Here’s a little ditty that has a bit of humor.

A lady friend and a faithful reader of my column asked my wife and I if we would like to join her and friend and go to Wakarusa, Ind., to get some jelly beans.

We gratefully accepted her offer. She said she had been there before, but neither my wife or I knew where Wakarusa was.

Our trip started out fine and we made it to Edwardsburg, no problem.

She decided to take some back roads, and we sure did.

It was a little while and our driver said, I think I’ve missed a road I should have turned on, so I’ll keep driving until I see a familiar road.

About now I’m wondering if we would get home by 4 p.m.

Finally, we came to the Elkhart airport. She said now she could get us there, but not through busy Elkhart.

Well, all I know was we went over the Toll Road twice and then twice again on a circular same route as we passed similar scenes.

I must say, our drive was like they tell about husbands who won’t give up and ask for directions. Of course, we had no map.

Well, after driving through busy 19 in Elkhart,  we finally saw a sign that said Wakarusa, nine or 19 miles.

When we did arrive now we had a problem of finding a parking place, as we went around the block as we passed the front of the store. Many people were going in and lots coming out.

The place is the Wakarusa Dime Store, and it was the most crowded of merchandise and people you can imagine.

Actually, it was a candy lover’s heaven, and it was not just jelly beans, but taffy and all kinds of candy.

Their claim is they sell 50 tons of jelly beans each year. Now that’s a lot of beans, but I bet it’s true.

So much displayed stuff and so many people. There was not much room to go down the aisles, but in front of bags of different flavors was a bottle to sample the flavor (I was pretty well full of those samples.)

Oh, by the way, I found it to be not a cheap place to go as they got old Charlie for $20 for his beans. All in all it was an enjoyable trip and we now have jelly beans up the gee-gee. And we did arrive home by 4 p.m., as our driver promised.

I was also told we should see a lot of Amish folks and their horse-drawn buggies, but never saw one.

If anyone wants to go get jelly beans, be sure to take a map.

I guess this place is quite well-known, as they have a toll-free phone number, 1-877-715-921, and a Web site, www.jumbojellybeans.com.

The store is open Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5:30 and Saturday, 9-4; Sunday, 11-4.

I hope my little story doesn’t scare anyone from going there if they go jelly beaning.

“Cardinal Charlie” Gill writes a nostalgic weekly column about growing up in the Grand Old City. E-mail him at cardinalcharlie@hotmail.com.