Jobber

Jobber, which means ‘an unspecified object,” as “Hand me that jobber over there.” Once I was driving back home to Illinois from Nebraska and I picked up a Native American couple who were hitch-hiking from the side of the road. The woman was a little dull-witted, and the husband wasn’t far behind, but we got on famously because we were able to communicate through the power of music. At that time I had an old beat-up guitar in the back seat, where the husband sat. Once we got going, he asked me if he could play the guitar. I said sure, and he proceeded to play “Keep on the Sunny Side.” We all joined in, and I flipped on a small tape recorder to catch the concert. We were howling like a bunch of cats but having a ball.

After the song was over, I took a drink from my Army surplus canteen, and I offered it to the gentleman. He said, “Sure, hand me that jobber, “ and I was startled because I hadn’t heard anyone say “Jobber” since I was a kid.