nobody ever looked. Inside was a fold of tickets—free jam tarts from the fair cart—hidden by last year’s wind. Because of THAT, he could have eaten three warm, cinnamon-smelling tarts alone behind the crate. Instead, he slid one ticket under each berry basket, even the smallest one, and wrote, “Surprise included. No peeking with elbows.”
Finally, when shoppers lifted their baskets, the stand burst into snorts, gasps, and one excellent “Who put dessert in my strawberries?” Bixby only polished the sign and pretended innocence. Next time you see the striped awning, check the folds—Bixby may still be hiding grins where nobody thought to look.
