The boy and the box

Kids and cats love boxes. The love boxes of any size or shape.

That is why on this day when Bill found a standard brown paper box wrapped in box paper in the field, he opened it and to his surprise it was not anything he had expected.

Bill takes in his world through his eyes. He does not talk even thou he 6 years old. His family will get the diagnosis autism later but, now is the silent boy. Bill spends most of his days wondering around his rural neighborhood in the high desert of Arizona. His family just moved there and building a house.

It looked like a package he would get from his grandmother in the mail. It still looked crisp. He tore open the paper. He opened the box. It was a hand. It was wrapped in a pink blanket. He felt the blanket. It was real soft. He picked it up the box. He left the outer paper behind. He as carrying it across the field to his yard, when his older brother Jacob approached. He is two years older and he is a talker.

"What is in the box?" "Let me have it!" "Did you open it"

He knows his brother does not talk but, he still talks to him like he is going to answer. Bill keeps walking and Jacob continues his chatter.

"Can I see?" reaching for the box. Bill moves out reach. He has become good at avoiding Jacob's reach over the years.

He finally gets to his yard. He walks up to his mother and hands her the box. She is mixing mortar for her husband who is laying cement blocks for their house. She wipes her hand on her shirt. Her shirt is already filthy even though it is early in the day. She moves her hair out her eyes.

"Bill this better not be a snake or bugs."

She takes the box and opens it.

His mother screams "Where did you get this?" She does not look pleased.

Bill just stands there.

Jacob "Let me see?" "He got it in the field over there." "He would not let me see." He reaches for it and she lifts it up so he can not reach it. "I want to see!"

She calming says "Jacob get your dad"

His father is who is about 50 feet away. He bent over tapping a block in place. Jacob approaches his dad. "Jacob what now. I need to work and you need to go play somewhere else."

"Mom wants you now."

"Can it wait?" He continues to work.

"Bill found a box in field."

"So"

"He would not let me see. Mom has it now. And she will not let me see. Will you let me see what is in the box. Go get it from mom."

His wife is coming with the box. As she approaches, Jacob get more excited and animated. He starts bouncing. Jacob is a very active boy.

"Philip, you need to see this!"

He takes the box. He opens it. He drops it and he has turned white and he falls to the ground.

Jacob takes the box that has falling. The blanket and hand have falling out of the box. Jacob grabs both things.

"Put that down!!! his mother says.

"GO GET A PAIR OF GLOVES NOW !!!!!!"

"Is that a human hand? Bill why did you not show me it first."

"GO" His mother is now sitting on the ground between her husband and the contains of the box.

"Philip are you alright?" He gets up and walks away toward the travel trailer they living in. He is not talking. He past the three other children that are on there way to see what is going on. He goes into the trailer.

Jacob is coming with the glove. "Can I hold it?" He looks at his mother, he knows it is a no. "I'll put it back in the box." He looks at his mother and he knows it is another "NO"

"Anna, George John GO INTO THE TRAILER WITH YOUR DAD. AND TELL HIM GET BACK OUT HERE."

Jacob is dancing around. Bill is just standing there. She does not know . How much Bill understands or how he feels. She puts on the gloves and puts the hand back in the box. She stands there. Jacob is chattering. Bill reaches out and feels the blanket She puts that back into the box, too. She walks to their van and puts the box on the driver's seat. She puts down the window of the van.

"Jacob do not touch that. Jacob go get John Taylor!" John Taylor is a neighbor who lives next door.

Philip finally comes out. He is 20+years her senior. He looks like he has recovered from the shock. He says " I am going to the hardware store."

She says "NO YOU ARE NOT!! You are staying right here. Jacob is going to get John Taylor. You are going give the children some popsicles."

Jacob and John Taylor arrive. "Jane, Jacob says Bill found a hand in a box in the field???" She leads him over to the van. Jacob is so excited and running back and forth. Bill was right there, too. Philip is coming out of trailer with popsicles. He says " Hi John"

Mr. Taylor is looking into the box on the seat of the van. "It looks human."

Philip "want a popsicle?"

Mr. Taylor "No, thanks. I will go up to my house and call the sheriff. "

Philip returns the popsicles to the trailer. He comes out eating his and then goes back to work.

Mr. Taylor comes back and he says "They are on there way. They say don't touch it. Bill can you show me where you found it."

Bill just walks toward where he found it. Jane stays behind with the smaller and children goes back to mixing mortar. She keeps glancing to where they are going as soon as she done mix that batch. She joins them.

Mr. Taylor is talking kindly to the boys. He took the rock and put it on the paper wrapper. He walking back to the property when Jane catches up to them.

Mr. Taylor. "Bill is a man of no words. Jacob has several ways gthe hand got there."

They go back to the property and wait. Mr. Taylor helps entertain the children. It takes the sheriff over an hour to get there.

The sheriff deputy first on the scene, looks at the hand and turns back toward his car throws up. He calls for more officers. He sits in his car in air running. It is another 45 minutes and another one comes. This time it a detective. He looks into the box and ask a lot of questions and take the box puts into a cooler in the back of his SUV. He calls for more people. He then has the boys take him to where Bill found it. They tape off the whole area. Know the whole sheriff's department is there, at it seems like it. They question everyone. Bill just stands there.

Philip is still laying block.

All the neighbors from a within a mile are there. Everyone is questioned.

The Sheriff, him self is out there. It is approaching super time. The sheriff offers to take the family to the newly opened McDonald's for super. Jane cleans up the children. Now, Philip is an active participant. He cleans up and off to McDonalds with our new found friend "THE SHERIFF"

And not a word from BIll.