Boxworld 7

Time flows differently here, quicker somehow:

At first it’s a dream come true.
The first thing Rob does is get a newer, bigger house for him and his parents, sell the old one he says, you don’t need it.
There’s money left over.
Rob goes to the bingo every night. He loves it and they all love him. That first month he gets a round of applause just for coming through the door. Imagine that.
At the Chinese he’s late a few times and sometimes people come in just to see him.
They don’t order anything.
After a while it’s a bit of a nuisance and the owner has a quiet word.
Which is ok because Rob doesn’t need the money.
And soon he has a girlfriend and she loves him and she takes him shopping and he gets a new wardrobe and clothes to put in it. And a car. They take a holiday. The first he’s had without his mum. He misses her and talks to her on the phone his girlfriend bought for him (with his money, ‘it doesn’t matter he can afford it’)
They should get a place together she tells him one night, they could have more privacy, it would be just like when they were on holiday but all year round.
He hasn’t been to the bingo for a while, his girlfriend doesn’t like it.
His parents don’t mind moving, the new flat’s a bit smaller than their old home, and his mum cries a bit but that’s just because she’s going to miss Rob.
Come on Rob his girlfriend says. The new house has a jacuzzi.
Rob and his mum are crying again, it’s just like that day back in the studio, when he felt so powerless . . .

And then it’s as if there are walls on all sides, and peering down at him kindly is a huge face, a smiling man with a beard. And in other times and other places he is known by different names (although maybe his beard is a little less blonde)
He closes the lid . . . there’s nothing more to see in that world.
And with an oustretched finger time in the studio flows once more, and this time Rob chooses the right box.