The Box After The Storm

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What's in the box?

We usually see it in movies. A man has lost his job. He clears his desk and puts personal things in a box, and that doesn’t include the company’s stapler he has been using for ten years. That will be theft.

Prison movies also have the box. Inmate becomes an out-mate after doing time. He goes to the ‘property’ office to retrieve his phone, wallet and what he was wearing when he was arrested.

We all have the box when we cross yet another personal river. Loved ones tell us to leave their houses, when they discover the woman we call the client, is actually the girlfriend.

What's in the box?

The box is obviously bigger after a divorce or break-up. Maybe we should say it is the sum total of things we pack in nylon bags, backpacks or just throw in the boot/trunk.

In some cases, the box includes kids we came with to form the blended family. Bikes are part of the box, so are dogs and cats. However, there are things that don’t fit in the box. Memories.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.

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