'The Money Tree' Snippet

This is a short story that got very mixed reviews from those that read it. I've only enclosed the opening but, let's just say, some loved it and some really, really, really hated it.

"People trust me with their secrets. I guess it’s because they think I could never tell anyone, that I am a being of ears and no tongue. Of course such a notion is laughable – who cannot tell the woes and lies of others, if not it just you telling yourself over and over again? I must admit I came close to accepting the idea I was merely the secret keeper but as time passed and my ears became more accustomed to the things around me I finally knew that I was able to tell these tales – whether it be to myself or to the winds that whistled around me or even to leaves that would warn the humans of their lives. I am the secret keeper but who is to say I keep them only to myself?

            I first set eyes on the Edens on a summer afternoon. I heard the screech of breaks coming from the front of the house and my ears twitched with the new, distant sound. The sun glazed upon the windows as I made out three people – a young, blonde woman wrapped in a shawl, with beautiful, blue eyes and silken cheeks; from behind her came a tall, broad man with thick black hair and the most devilishly handsome face but it was the child who came running after them that caught my attention. Among the beaming expressions of happiness that forbade the husband and wife’s face the little girl, who came sprinting into the kitchen, showed me what true happiness looked like. With the battered toy dog in her hand and the golden hair that was flashing around her, the small, four-year-old child was the perfect picture of happiness."