Little Boxes

The doorbell rang.

Tyler opened the door.

“Oh, hey, Jonathan! So great you could make it! Come on in.”

“Hey, Tyler, so great to see you!”

“Good flight?”

“Well, eight hours on a plane… Other than that, no complaints.”

“Good, good. What’s it been? Two years?”

“Must be. Seems like forever."

“I’m so glad these lockdowns and restrictions are finally over.”

“Yeah, it’s good to be back to normal. Can you believe it? I actually missed these business trips.”

“Yeah. I was getting bored of myself. I need to be out there with people. No mask. And no social distancing.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean, Man.”

“Here, have a seat. I’ll grab us a couple of drinks.”

“Wow. I love what you’ve done with the place. New furniture?”

“Yeah. With all of that time working from home, I did a ton of online shopping. Got great deals too.”

“I see that. Looks like you haven’t finished yet.”

“No, no. Everything’s unpacked and set up.”

Jonathan pointed to some boxes stacked against the wall. “Oh. Did you just finish?”

“Uh. Yeah. Anyway. I was thinking since you’re only here for one night that we could go out. Taboo? Old times? Pick up?”

“Yeah, yeah, that sounds great; I can’t remember the last time I went to a club. It must have been with Amelia, before Covid.”

“How is your wife?”

“She’s fine.”

*Time still ticks, but we no longer notice because we’re only counting.*

“K, I’m going to hail us a ride-share.”

“Great.”

“Driver says he’s downstairs.”

“Wow, that was quick. Hey, Tyler, what’s in the box?” Jonathan pointed to the small red cube nestled in Tyler’s left hand.

“This box?”

“Yeah. That box.”

“Uh. Whatever. Let’s go.”

*Time still ticks, but we no longer notice because we’re only counting.*

“Brian? Yeah. Great. We’re going to Taboo.”

“Hop in.”

Tyler chatted with the driver during the ride over, while Jonathan looked out his window. He saw someone standing at the corner waiting for the light to change. An old guy wearing a hoodie, carrying an orange shoe box. The light turned green and the driver sped off. They turned onto 38th Street and pulled up outside the club.

The line-up went half-way down the block. Tyler motioned to the door. A quick word with the bouncer and he and Jonathan were in. They headed down the stairs into the club. The music was thumping and Jonathan could feel his whole body vibrating. The feeling was alien after spending eighteen months in his quiet apartment. The surge of people surrounding him as he entered, a tangle of arms in the air, waving in the coloured lights flashing overhead, was inviting and the two guys were propelled forward into the crowd.

They pushed through to the bar to get a drink. Tyler ordered them both a beer and they stood to the side watching. Tyler surveyed the crowd and saw someone he recognized and nodded at Jonathan. Tyler introduced him to Alyssa and Taryn. The four of them danced together until Tyler mimed that he wanted another drink. Jonathan nodded and waved off his friend. He headed for the bar.

While he waited to order he looked more closely at the liquor on display. In between some of the bottles were little boxes of different sizes. Some nine or ten centimetres high, others a third of the size. They were all different colours.

“Well, do you want a drink or not?”

“Yeah, yeah. Sorry, Man. Two Heinekens.”

When the bartender came back, Jonathan stopped him. “Hey, Man, what’s with all the boxes?"

The bartender looked confused. “What?” He cupped his ear.

He said it again. The bartender still couldn’t figure out what he was saying. Jonathan waved it off.

After another hour he told Tyler that he needed to kick off. Tyler reluctantly said goodnight to Alyssa and he and Jonathan headed out to the street.

On his way up the steps, a burly guy in a suit bumped into him. Something fell. Jonathan looked down at his feet. A small grey cube the size of a die was sitting between his shoes. Before he could react, the man bent over and retrieved it, shoving it in his pocket. He walked off without saying anything. Tyler looked back through the door and yelled, “You coming?”

Jonathan was definitely a bit drunk, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was missing something. First Tyler carrying his little red box all night and no one saying anything, now the burly dude dropping a box. What the hell?

*Time still ticks, but we no longer notice because we’re only counting.*

Jonathan woke up suddenly when his alarm went off at 6:30. He got off the couch; he wasn’t feeling so hot. ‘Back in university whenever they partied the two roommates could crash anywhere. Getting old sucked.

He showered and shaved and decided to grab a coffee on the way to the conference.

Tyler was still asleep. Jonathan left a note and headed down to the lobby. A woman was standing at the door, carrying a hat box with two smaller boxes stacked on top. He rushed to open the door for her.

Walking out, a gust of wind hit him in the face. He looked around as the trees shook and the leaves blew around him. The streets were nearly empty.

Two blocks away, he found a café. Standing in line, he closed his eyes. The music was still pounding in his veins. Someone cleared their throat behind him.

He turned. A thirty-something blonde with dark sunglasses propped on her head gave him an impatient look. She was holding a pile of boxes, some long, others smaller and perched haphazardly on the longer ones. She had to turn sideways to see him fully. “Uh, are you in line or not?” He apologized and moved up to the counter.

The barista took his order for a quad shot Americano. Jonathan walked over to the service counter that was still protected by walls of plexiglass and waited for his drink. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see a stack of small boxes on the counter beside the till, stacked in twos and threes. They were green and silver, some were striped or had polka dots.

He saw the barista hand one to the blonde after she scanned her phone.

She walked over and stood beside him, having added the box to her pile.

“Hey, can I ask you something? He nodded at the boxes, “Is it a promotion? A city-wide contest?”

She rolled her eyes and walked over to the corner by the exit to wait for her drink to be called.

“Americano, for Jonathan!”

He took his cup from the counter.

The convention centre was another five blocks away. He carefully sipped his coffee as he walked south on 45th Avenue. As he walked, he noticed a man pushing a stroller; two striped boxes tucked in the basket under the seat. An older couple were carrying tote bags, the telltale corners of boxes poking through the sides. A small boy was tugging at his mother’s purse, until she finally gave in, handing him a sparkling white box that glinted in the pale morning sun.

As he neared the convention centre, he saw a guy in a suit walk up to a beggar sitting on the corner holding a sign. The suit bent over and offered the homeless guy a shabby looking box that looked like it had been dropped a few times. The guy took it and nodded thanks. Jonathan watched, fascinated as the guy then lifted up his blanket and stacked the box onto a pyramid of other boxes while the suit walked away.

Wondering if it was some kind of currency, Jonathan just shook his head and kept walking.

*Time still ticks, but we no longer notice because we’re only counting.*

“Jonathan Láda.” The greeter looked up from her screen after scanning his QR code. She handed him a lanyard with a name tag and his company name.

He entered the conference room. Each round table had a number in the middle and each place had a swag bag that probably held the usual pens, pads of paper, and stress balls. He hated this stuff, so cheap and an obvious ruse to make them feel like ‘team players’. He stashed his bag under the table without looking at it. Drinking his coffee and regretting not taking a pain killer when he had the chance, he waited. A few people sat down at his table and made small talk while they waited.

Jonathan’s head pounded as the opening comments were made, the keynote speaker took the stage, addressing the crowd enthusiastically. He’d been attending these things for years. It always amazed him to see everyone get energized by the false cheerfulness and excitement. When the speaker finished, he watched as everyone bounded out of the conference hall loudly. This was one aspect of post-pandemic life that he would rather not have go back to normal. Attending conferences from home, he could at least use the mute button from time to time.

He got up and headed to his designated room. Everyone around him was now carrying a shiny red box, about five centimetres high. What had he missed?

He found his room and sat down at a free seat. Turning to his neighbour, he asked him where he had gotten the box. They were in the swag bags. He asked if he could see the box, but the moderator called for everyone’s attention.

After the roundtable he checked under the table in the main hall. The bag was gone.

When the conference wrapped up, Jonathan went out to hail a cab. All of the conference attendees now had two or three of the boxes, some had as many as five. What had happened to his bag? Why had the girl at the cafe rolled her eyes? Why had Taryn and Alyssa not asked Jonathan about the red box he had carried all night?

“Where to?”

“The airport, please.”

Jonathan was glad he was taking the redeye and hadn’t opted for two nights.

*Time still ticks, but we no longer notice because we’re only counting.*

“Oh, hey Honey, you’re home! I missed you.”

“It hasn’t even been three days.”

“I know. It’s silly right. I’m just not used to you being gone. God, it’s like we’ve been stepping on each other for eighteen months.”

“Oh, it’s good to be able to go out again. It makes coming home that much better!”

He picked Amelia up and swung her around. Something on the table caught his eye.

Amelia caught his glance.

“Oh, that came for you just before you arrived. Were you expecting something?”

Jonathan walked over to the table to examine the brown paper wrapped box. It was a bit bigger than the palm of his hand. His name and address were clearly printed. There was no return address.

“No. I have no idea what it is.”

“Just open it. I love surprises.” Amelia clapped her hands.

Jonathan tugged at the packing tape, finally pulling off the paper. It was a box, shiny and blue. He dropped it on the table as if he’d been burned.

Amelia picked it up and held it in her hand. “What is it?” Examining it, she saw no opening. She put it back on the table and went to have a shower. Jonathan picked up the box gingerly and threw it in the garbage under the kitchen sink.

After putting a load of laundry on, Jonathan rifled through the latest copy of Wired on the sofa when Amelia told him she was going out. He looked up at her. She swung her purse over her shoulder and turned; that’s when he saw it in her left hand. The shiny blue box.