The Oblong Box

Alice knelt in front of the biggest pyramid, the hot sand cutting into her knee where she had fallen scrambling through the marketplace the day before. She swept the rocks away and set the box down. After a year of living with it constantly by her side, every inch of its splintered frame had become completely familiar. Suddenly she gasped. All the air flew out of her lungs. It was as if she had been punched in the gut – there was a dark, heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Alice concentrated. She had been warned about this part. She tightened her lips, grasped the handle firmly, and for the first time in over a thousand years, the crank to the oblong wooden box turned.