Grandfather's Box

My Grandfather warned me about it many times, still curiosity got the best of me. I tried to fight it, but I had to find out what was in that tiny box I was told to never open.

The box was some exotic wood with intricate grain patterns and fit in the palm of your hand; but I'll be damned if I could see a hinge, latch or any other way of opening it. But then it came to me in a flash, from something I’d read from an old text, and I dashed to the fridge and pulled out an over-ripe banana, a jar of mayonnaise and exactly 3 large Kalamata olives.

  I stopped for a moment, looked at what I had in my hands, and had the nagging suspicion that it should be 4 large Kalamata olives and not 3. So I got another olive and closed the refrigerator before rushing the items over to the kitchen table to begin to assembling them.

"What are you doing?" I heard my Grandfather's voice from behind me, which made me jump from surprise. I turned around to look, but as I thought, nobody there. I shook my head and turned my attention back toward the items on the kitchen table.

 I peeled the banana, and threw it away. The peel was all I wanted.

 Then I heard my grandfather's voice again, saying, "assemble the internal portion of yellow fruit, whitish egg sauce and olives of the Ancients in the manner divined of the ages, and then, only then will you see what lies within."

I looked around for a moment spooked. Who wouldn’t be but then I decided that I should do as the voice had told me.

 While I was assembling the items, I wondered why my long dead grandfather was just now speaking to me and why he was helping me to open the box that he'd always told me not to open. Perhaps it had something to do with that book I'd recently found up in the attic.

I stopped for a moment to look around the room at all the unusual appliances and fixtures that my grandparents insisted on collecting. This old house is full of strange things, sometimes I thought Gramps was into the Occult. Perhaps that was why he didn't want me to open the box, but what about the book.

 Once I touched that old book and began to read its tattered pages, a shiver ran down my spine. I close immediately but I knew it was too late.  I started having these vivid dreams about that tiny wooden box. In these dreams I had opened it using a mystical formula from an ancient land and this woman appeared. She told me that she could grant me three wishes, kind of like a genie even though she was dressed in an outfit which made her appear as some kind of gypsy.  Each night she filled my head with wonder and magic as she took me to places and lands that I only read about in fairy tales. The dreams always ended with me standing at a door and every morning I woke eager to return.

That’s why I find myself trying to open my Grandfather’s box, so I could return to those places of wonder.  I've mixed all the ingredients, so it's now or never.  The voice said, “Rub the gaps and watch it beech.”   I rubbed the thick concoction around the gaps of the box and watched stunned as the mixture caused steam to puff out, breaking the seal. I stood back watching as the last bit of steam evaporated.

 Here goes! The box is opening and... It's not a genie. It's a... It’s a... A squirrel...? What kind of lame crap was this? I scratched my head, trying to make sense of it wondering why a squirrel was in the box, instead of the woman.

While I tried to work this out I noticed that the squirrel had a mischievous gleam in his eye, the slightest hint of a grin and something tied to his leg.

 "Hello, human," the squirrel spoke with a high squeaky voice which made me jump.

"Follow me, and you will find..." his voice trailed off as he ran away and from the room.

"Wait.... Come back here," I called after the small animal, but it was gone.

 I should go after it, get it out of the house, but I didn’t move. Instead I thought back to the squirrel's leg.  I noticed a spool of thread tied to it which unraveled as he ran away. The thread was nearly invisible unless you squinted and caught it in the right light, then it glistened like the morning sun refracted from a drop of dew. It was a wisp of a thing that emanated from the empty box of my Grandfather.

 Even while I pondered the emptiness of the box, I grabbed the thread and followed the squirrel out of the room, thinking I could at least find it and get it out of here, but the thread lead me out the front door. Wait a minute I thought as I stepped out the door, there was never a forest here before! In fact nothing looked quite as it should.

Grandfather’s home was in a middle class neighborhood with cookie cutter homes only distinguished by what abandon toy was in the drive, but what I was seeing now was unbelievable.

 Am I dreaming? I wondered as I wandered into the dark forest filled with dark green and brown trees and a variety of plant life. I'm thinking any minute I will see a Caterpillar up in a tree smoking a hookah or a White Rabbit with a watch saying, “I’m late I'm late, I'm late.”  

Yet none of these things occurs as I made the trek through the dark woods.  It seemed hours past, greeted only with the light and shadows of the woods. Then the thread stopped abruptly at the base of a huge tree, well not exactly stops but goes straight up into the nether most branches.

I pondered for a moment whether to follow, but my curiosity got the best of me.  I climbed the tree, going higher and higher, into a fog, while keeping the frisky squirrel in my sights.  After a long hard climb the creature waited for me on a large branch with a smirk on its face as it waved to me with its tiny hand. “Come come.” Then I saw the squirrel go through another door.

I felt like Alice in Wonderland but instead of chasing the rabbit I was chasing a squirrel. I reach the branch and sat there a moment to catch my breath. I still wasn’t sure.

What if this was some kind of trap, or something far worst.  I could actually be delusional, and this was all playing out in my mind. I touch the rough bark on the branch. “It feels real, but don’t all crazy people think things are real.”

I sat there contemplating my reality, but I knew, dream or not I was going through that door. Because in every one of my dreams, throughout every adventure this is where I would always wake up.  This is why I was here, to see what was behind the door.  “Okay, here goes.”

 I went through the door, and there was my grandpa on the other side with the squirrel sitting on his shoulder. They both were smiling at me like I was the court jester who had just performed a juggling act.

"Alex," my grandfather spoke to me with a calm, soothing voice, "you're probably wondering what's going?"

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Tag der Veröffentlichung: 07.10.2013

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