A million years ago, when I was a child, I had a book about a little girl who had a refrigerator box come into her possession. She played with it, using her imagination, to create days of fun and adventure with it. I loved the book so much. I loved how she kept changing the identity of the box to suit her mood and her whim.
A couple of weeks ago we had some boxes and Grand Master H begged me to help him make wheels and a steering wheel for it so that it could be his race car. This was at the exact moment when I was giving his sister a bath, so I had to quickly come up with a solution before she slipped under the water and drown (I might be a little paranoid about that). I grabbed four sheets of black construction paper cut some...well...they were sort of round tires and slapped some tape on them and attached them to the sides.
Of course, Baby C hears all of this and immediately demands her own car with pink tires. At that point I am turned into a chop shop, turning out car parts rendered in construction paper. The whole living room was kissed with sun. She wore her pink marabou tiara that was a gift from a client, he wore his Optimus Prime Halloween mask, they colored on the boxes with crayons and markers.
They had the best time for hours. They got co-pilots (favorite bears), "helmets", racing gloves, you name it. It was so much fun to watch them, their little brains going wild with all the possibilities.
When I saw Caine's Arcade, it reminded me of that book. (Christina Katerina and the Box for those of you playing at home). I have no idea what happened to my copy of the book, but I will definitely be replacing it.
I can't wait to share that with them both.