Package
It sat untouched and unopened in the corner of Nora ’ s closet : a small box with no hint as to its inner contents . No wrapping paper or bow , no labels — just a regular , square , white box with a lid , from Aron .
How long had it been since the breakup ? Nearly a month and a half , and she ’ d blocked all means of communication . She deleted the phone number and blocked Aron on all social media websites and applications . She even stopped going to events and places where they might run into one another . It was fortunate that they didn ’ t go to the same school .
A few weeks after the blowup , she did some spring cleaning , throwing away all gifts and mementos that brought back rare , happy memories mixed in with the overall bad experience of having known Aron her entire life . Gifts were crushed under her feet and went straight to the trash . Pictures suffered at the blades of her shears before she burned them on the stovetop . Things borrowed were tossed carelessly into an old shoebox , to be delivered through USPS .
But she couldn ’ t bring herself to get rid of the snow globe ; she liked the way it looked on top of her dresser . It was from the young days , untainted by the years that followed .
She burned the letters and notes , though , just like the pictures . Words held stronger memories than anything else . Now there was only the snow globe left to remind her , and she could look at it without getting the urge to smash it against the wall .
76
Fatima Al-Shemary
And the package , hand-delivered through a friend of Nora ’ s .
She decided she wasn ’ t curious . Not really . Okay , yes , she was , but she didn ’ t really want to get into it . Whatever was inside couldn ’ t be anything good . Impossible . It was all over .
The package had been there for three days , and no response . It was probably just a return of her own items . Or a nasty letter ; Aron always wanted to have the last word .
Or an apology . Unlikely , but the slight chance that it might be was what kept Nora from throwing it out . She still didn ’ t want to open it .
So she let it sit for three days , resisting the urge to open it until she figured out what to do .
Today , she got a text message from Sean , the deliverer :
Aron was at the coffee shop this morning . Wanted to know if you got the package . I told her I gave it to you .
Nora replied : Thanks . Anything else ? Sean answered : That ’ s it . Nora said : Cool . Want to go the junkyard later ?