Boxed In

I closed the cardboard lid again. Now it wasn’t just my hand shaking, my whole body was shivering.

It couldn’t be. I had to be seeing things. I needed to lay down, to collapse against the couch pillows, but my hand was reaching out to open the box lid again. I stopped it.

I knew what was there. It had been there the last eight times I'd check. It couldn't have changed in the millisecond since I'd closed it. Could it?

I slid my shaking hands to the lid and forced myself to take a deep breath. My pulse thundered in my ears. I lifted the lid just slightly and peaked underneath. Green. There was so much green.

I slammed it shut and slid back on the couch. How? Why?

I had been thinking about cancelling my subscription of the Love, Lush, Lounge Box. I never knew what to do with all the products but this... This was... What was this?

Before I could stop myself, I'd slid forward and thrown the lid all the way open.

There it was. No denying it. So much green.

Usually, the products came wrapped in tissue paper with some kind of overly feminine print. But this month’s box was stuffed to the brim with money, green and shining in plastic wrapped little bundles with 100 printed neatly in all the corners.

I wanted to touch it, just to make sure it was real. I'd done this 2 times before, but I wanted to be sure, again. So, for the third time, I verified it was really there.

Maybe it was clever packaging. Maybe it was part of a promotion or a contest.

That had to be it! A contest!

I grabbed my phone. I didn't see anything in my email, so I logged into the Love, Lush, Lounge website. There didn't seem to be anything other than the usual "try this life changing brunch carafe" content.

"Ok," I told myself. "There has to be a reason. No one is going to just send you hundred-dollar bills."

I hadn't been brave enough to move anything so I didn't know how thick the bundles were or what was underneath.

Was it all money? Fake money? It has to be fake.

I could be freaking out over nothing. And if my life to this point was any indication, that is exactly what was happening. I was freaking out before I had all the information. And once I did, I would see that there was nothing to freak out about.

Information. I needed it. With that logic at the front of my brain, I dove in.

This was a mistake. I have no idea what I was expecting to find under the money, but I didn't believe it would be more money. Twenty green bundles in total, plus a full-sized face cream, a lip liner, some really cute tea towels, and a little black notebook.

I remembered picking the tea towels in my monthly selection, but I wasn’t sure about the notebook. I loved those little black books, so it could’ve been. I certainly didn't remember there being an option for money. I also knew some products were chosen for you, like the face cream and lip liner. But would they choose to give me money?

It wasn't real. That was the only explanation. There was no way.

Information. I needed it and again, I dove in. And again, I wish I hadn't.

By the time I'd unwrapped everything, I was staring at $20,000. I had checked them against all the pictures and a few other things I found from googling "how to tell if money is real". I felt like I was going to throw up.

There was a loud knock on my door. I jumped all the way out of the atmosphere leaving my skin far behind.

Another loud knock.

"I know you're home. I see your car!" Jen said.

Jen. With that knowledge, I came back into my body and slumped on the couch.

"Come on, I have to pee!"

I jumped up. My hands immediately started fixing my hair when they should have been shoving 100 dollar bills back into this flowered box.

"Coming!" I shouted toward the door. "Be right there."

Shaking hands didn't make the job easier but I managed to get it all in the box. I was frantically looking around my place to see what else I should hide when another loud knock made me yell.

"Finally." Jen pushed her way in as soon as I turned the lock. "This is why you should give me a key." She said, sprinting for the bathroom, dropping her bag and coat along the way.

"Hi." I squeaked out. I closed the front door and stood there, staring at the closed box. I was frozen.

"Hey!" Jen put her hand on my arm making me jump. "Did you hear what I said?"

I hadn't. I could hear the toilet finishing its flush down the hall. Apparently, I was still up in the atmosphere, I hadn't heard anything.

"Sorry. What? It was a heck of a day." I said.

"That is the whole reason we have Wine Bar Wednesday." She smiled. "You ready to go?"

"Oh! Wednesday!" I said, way too loudly. "Wine. Yes! Yes! Wine!"

"Ok, I get afraid when you're more excited than me about bars." Jen laughed picking up her coat.

Should I tell her? Should I say something? She was my friend and she'd been there for me through some crappy breakups and important life choices. I thought about it and I gathered up my keys.

"What’s all this," Jen said.

I turned to see the little black book in her hands. I’d left it out on the coffee table.

“Are you taking up bullet journaling?” She asked. I peered over her shoulder.

Jen flipped through revealing page after page of symbols. Some were in a grid with letters below.

“Just something I was trying.” I sheepishly tried to get the notebook out of her hands.

“It looks… cool.” She encouraged. “You’ll have to explain it to me. I’m confused enough without a code.”

“It is a code.” I realized, paging through the little black book. I recognized a few of the symbols. From the letters at the bottom of the grid, it looked like someone was trying to break a code.

And then I saw it. Scrawled at the bottom of one of the grids, Grove Street. My apartment was on Grove Street.

“Hey, I thought you cancelled this membership?” Jen said, leaning toward the flowery box on the coffee table.

“Don’t touch it!” I barked.

“Ok! You’re being extra weird.” Jen shrugged out of her coat. “Spill it. Now. What happened to you today?”

I felt my mouth hanging open. Could I tell her? I didn't know what was happening. I had no idea, so why burden her with... what? I didn't know. But the words in the little black book were making me shiver again.

Jen was walking toward my kitchen. “Do you still have that bottle of Pinot? We’ll just wine here.”

“Wait.” I called. “Just, wait.”

“No, wine? Oh shit! Are you…?” She couldn’t finish her sentence.

“No! Seriously!” Sadly, I knew this night was only going to get more embarrassing. “We might need to be sober… because we might need to talk to the cops.”

I lifted the box lid and let the green spill out.

After I’d told her everything, Jen stared at me.

“You found money. And you want to call the cops?” She said, scrunching up her face.

“I didn’t find the money. It found me. And this book,” I raised it up. “It could all be some kind of scary crime money.”

“You don’t know what that code is. It could be good luck?” She shrugged.

“Good luck shouldn’t come with this much anxiety. It’s $20,000. I guarantee you someone is missing it. And they know my street.” I reached for my phone.

“Is it possible you just manifested it? You’ve been meditating more, really being present with your journey, and manifesting abundance. This could be part of it. You’ve been connecting with your chi…”

I was dialing. “Please, do not mention my chi to the cops.”

Other than one of the cops being pretty cute, it an extremely anticlimactic event. They took down my information, my statement, they took the money and the little black book. They took the flowery box and they even took the cute tea towels. Somehow, they were considered evidence. They had some checking to do on their end but didn’t seem worried about me or anyone coming after me.

When they left, I had numb. Jen jumped up and declared it time for the wine bar. I didn’t want to go but did not feel like the Olympic feet of resisting Jen.

Thankfully, she drove. I found myself smiling. And after a glass or two, I was even laughing at Jen teasing me for being too good. We toast over and over to the good karma points I had surely earned. It was fun to get out and blow off some steam.

On the way back home, buzzed and feeling good, I stated very boldly, “I have been connecting with my chi.”

“You have!” Jen agreed.

“And you know what, I am manifesting abundance!”

“Yeah!” Jen cheered.

“And, And!” I said, emphatically pointing. “The next time abundance shows up, I’m going to know it’s mine.”

We laughed as Jen pulled the car to a stop in my parking lot.

“Should I walk you in?” She asked.

“No! Me and my chi are fully present. We got this.” I fumbled with my seatbelt.

I wrapped Jen in a hug. “Thank you! I’m glad you were there.”

“Love you! Please drink a glass or three of water before bed.” She laughed.

I made it up to my door without needing to hold the wall too much. I was proud of myself.

I got inside and locked the door and heard Jen drive away.

“That was nice.” I said to myself, as I leaned my back on the cool door. “She’s the be…”

My words caught in my throat as my eyes fell on a familiar flowery box on the coffee table. My heart was hammering in my ears as I sat next to it on the couch.

My shaking hand reached for the lid, scared and exhilarated to peak at what waited inside.