Chapter 1
There was a town tucked away in a valley. It was a busy place. Travelers came and went. Peddles came and went. Then one day there was a rock slide. Rocks as big as houses rolled into the valley. The rolled onto the roads and and the train track. The blocked the little towpaths that led into town. Nothing could get out or come in. The rock slide had cut the town off form the rest of the world.
Years passed. Grass grew over the old roads and train track and towpaths. Things changed outside. But no travelers or peddlers came in to tell about the changes. So folks didn't no about jet planes, computers, television, and striped toothpaste. Still, they were happy. They played ball and read books. They made quilts and tended their pole beans and flowers. They smiled often and didn't seem to mind that nothing came in or went out.
Then one day a cargo plane got lost in a sonwstorm. To save gas, the pilot ditched a piece of his cargo. It came sailing out of the sky and landing in a sonwbank smack in the middle of the town.
Chapter 2
No one saw the plane. But everyone saw the box. Something had come in! In no time all everyone was in the town square. They started at the box. "What can it be?" They asked one another in hushed voices, as though the thing insiad could hear.
Finally a boy named Marvin came up with a bright idea. "Let's open it!"he shouted. So the mayor got a hammer and borke open the box. As the wood fell away, the corwd grew quiet. Then someone said, "It's another box!" Just then a little girl caught sight of herself in the screen. "It's some kind of mirror," she said. "It's some kind of table," said a man, putting his bottle of soda pop on it. "Might be a safe," said another man. "Maybe you turn those knobs to open it." That idea began to catch on. Then Marvin piped up again. "It has an electric plug," he said. They carried the box into the town hall.
The mayor plugged it in. But nothing happened. They might have been there all day if it hadn't been for Marvin. "Try the knobs," he said. They did. First one knob, then another, and then----MAGIC! They couldn't believe their eyes.
"Do you see what I see?" They kept asking each other. One child even ran to the back of the box to see if the little people were inside it. They night the mayor called everyone together. "Listen, folks," she said. "This box is clearly a gift from the outside. Let's keep our eyes open and watch it for a message." Everyone clapped. Right then and there, they sat down and started watching.
Chapter 3
Soon life in the town changed. Each morning people came to watch the box. The watched cartoons and ads and game shows. They watched singing and crying, eating and shooting. And they didn't know what to make of any of it. But one thing was surn: the more they watched, the more they watched to watch. Everyone except Marvin.
After a while people began watching the box all day. They brought picnic lunches. The floor got sticky because no one stopped watching to clean up. Soon people decided it was silly to go home to sleep. So they brought cots into the town hall. It was like being at summer camp, but the floor was stockier.
The box stayed on day and night. No one played ball or read books. No one made quilts or tended their pole beans or flowers. No one even smiled much. People wanted to stop watching. But they were afraid they might miss the message.
One day the mayor looked around her. "This town is a mess!" She said. "Father have stopped shaving. Mothers are wearing bathrobes all day. Children aren't going to school. Shopkeepers aren't tending their shops. And the pole beans are dying. I know the box is a gift. Maybe it is magic," she said sadly. "And maybe it does have a message. But I wish it had never come into our town at all.
Suddenly, there was Marvin. He looked up at the mayor. He looked out at the crowd. Clearing his throat, he said, "There is no message for us. This box is just a machine. I read about the idea in a book called After Rodio." "You mean it isn't magic?" Asked the mayor. "Well, it's a little magic," Marvin said. "But a little magic goes a long way." He went over and turned a knob.
Off went the box. All the people rubbed their eyes. It was as though they were waking up form a deep sleep.
Aftter that, people went back to their old ways. They played ball and read books. They made quilts and tended their pole beans and flowers. But when they wanted a bit of the outside to come in, they would turn on the box. And, just as Marvin said, it was a little magic.
