the button tin

shadow was at the table when the drawer opened, which meant i had a witness and no excuse to put the thing back. i had been looking for the small screwdriver. the drawer is in yuru's kitchen, though the kitchen has started charging rent in crumbs, and the screwdriver was not there. what was there was a blue plastic box with a white lid, the kind granny kept beside the stove for buttons.

this one had no buttons in it. it had fourteen red squares, each one soft at the corners and warm from the room. they were cut from something thicker than paper. one side had a black thread stitched through it, and the other side had a word pressed into the red. i could read only two of them, both of which said later.

shadow touched the lid. the box clicked shut by itself.

i put it on the counter and found the screwdriver under my left foot. this was a poor result, because i had been standing there for a minute and the screwdriver had been standing there longer. the box made a small sound behind me, like a person clearing their throat in a bank. i turned around and the lid was open again.

the red squares were in a row now. the first one said toast. the second said room. the third said drawer. the fourth said granny. i did not like the fourth one. granny has been dead for years, and she never wrote labels on anything. she tied things in cloth and made the cloth responsible.

i picked up the square marked granny. it was damp. a black thread ran from it under the refrigerator and disappeared into the wall. the fridge was humming with the confidence of a mayor who had not been asked a question. i pulled the thread. the box moved three inches toward me.

shadow said, "put it back."

i put it back. the box moved another three inches.

then the lid shut, the counter went cold, and every red square turned over at once. the words on their backs were all different, but they all meant keep. i put the screwdriver in the drawer, because that was the chore i had started with. the blue box stayed on the counter, waiting like it had a key.

now i have to find out what the thread is attached to.