The hardware store was about to be sold. The shelves and display cases all stood empty. The only thing left was some rope about five feet long. It lay curled up in a small round heap on the floor.

The daughter of the store owner called him Jerry. She played with Jerry whenever she came to the store. Sometimes she practiced tying knots. She even made a lariat once. He thought for sure that she would take him home to play with her, but she never did.

The last night that the store was open, the janitor swept around Jerry. The janitor said, “It’s just me and you now, Jerry. Tomorrow, it’ll be just Jerry.”

Jerry stretched and yawned, then stretched some more into a loop and fell asleep. When he awoke, sunlight poured in through the front door.

There stood the owner’s daughter. She was looking for something. “Oh, Jerry! There you are!” she said excitedly. “Daddy says I can keep you!”

In her hand, she held two small pieces of wood with a hole through each one. She tied a knot at each end to make handles out of the wood pieces.

“Ready?” she asked Jerry. He didn’t quite know what the handles were for, but was curious to find out.

Up over her head, then down under her feet and up again went Jerry.

“You’re my little jump rope,” sang the girl.

So that’s what Jerry was—a jump rope! He liked being a jump rope. It was a lot more fun than being tied in knots.