She walks across the living room, her feet crushing the blanket of junk on the floor with each step. Looking down, she scans the mess: Unopened mail, cat toys, candles, remote controls, socks, CDs, kleenex boxes, magazines, recipe cards, shoes, and dozens of other miscellaneous things. In the corner of the room, she spots a medium-sized box. Curious as to what's in it, she carefully steps over one of her sleeping cats and reaches for the box, but instead stumbles over a videogame controller and falls to the floor. Cursing, she rubs her knee with one hand and grabs the box with the other. It's empty. Overwhelmed, she begins grabbing armfuls of the junk, shoving as much as she can into the box. After packing it to the brim, she shoves the flaps down, sealing it shut. Kicking the remaining junk towards the walls, she collapses onto the couch to admire her accomplishment. From the middle of the carpet, the box is taunting her. She suddenly feels guilty about not thoroughly sorting and organizing the junk. Her mind races wildly, fretting over what to do with the boxed-up junk. Finally she stands, picks up the box, and carries it out the front door. With a small thud, she drops it in the middle of the grass and smiles. Before another thought can even enter her mind, she strolls back inside, leaving the box and all of her anxiety out in the yard.

An orange cat peers out from under a car. To her delight, one of the humans has brought her a new toy to play with: A box. Cautiously, she creeps out and slinks over to her new plaything. It has an interesting smell, almost like a mix between cinnamon and cardboard. She jumps on top of it and tries nosing her way between the box flaps. Unsuccessful, she jumps back down and begins to circle it, rubbing her scent on the corners. Growing bored, she almost walks away, but then notices a small strip of cardboard that has began to peel off the one side. She bats at it lightly a few times, gradually working her way up to clawing at it. The piece peels off a little more with each swipe until finally it falls to the grass. She crouches down and chews on the cardboard for a moment, but then returns to the box. Pleased with her new game, she begins peeling off more strips, occasionally stopping to try another attempt at nosing her way through the top. Unsuccessful with each try, however, she returns to clawing at the side. She also finds that chewing on the strips helps peel them off easier. Five-and-a-half strips later, yawning, she rolls onto her back to sleep.

He jumps onto his Big Wheels, finally happy to be outside. Tomorrow is his mama's birthday and he is about to set off in search of a gift for her. Sometimes the teenagers leave things laying around in the woods. Once he found a pretty chain necklace back there and gave it to his sister for Christmas. There are also usually a lot of flowers growing there that his mama might for her desk at work. With a look of determination, he begins peddling towards the trees. About halfway down the sidewalk though, he becomes distracted by that pesky orange stray cat. It is sleeping next to a box on somebody's yard. Slowing down, he wonders what is in the box. Who would leave a box just laying out in the yard like that? He knows it's wrong to snoop in other people's belongings, but his curiosity gets the best of him. He parks his bike and walks slowly towards the box. Sensing the boy, the cat dashes across the yard and he watches her disappear behind the house. Looking around to make sure nobody is watching, he sits down and opens the box. He sees that it is completely packed with all sorts of wonderful things. He glances around one final time, and then begins sorting through the treasure. His eyes light up as he picks out all sorts of wonderful gifts for his mama: Three small cinnamon candles, a star-shaped candle holder, a small figurine of a unicorn, and a giant purple coffee mug. He also finds a stack of pink paper, heart stickers, and a black marker, which he uses to quickly make a birthday card. He closes back up the box, places the gifts in his backpack, and just as he is about to leave, he sees a girl in the window of the house. For a moment he is frightened that she will come out and yell at him, but instead, he sees that she is smiling. She gives him a thumbs-up and then disappears from the window

This was originally written for the "Searching" collaboration project.