Boxes of Fun

For Storytime this week, I was reading the book Not a Box, and decided that I wanted some big boxes for the kids to play with while they were waiting for Storytime to start.  I went to the furniture store on the morning of Storytime (why do I never learn to think ahead?), and they had a dryer box that they said I could have.  I drove around back and tried to fit it in Max, but no luck.  The box was just too big.  I thought about breaking it down to make it fit, but I wasn't sure that would do the trick, and it wasn't going to be easy to break it down.  So what to do?  I did consider just walking it to the library.  It had a small opening between the flaps on one end that my head might have fit through.  I could just wear the box, and walk the 5 blocks to the library!  But I wasn't actually very excited about that plan.
My second idea was to go and borrow a truck.  I have friends with an old truck that spends most of its time sitting under a tree, so I texted and asked if I could borrow it.  (Storytime starts at 11:00, and it is now about 10:15.)  They said sure, and I headed over there.  The husband had to do a bit of tinkering to get it to start, but it started alright, and I jumped in.
When I was 15 and begging my parents to teach me how to drive, the only car we owned was a Dodge Caravan that was a standard or, in other words, a stick shift.  That's how I learned to drive, and when I got in the Driver's Ed car for my driving test, and it was an Automatic, I had to ask directions.  So I know how to drive a stick shift, but it's been about twenty years or so since I've actually driven one.  That, combined with the fact that the seat absolutely refused to move in order to accommodate my short legs, made for an interesting drive.  I am a little overly proud to say that I did drive that truck to the furniture store and then to the library without killing it once or crashing into anything.  Thank you, thank you, thank you very much.
So I finally got my big, beautiful box to the library, and...  it wouldn't fit through the door.  So I was going to have to break it down, after all.  I had good reasons for not wanting to break it down in the first place.  One end was cut off already, so it was just open, but the end with flaps still intact was glued shut. And they didn't use just a little glue, either.  I imagine them using great puddles of super glue on those flaps.  I guess if it had to hold a dryer in, then it needed lots of glue, but I think they went a tad overboard.
After using scissors, rulers, and brute force, I finally got that box taken apart and through the door.  Luckily there was a youngster hanging around outside the library whom I recruited to crawl inside the box and tape it back up for me.
It was now about 10:50, and all I had to do was drive the truck back to my friend's house and drive Max back to the library.
I am happy to say that I slid into home (er, the library) at 10:59, and pulled off a storytime that all the kids loved!
Even happier were the kids at my house when I brought the boxes home to them two days later.  (Turns out the box does fit in the back of Max when it's flat)