The Square Box

Jake started walking along the sidewalk on his way to Midge's house. In the road, he found a square box with a handle on it. He pushed the bow with his paws, but the box would not open. He poked it with his nose and nothing happened. He stood there looking at the box and walked around it staring at it.

“I wonder what is in the box,” thought Jake as he tried to pick up the box by he handle.

It made a little sound and he stood a minute and looked at it, moving his head side to side. He picked up the box by the hand and held on tight as he started his walk to Midge's house. He came through the gate and found Midge sitting on the porch.

“What is that you have?” asked Midge.

“I found it in the street when I was walking here,” said Jake. “It is a box with a handle on it. When I picked I up, it made a little noise, but I can't open it.”

“Did yo hit it with your paw?” asked Midge as she walked around the box looking at it.

“I hit it with my paw and it pushed it with my nose,” said Jake. “But nothing happened.”

“It has a funny handle,” said Midge.

“Maybe it is broken,” suggested Jake. “I never saw a funny box like this.”

“What are you doing?” asked Booker-T as he joined Midge and Jake at the porch.

“We are trying to find a way to open this funny box Jake found,” said Midge. “It has a funny handle on it.”

“And it made a funny noise when I picked it up with the handle,” said Jake.

“My owner's little nephew had a box that looked like that,” said Booker-T. “You turn that little

handle around and around.”

“Does that open the box?” asked Midge.

“She opened it all the time doing that,” said Booker-T.

“Let me try that Jake,” said Midge grabbing the handle and starting to turn it around and around.

“Hey listen,” said Jake. “It is making music when you turn the handle.”

“Maybe it is a music box,” said Midge.

Midge turned the handle as the music played. Suddenly the box lid opened and out popped a funny clown. Midge jumped back quickly and took a deep breath. “That scared me.”

“It's a Jack-in-the-Box,” laughed Gabby as he flew down from the trees.

“Hi Gabby,” said Midge. “Why do they call it a Jack-in-the-Box? It looks like a clown.”

“I don't know why it is called a Jack-in-the-Box,” said Gabby. “A lot of kids have them. They like to turn the handle and play the music and see the clown pop out.”

“It's a funny music box,” said Midge. “Is that all it does?”

“That is all it does,” said Gabby. “The little humans like to play with it. They like the music it plays. Sometimes they get scared when the clown pops up, but then they start laughing at the funny clown.”

“They should call it a Clown-in-the-Box instead of the Jack-in-the-Box,” suggested Midge.

“Is this a toy?” asked Booker-T.

“They call it a toy,” said Gabby.

“What do you do with it now?” asked Jake.

“Push the clown back in the box and push down the top and then you turn the handle and let it pop back out,” said Gabby.

Jake pushed the clown into the box, but when he tried to push down the lid to the box, the clown popped up again. “I don't think the clown wants to be in the box.”

“You have to hold him down and then push the lid down on top of him,” said Gabby.

“Help me Midge,” said Jake. “ I will hold down the clown and you push down the lid.”

“Okay,” said Midge walking up to the box and taking the lid into her mouth.

Jake pushed the clown into the box and held it down with his nose while Midge pushed down on the lid.

“Okay, turn the handle, Booker-T,” said Midge.

Booker-T started to turn the handle, round and round it went. They all stood and stared at the box waiting for the clown to pop up.

“Turn it faster,” said Jake.

Booker-T started to turn it faster and faster and suddenly the clown popped out and Booker-T jumped back.

“Oh!” screamed Booker-T.

“Lets find something else to do,” suggested Midge. “This box don't do much.”

“Do you want to go to the little zoo building and see the animals now?” asked Jake.

“Okay,” agreed Midge.

The three decided the box wasn't too much fun and the all ran down the sidewalk to the zoo.