A Carved Box

Despite the overcast skies and the threat of rain, the estate sale that day is large, covering at least an acre with farm equipment, wooden furniture, and everything in between with a large turnout. Among them, Caroline, who owns two thrift stores, isn’t interested in the farm equipment and other big things instead, she watches for the boxes of miscellaneous stuff – these are where the hidden treasures are found – in her opinion, with over 12-years-experience guiding her choices. Occasionally, she’ll buy a trunk or small desk for the possible treasures within.

Making one circuit around the area set apart for small household items, collections and mixes, anything that catches her eye, she takes note of its item number and the asking price, if it is reasonable, she’ll buy it out right rather than join the auction, because that tends to run the price out of her range quickly. Noticing another woman, talking with the salesperson, and taking an interest in one of the before mentioned boxes, Caroline rushes over to buy it – if possible. Glancing up the woman in question sees Caroline’s reaction, and for a moment the woman’s face shows that she considering buying the box simply because Caroline is showing an interest, then at the last moment with a smile the woman steps back and waves Caroline through. With a return smile she buys the box and asks, “Can you store this somewhere while I continue looking, to save trips to my truck?”

“Certainly,” the nice salesperson says with a smile. She puts yellow tape over the top with ‘sold’ in bold letters and places it in a shed behind her where a number of other similar items are kept. Free to move around Caroline decides to go ahead and buy the other boxes on her list just in case – before the auction starts. Minutes later, the bidding goes fast, lots of money changing hands and the piles of things begins to dwindle. The auctioneer is smart he keeps everyone’s attention by mixing the big items with the small so those who are there for a specific thing doesn’t have to wait too long and can leave immediately after.

Of the seven or so items Caroline bid on, she only lost two, overall, she is pleased and can’t wait to get home to explore. With help from the auction people, she is able to load all of her purchases in the back of her truck and covered with a tarp just as the rain begins to fall. The drive home is an experience! The rain falls so hard that her wipers can’t keep up – even on high! Finally, she has to pull over into a parking lot of a shopping mall and wait for the rain to ease. Concerned for the things in the back, Caroline isn’t sure if the tarp is up to this deluge! She half expects any minute to see a house float by with people on top!

After an hour, the storm finally passes, and she can continue home. As she pulls into her yard, she realizes that she forgot to shut the windows of her sunroom with all of the plants inside – well, at least they won’t need to be watered for some time now. Seeing her neighbor, Thomas and his teenage son in their yard, Caroline quickly jumps out of her trunk, rushes over, and says, “Hi!”

“Hi, wild storm, huh?” Thomas says with a smile.

“Yes, especially while driving. I was wondering if you guys can help me?” She asks.

“How do you mean?” Thomas asks, glancing to where his son, Mark, is halfway across the yard to the car and shows an eagerness to leave.

“I don’t mean to be a bother, but I have a lot of boxes and two wooden trunks in my truck and am hoping you guys can help me get them near the porch at least,” Caroline explains. Seeing him hesitant, she quickly adds, “I’ll pay of course.” This gets the attention of Mark, so Thomas agrees.

Between the three of them, the trunk is quickly emptied in about 45 minutes of labor. There is more rain in the forecast, so the wooden trunks and most of the boxes are placed into her closed in porch. The rest she takes inside the house where she is eager to go through them. She offers them water or soda when finished, but they refuse, so she pays them, and they leave. Going inside, she makes a light supper, pulls the first box to her favorite chair near the picture window where plenty of light comes in despite the overcast skies of present, and begins to dig.

Over the next month, she sifts and sorts through the contents of her purchases. A good bit is truly miscellaneous items – mis-matched dishes, tarnished silverware, books on various subjects and a great number of glass mugs with many different designs on them. These and other such items will be sold in her two thrift stores or will be recycled into other things by a few artists she knows for a percentage of the sale price. Between estate sales and going out business sales, she keeps a constant rolling stock of items in her stores, but she still has a hard time making ends meet. If something doesn’t change soon, she may have to file for bankruptcy!

One of the two trunks contains an intricately carved box of about 12 inches by four inches with flowers and vines all over, it is lined with lavender velvet and the sides are also slightly padded. The box has two layers. The top which lifts up holds a number of pieces of beautiful jewelry. They are so well made that Caroline can’t tell if they are fake or real. Setting these aside, she raises the top and finds that the bottom is also lined and holds a small black book with a lavender suede cover. Removing it, she flips through it and finds it filled with names, addresses and phone numbers. Some pages have personal notes on them. Checking the front cover, she finds one of those ‘this book belongs to’ labels with the name of the farm where the auction was being held. Caroline realizes it must have belonged to the family, someone took a lot of time and put a lot of love into this box, and she must return it if possible!

Picking up her phone she calls the auction company for more info about the family. She finds that the auction was ordered by a bank, but the company can give her a contact phone number on file for further information. Grateful, she thanks the man and hangs up. Taking a deep breath, she dials the number and gets a voicemail, reluctantly she leaves a message for someone connected to the family from the auction to please call her. Three days later calls, her phone rings, she is at one of her thrift stores rotating stock and doesn’t recognize the number but answers it anyway.

“Hello, my name is Fredrick Harris, you left a message on my service to call you. How can I help you?” he asks.

“Hi. I called because I found a specially carved box in among the things I bought and wondered if the family wants it back?” Caroline explains.

“Normally, anything bought is non-returnable,” Fredrick says.

“Yes, I understand, but this box is too beautifully and lovingly made, surely the owner will be glad to get it back. Maybe it was placed in the auction by mistake?” she insists.

“I have no idea, but I’ll call and ask my grandparents then get back to you, say in two days?” Fredrick offers.

“That will be fine, thank you,” Caroline says, her obvious joy of his response translates over the phone.

“No, thank you for caring. In two days, then,” he says and hangs up. The rest of the day is full of sunshine for her even if it isn’t really.

A full week passes before she hears back from Fredrick, but she didn’t really notice being busy talking with her creditors begging for more time to pay her back bills. But, when he does call, she is happy for the diversion.

“Caroline, this is Fredrick, sorry for taking so long to get back to you. My grandparents are having a lot of trouble transitioning to a new life off the farm. But, when I explained about the box you found, they were overly excited. Apparently, there was a mix up during the packing and this box was not supposed be included, so they are very eager to have it back, if you are still willing to do it, though?”

“Certainly,” Caroline says with a smile.

“They have told me to offer a finder’s fee,” Fredrick adds.

“That’s not necessary,” she says, although secretly her ears perked at the idea and wondered how much it will be and will it be enough to help. Of course, any amount will help. “I’m glad to return it.”

“I insist,” Fredrick says. “Now, where can we meet for the exchange?”

“Okay,” Caroline concedes. They talk for a time, but unfortunately, since he lives so far away – two counties over from her, she decides to drive the greater distance claiming that she will be searching out new items for her stores at the same time. He reluctantly agrees, and they plan to meet at a roadside diner tomorrow around noon.

Arriving within minutes of each other, they shake hands, enter the diner, and get a booth. After placing their orders for coffee with the waitress, Caroline unwraps the carved box from a piece of silk and hands it to him across the table. He gingerly takes it, turning it this way and that admiring the carvings of flowers and butterflies. He lightly caresses the smooth edges of them, then almost reluctantly sets it aside to pull an envelope from his briefcase and hands it to her, saying, “My grandparents say this will more than compensate you for your expenses, but they ask that you not open it until after we have parted ways.”

Caroline nods as she accepts the envelope. He picks up the box and says, “there is something more, my grandparents wanted you to understand why this box is so important to them beyond the sentimental reasons,” with that he carefully presses a latch on the lid and the padded top pops open, revealing a hidden space, inside is a folded piece of aged paper. Carefully he opens it and shows it to her. Taking a close look, she reads that it is a security bond for $25,000!

Shocked, her eyes widen, and she looks into Fredrick’s eyes. His are smiling, returning the paper to its space, he opens the box, removes the tray, then presses another latch and the bottom of the box opens to reveal yet another hidden space from which he removes a second folded piece of aged paper. It turns out to be another bond for $25,000 as well. This box held his grandparents’ nest egg just incase the farm went belly up!

After Fredrick returned the second paper, closes the bottom, and returns the tray before placing the box in his briefcase, with a knowing smile, he asks, “Sorry, you gave it up?”

“No,” Caroline says instantly. “I wanted to return it because of the personal items inside not for the potential value hidden within!”

“Thank you for your honesty, I and my grandparents thank you as well for returning this precious box. Rising he shakes her hand once again and leaves. He is barely gone before Caroline rips open the envelope and pulls out a check for $20,000! More than enough to cover her back bills! A flood of happiness washes over her, both for Fredrick’s grandparents and for herself – now that their futures are settled!

The End.