don't look inside

She had lifted it, shook it and tried to weight it. She had sniffed it, she had tried to look inside without removing the brown paper and she had held it up to a bright light. Her husband said don't look inside, its your special present." Its what you deserve and what you have earned, when I come back from the business trip I will let you open it" was clearly written on a label.

Her husband was being horrible she decided, he knew that secrets and surprises were her pet hates. Too long being an only child and then an adult who liked being in control meant every minute was planned. She even watched the weather forecast and got annoyed if the clothes she wore were wrong because the forecast was wrong. If they forecast rain she went out dressed for rain and expected said rain.

She again lifted the box up, trying to see if any of the packing tape could be prised off so she could look inside. Her husband wasn't quite as organised as her but had already planned for this idea, he had made sure the tape went round the box and over lapped a few times. She even considered trying to find the paper he had used for the wrapping so she could open it all and reseal it again.

It was then her husband texted, same as ever when he was away.

"hi, just arrived at the hotel , meeting the clients downstairs soon, hope you haven't been playing with the box to much. loved you. x btw i took a picture of the box before I left so if you plan to unwrap it you better redo it carefully"

This last line surprised her so much that she looked around her, looking for a camera spying on her. Just in case she put the boxes down and tried to convince herself not to look again .

"hi, hope your trip was good, saw boxes but haven't touched, wouldn't mind a clue though. love you"

"sorry, all will be revealed Saturday"

That just left the only clue form the note on the box," its what you deserve and what you have earned."

That didn't help much as what she thought she deserved wasn't going to fit in a box that size , especially one that weighed so little. So the next step was to work backwards, what would fit in the box that weighed so little and didn't make any sound.

Maybe it was car keys, taped to something so they didn't rattle. Maybe a credit card and the box size was a joke. Maybe it was something that fitted exactly in the box but weighed little and didn't rattle. In the end she concluded she was more confused and clueless then when she started , so she gave up. At least she put the box on a table so she could look across at it occasionally, after all it was Thursday so she would soon find out its secret.

The evening rolled on and she restricted herself to only thinking about the box during adverts and gaps between programs. On the way to bed she tried shouting at it but even that didn't work. She used Friday to do the housework and do some errands so there was nothing to do once her husband returned.

She hoovered beneath the table the box was on, pushed it to one side to polish the table and otherwise ignored it. Saturday was getting closer and it was something that could be waited for.

That night she went to bed early as she knew her husbands train would get him back quite early. She would try and not mention the box and would wait for him. She would say it was on the table to keep it safe and so she could clean up properly.

She got up ready on Saturday and prepared for her husbands return. She looked at the box as she passed, "I will know your secret soon " she told the box.

Her husband arrived soon after, the taxi driver had music on loud enough to alert her, and properly half the street. Her husband came in and usual pleasantries were exchanged.

"Be honest" he said," did you try and figure out the box"

Trying not to blush she said "i looked at it a few times"

"thought you might, now go and open it"

She tried to walk to it rather then run. She already knew where the small knife was they used for parcels. Opening the tape carefully she found a brown box, with the lid taped down. She carefully slit the tape and lifted out another box. "this is like playing pass the parcel" she thought.

She kept going until she had 5 empty boxes and one box with a large envelope taped inside. As her name was on the envelope she opened it.

Her heart skipped a beat when she saw what was contained in the envelope. In her husbands neat handwriting it said.

Here is what you have earned and deserve, divorce papers and some nice empty boxes to help you pack and leave. I cant take your controlling and your domineering any more. I hope your reading this on the agreed day but wouldn't be surprised if it was much earlier. Use the boxes for your basics and I will send the rest on to wherever you end up.