The Box
It was an ornate box, just sitting there. Charles knew that it must have belonged to someone. But there was no one around. Who leaves an ornate box in the middle of a forest, sitting on a well-traveled path?
Charles wasn’t quite sure what to do. The box itself had a look of oriental design. The sides of the box were covered with beautifully crafted dragons or serpents. The lid, was coated in gold leaf, or was it true gold? It had one keyhole, which Charles assumed would need a key to unlock the box to see what was inside. There was no key to be found.
Charles reached down and picked up the box. It wasn’t heavy, though he could tell something in the side moved as he tilted the box. Whatever was inside the box was not alive, but it did roll around.
Curiosity did get the best of him. With no one else on the path at that moment, he decided to take the box and bring it home.
“Where did you get that box? What is it? What are we supposed to do with it?” His wife asked many questions, most of which Charles couldn’t answer.
But a beautiful treasure like that is hard to ignore.
Most people would hang a flyer or post online, asking if anyone had lost the box. They decided they needed to determine what was in it before posting anything.
They needed a way to open it. A locksmith would be the best choice, but who could they trust?
It turned out that they didn’t need anyone. Charles lifted up the box to put it on a table, his hand covered the keyhole. Whether it was the warmth of his hand or a hidden switch that Charles accidentally tripped, there was a resounding click sound, and the lid popped open.
Charles and his wife were speechless as they peered at what was in the box—inside, there was a rather large egg. This was no chicken, duck, or goose egg. This egg was five times bigger than any egg they had ever seen.
Its color was different from store-bought or farmstand eggs. At first, it looked like pure gold, but as the sunlight’s rays shone through the window and reflected on the egg’s surface, the eggshell’s color reflected a myriad of colors, more colors than are seen in a rainbow.
If they had trouble deciding what to do with the box, what to do with the egg was even harder.
“Let’s keep it,” Charles said. “The box alone will bring us great fortune.”
His wife nodded her head in agreement.
They decided to remove the egg, close the box, and put the box in a hall closet, hidden behind some shoes. They hid the egg separately under a stack of blankets in their linen closet.
Charles and his wife stayed up late that night, watching the local news for any mention of the lost box or its contents. They heard nothing. They went to sleep with lots of questions still forming in their heads.
They awoke the next day to a strange cracking and squealing coming from their linen closet.
Charles slowly opened the door to the closet, not knowing what to expect. His wife stood behind him, holding a broom over her head.
The cracking sound ceased; however, the squealing sound did not.
At first, they saw nothing but could discern the noise was coming from under the blankets. Whatever was under the blankets started moving in their direction.
The head showed itself. It was golden, with nubs of horns sprouting from its top, a long snout with flaring nostrils, and bright emerald green expressive eyes that seemed to sparkle as it surveyed the surroundings. Its emerging body was covered with metallic scales reflecting the same light the eggshell had. A tail tipped in a small, fragile-looking spade almost completed the picture.
Before Charles or his wife could say or do anything, this baby dragon spread its velvety wings as far as it could, gazed directly into Charles’ eyes, let out a triumphant chirp, and imprinted itself onto Charles.
Neither Charles nor his wife expected that.
