Morning all. Grass pollen has me sneezing up a storm this morning so it is an indoor day for me. Let’s see if we can put the indoor day to productive use by kicking it off with the morning prompt. Everyone ready? Fabulous, let’s go.
I have no idea what is in the box. Whatever it is will set the tone for the story. I will have to think about it but it feels like this is the start of a mystery.
Thursday, July 6th, 2023: It was lost more than thirty years ago.
It was lost more than thirty years ago. When the box came to light it was to cause far more of a sensation than he thought. Initially he hauled out the box from the shadows of the basement and dusted it off. He purchased the house from the grandchildren of the owner. He died and like vultures picking apart a carcass each of them took what they wanted from the house leaving behind the scrambled remains of parts they found indigestible.
In the kitchen he found more than 200 packs of sugar stolen from various cafes and eateries over the years. He found an equal number of each of the variously colored other sweeteners. Next to the white of the sugar packets, blue, pink and even yellow packaged artificial sweeteners were lined up. They filled three of the kitchen drawers. Another was filled with sauce packets from the local chinese place and a fourth contained a mix of wooden chopstick sets and ketchup packets.
The cabinets were open and many of them were empty. The table was left in the eat in section of the kitchen because one of the metal legs was bent and as the chairs matched it, they too were left. On top of the table was a mountain of old circulars sent through the mail, magazines and the local newspaper that could still be picked up for free around town.
The mess on top of the table shielded it’s true value and after he took a little time to straighten the one bent leg, he sold it to a vintage dealer for enough to cover the cost of the dumpster. As he went through the house, there were a lot of things like that. Little treasures overlooked in the haste to grab what they could and get out. As he pulled the box from the basement shadows, he wondered if this was to be the same. Having no desire to look things over in the dark, he took the box upstairs. It was the last bit of clearing that needed to be done by him. Now that it was out, he could turn his team loose on the basement. They could clear the now empty shelves out and start prepping the basement for renovation. The basement was unfinished, with merely a concrete floor and ancient mechanicals.
The mechanics no longer functioned and since they had to be replaced, he was taking the opportunity to reconfigure and turn the basement into usable, livable space.
“All clear,” He told Mike, his on site foreman.
Mike nodded. “Jimmy, Todd, you to start clearing the rest of the basement.” Two of the younger men on the team headed towards the stairs. He left them to it and took the box outside. Mike followed.
“I talked to Julian about the pipes,” Mike started. He nodded knowing Julian was their plumber extraordinaire. He half listened as he set the box on the picnic table out back. The box was old and in good condition. He knew it alone was worth something. He opened it carefully so as not to damage it. His eyes went wide and he breath caught. Mike leaned in alerted by his posture.
“Is that what I think it is,” he asked.
Ten til Midnight 