What You Leave When You Move

His hand brushed across the top of the shelf, his feet on tiptoes, and his nose itching with dust. Slowly his hand moved along the whole shelf, catching a box wrapped in brown paper at the end. “Honey, the old owners of this house left us something!”

Amelia walked into their bedroom. “That shelf is so high. They probably have no idea they forgot it. Do you still have their number? Do not open it. We need to get it back to them.”

“Whoa, honey, relax. I was mostly kidding. Wait, I really can’t open it?”

“Sam, what if it is something that is very private? Think, it was hidden in paper at the back of a shelf you can only reach with a chair. Why did you even look up there in the first place?”

“I don’t remember. I just felt pulled to this shelf.”

“Sam, that old couple did not leave us the entrance to Narnia, and stay out of the old wardrobe downstairs!”

“There is an old wardrobe downstairs?”

Three Weeks Later

The old couple walked into the coffee shop and immediately saw Sam and Amelia at their table.

“How do you like the place?” The old lady asked.

“It’s wonderful. Thank you. Here we found this on the shelf in your old bedroom.”

“Wow, Sam, you couldn’t even wait two minutes.”

“I am sorry. I have thought of little else than what is in this box for the last three weeks.”

The old man’s face had a smile that had grown with each passing second. “Do you remember this dear? I can’t believe we forgot it.”

“We can’t thank you enough,” she said. “Well, we better be going. Thanks again.”

Sam looked apoplectic. “You are leaving just like that. We didn’t even get to buy you a cup of coffee.”

“Young man, you have made our year. We must get home. The lost is found!”

The old couple practically skipped out of the coffee shop. Amelia looked at her crestfallen husband. “For all we know, it is their baby pictures or an antique pipe.”

“An antique pipe? Didn’t you feel it? It was practically the heaviest three inch cube I have ever held.”

“Perhaps they toured Fort Knox on their honeymoon and got to take home some gold.”

“Amelia, you and that package are driving me crazy.”

“Oh, Sam, we have our dream house, and they downsized. Leave it be.”

“Where did you say they moved to again?”

“They are over in those new houses on 85th Street.”

Six Hours Later

“Well, Amelia, I am going out for drinks like I said earlier.”

“Okay, honey. Call me if you need a ride.”

“I will only have a couple, and I will be back before you know it.”

Sam quickly hopped down the stairs to the garage and backed out. As the garage door shut, he nearly squealed his tires. He was on 85th Street before he realized it and nearly missed the new houses. The development had shot up with older people finding nice, small houses with no mowing or snow removal. The night was beautiful; the old couple was sitting on their patio, studying the stars. They seemed to hardly move, they were so engrossed. Sam parked the car and got out.

“I am sorry to bother you guys, but I could not sleep tonight without asking what was in that box wrapped in brown paper. For some reason, that thing has pulled at me since I touched it the first time.”

There was no response from the old couple. Sam moved nearer. The couple had their eyes open and appeared to be staring up at the sky. Sam suddenly realized their chests were not moving; no sound was coming from them. His eyes moved down to the table between their patio chairs. He hadn’t realized it before, but the table did not have a tablecloth on it like he had originally thought. Instead, it was the brown wrapping from the box that had been spread out on the table. Sam looked and looked. He could not see the box anywhere. Both of their hands and laps were empty. There was nothing under the table or chairs. Even the old couple had no signs of a struggle. The box seemed to have mysteriously disappeared on its own volition. Eventually Sam moved back to his car and drove away. He was so lost in his thoughts, it did not occur to him to even call the police about the two dead bodies.

Three Days Later

The paper ran two obituaries of a couple that seemed to have died simultaneously of natural causes. There was no word of an investigation or a mysterious disappearance of a small box. Sam stared at the paper long after he had read each obituary twice. After a few more minutes, he folded up the paper and walked to the bedroom, only to stand in the doorway and stare at the shelf.