The Box
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JOSHUA TURNS ON THE IPOD. It plays an endless loop of soulful music. He opens a bottle of red and pours himself a glass. With a contented sigh, he opens the box and empties its content on the kitchen bench. He looks at each of the items carefully, wondering what it all means.
He recognises a certificate of achievement in Abigail’s name.
There is a black pebble; its edges softened by the amount of time it has been handled. Then a bird’s feather, a human tooth, and a broken arrow, which seems familiar, but he can’t place where he saw it.
A necklace with a broken chain.
A piece of paper with the lyrics of Jim Croce’s “Time in a Bottle.”
A plastic ring, one of those gifts inside a candy packet. He gave this Abigail when they were ten. It was their “engagement ring.” He
