The Script

Old Boxes

A few nights later Mom realized that we had forgotten our nativity set. “We can’t leave it down stairs we need to put it out. It is very important, Lexes can you go get it,” Mom asked.

I made my way down the stars, once I got to the bottom of the stairs, I walked to the right of the stairs. I found the nativity set, and was heading towards the stairs, but I remembered the things I had found the other night. I wanted to go through them again because of the short contemporary feeling I had felt, it felt original and exciting. I set the nativity set down at the bottom of the stairs and strode to the opposite side of the basement. I opened the room full of the boxes. The first box I began to go through had pictures from Mom’s life when she was younger, she looked gorgeous, so young, with two brothers. I looked into a second box I found old books and thought “Oh, I want to read some of these books.” When I read what they were about, but I didn’t want to read them, they were just school books. There was one more box that I had not looked in.

“Lexes? Where are you? Are you getting the nativity set?” Mom asked.

I said, “Yes, I’m almost done, er-ya coming.” I went over to the third box and right when I opened it I saw two shining objects in it. I started digging in the box for the shining objects, I realized they were rings.

“Lexes! Where are you?” said Mom.

“I’m coming” I said. I quickly put the rings down and shutting the box full of mysterious things. . I gathered the nativity set and began making my way to Mom.

Mom said, “What took so long?”

“Sorry it took a while to get it unburied under the other decorations. I also had to go through the boxes to find it.” I said, with a smile.

I began working on my homework once we had set the nativity set out. After getting done with my job and homework. I started getting ready for bed, but I couldn’t sleep, I was too restless so I started counting down from two hundred, and thinking about the things I had found in that box.

“Beep! Beep! Beep!”

“Stop!” I demanded. I opened my eyes and realized my alarm was going off. I turned my alarm off and remembered that I couldn’t go to school. It was six forty-five A.M. so I closed my eyes, laid down, and slept longer.

“Buzz, buzz.”

“What? I said. I got up, and saw the phone on my night stand, I reached my hand out and picked the phone up, “Hello?” I asked.

“Hi Lexes, it’s time to get up it’s nine thirty A.M.” Mom said.

“OK,” I said. I didn’t feel like going to school and I was glad I didn’t go. Once Mom had given me a list of things to do I said, "OK bye love you Mom.”

She said, “Bye, love ya.”   

I felt happier talking to her. I got dressed and did the list of things she wanted me to do. At lunch I got done and made myself a sandwich with, meat, cheese, mustard, jalapeños, ketchup, and lettuce. It tasted so good, it is one of my favorite sandwiches. Once I got done I decided to watch “Nightmare Before Christmas.” Mom doesn’t like it when we watch a Halloween movie if it’s not a cartoon when she’s not home, and I wanted to watch something that was a little creepy. When the movie ended I thought, “Hum what should I do now?” I remembered about the two rings I had found the other night. I decided I wanted to go check them out, and take my time without being rushed.

Once I had gotten down stairs, I walked to the old worn boxes I had looked at the day before, “Wow, there exactly the same,” I said without knowing I had said it out loud.

There were many other rings in the box, but these rings felt special, like I had to have them, they did not feel like any other rings, they felt magical, and like they wanted me to keep them. I found a little black book at the bottom of the box and opened it, it was a small calendar.

“It’s for the year 2016?” I said, “What? It’s 2015 right now.”

I decided to look further into the book and look at Mom’s plans for that year.

I flipped to the month containing my birthday, December, the twenty-second, smack dab in the middle of winter. There was a note that said, “Give Lexes and Arica rings, tell them everything, and start lessons.”

“What? What does this mean?” I said.

“Honey I’m home,” I heard Mom call. I could hear my two younger sisters dashing through the house that had just come home from school.

The first thing that came to my mind is, “Mom’s home? Oh no, I need to get out of here as fast as I can.” I dropped the rings and the calendar into the box and closed it as good as I could. I started running up the stairs towards Mom.

Mom must have known I was walking away from the basement, because she said, “Wait why were you downstairs?”

Oh no, I thought. “Um I was looking at something,” I said.

“At what?” Mom said.

“Um….um your black book,” I said.

“What black book? The calendar? The year 2016?” Mom said.

“Um…yes,” I said.

“Lexes why are you going through……"

“What are those two rings for? Who is Arica? Why do you have to give the rings to us on a certain day?”

“Lexes, don’t be silly, it’s just a birthday gift."

“But why does the calendar say start lessons? What lessons?”

“What are you talking about, Mom? I am getting hungry,” said Lila.

“Why does it matter, Lexes? Let’s go have dinner,” Mom said.

“Wait Mom can you answer my questions?” I begged.

“No, not now, let’s have dinner,” said Mom, with a weary smile. “Lila and Margo come eat.”

“OK,” said Lila and Margo, my younger sisters.

“What are we having today mom,” asked Margo.

“Spaghetti.”

“Yay,” said Lila. “I love spaghetti.”

“Especially with meat balls,” said Margo.

Once we were done making dinner mom gave us each a dish of spaghetti. We all said thanks.

“Yum,” I said. “This is good, thanks Mom,” I had decided to drop the conversation about the black book, and rings.

“You're welcome” Mom said.