The Box
We’ve known for a long time that the Defnalls are kind of strange----ever since Don Defnall came to our annual neighborhood Christmas party in 1998 and sat mute on a kitchen chair by the Christmas tree for an hour. We tried to engage him in conversation, but all we could pull from him were grunts and barely audible yesses and nos. Then he got up and left the house without so much as saying a word.
We heard later that Mrs. Defnall had some kind of cancer and wasn’t doing well and that they had 2 little ones, Justin and Angie. Then we heard that Mrs. Defnall was bipolar and was a big-time management problem and maybe that was why Don was the way he was. Then we heard that Don had a problem with clinical depression. The only time we saw the little ones was when they were occasionally seen playing in the yard.
Then all of a sudden one summer the Defnalls disappeared. We kept waiting for a “For Sale” sign to go up, but nothing of the kind. They were gone for several years, the house seemed to be falling down, some one coming in the summer each time the grass got knee deep to mow.
The Defnall house is across the street from us next to the Moores. Paul Moore is a Baptist preacher semi-retired. Barbara Moore is the neighborhood go-to person to know what is going on in the hood. One day we met as we both went to the mailbox at the same time, and she told me that the Defnalls had moved into his father’s house in Hoover because his father was in declining health, and Don, indeed, suffered from depression, and she didn’t know about Mrs. Defnall or the kids.
Then the Defnalls came back last summer. At least, as far as we can tell, Don and Justin came back. We do not know what has happened to Mrs. Defnall and Angie.
Justin rides the school bus each morning, and he crosses the street and walks thru our yard to catch the bus. As I see him some mornings, he looks like a normal kid.
Yesterday I pulled into our driveway in the afternoon as Justin exited his bus. I walk out to our mailbox as he walks by.
“Hi, Mr. Hudson!” he says. “Want to see something?”
“Sure,” I say, somewhat startled that he spoke to me for the first time. His voice is high, almost falsetto. His dark brown hair is long, covering his ears, and his teeth are too big for his mouth---all you can see is a mouth full of piano keys.
“You got anything you want to make disappear,” he says as he shows me a small box.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“I have a disappearing box. Put something inside this box, and it disappears.”
“Oh, really,” I respond, thinking he’s going to show me a magic trick.
I pick up a rock from the road.
“What about this rock” I ask.
“Sure,” he says. Justin places the rock inside the box, closes it, closes his eyes, and clinches his face like he’s in pain. He opens the box. The rock has vanished. He shows me the empty box.
“Wow! That’s great, Justin. Nice trick. How do you do it?”
“You just put something in the box, close it, wish it to disappear, and that’s all there is to it.”
“Oh, I get it. A magician never tells how he does it. Right?!”
Justin looks at me like he doesn’t understand what I’m saying.
“I guess so,” he says.
“Let me see the box.”
I take the box and open it. It’s about 4” X 4” and has black felt inside. It looks like a music box with the music element removed. I cannot see any way the trick is done.
“How about this leaf,” I tell Justin as I pick up a leaf from the road.
“OK,” he says.
Same procedure. The leaf disappears.
Suddently I realize that this is real. The box DOES make things disappear.
“Where did you get this?” I ask Justin.
“Found it in our garage,” Justin says.
Before I can say more, he says, “Gotta go. Dad’s waiting.”
He walks on up the road to his house.
I am stunned. What am I to make of this? No one will believe me if I tell them. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?
We heard later that Mrs. Defnall had some kind of cancer and wasn’t doing well and that they had 2 little ones, Justin and Angie. Then we heard that Mrs. Defnall was bipolar and was a big-time management problem and maybe that was why Don was the way he was. Then we heard that Don had a problem with clinical depression. The only time we saw the little ones was when they were occasionally seen playing in the yard.
Then all of a sudden one summer the Defnalls disappeared. We kept waiting for a “For Sale” sign to go up, but nothing of the kind. They were gone for several years, the house seemed to be falling down, some one coming in the summer each time the grass got knee deep to mow.
The Defnall house is across the street from us next to the Moores. Paul Moore is a Baptist preacher semi-retired. Barbara Moore is the neighborhood go-to person to know what is going on in the hood. One day we met as we both went to the mailbox at the same time, and she told me that the Defnalls had moved into his father’s house in Hoover because his father was in declining health, and Don, indeed, suffered from depression, and she didn’t know about Mrs. Defnall or the kids.
Then the Defnalls came back last summer. At least, as far as we can tell, Don and Justin came back. We do not know what has happened to Mrs. Defnall and Angie.
Justin rides the school bus each morning, and he crosses the street and walks thru our yard to catch the bus. As I see him some mornings, he looks like a normal kid.
Yesterday I pulled into our driveway in the afternoon as Justin exited his bus. I walk out to our mailbox as he walks by.
“Hi, Mr. Hudson!” he says. “Want to see something?”
“Sure,” I say, somewhat startled that he spoke to me for the first time. His voice is high, almost falsetto. His dark brown hair is long, covering his ears, and his teeth are too big for his mouth---all you can see is a mouth full of piano keys.
“You got anything you want to make disappear,” he says as he shows me a small box.
“What do you mean?” I ask.
“I have a disappearing box. Put something inside this box, and it disappears.”
“Oh, really,” I respond, thinking he’s going to show me a magic trick.
I pick up a rock from the road.
“What about this rock” I ask.
“Sure,” he says. Justin places the rock inside the box, closes it, closes his eyes, and clinches his face like he’s in pain. He opens the box. The rock has vanished. He shows me the empty box.
“Wow! That’s great, Justin. Nice trick. How do you do it?”
“You just put something in the box, close it, wish it to disappear, and that’s all there is to it.”
“Oh, I get it. A magician never tells how he does it. Right?!”
Justin looks at me like he doesn’t understand what I’m saying.
“I guess so,” he says.
“Let me see the box.”
I take the box and open it. It’s about 4” X 4” and has black felt inside. It looks like a music box with the music element removed. I cannot see any way the trick is done.
“How about this leaf,” I tell Justin as I pick up a leaf from the road.
“OK,” he says.
Same procedure. The leaf disappears.
Suddently I realize that this is real. The box DOES make things disappear.
“Where did you get this?” I ask Justin.
“Found it in our garage,” Justin says.
Before I can say more, he says, “Gotta go. Dad’s waiting.”
He walks on up the road to his house.
I am stunned. What am I to make of this? No one will believe me if I tell them. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?
posted by Fred Hudson at 8:18 PM
3 Comments:
This is a chilling story.
I can't tell what is going on here. What a mysterious box! Maybe Mrs. Defnall and Angie disappeared via this box? Is this why you didn't see them when they returned? Should an investigation be launched?
I wonder what came to be with Justin and his box. Is there a follow up story in the works?
Do you think that Justin might rent this magical box out? I would like to take it to school with me. If, indeed, it is big enough to put humans inside, and make them disappear, that is.
I personally know "Justin" Defnall. I do not appreciate the rudeness of telling someone else's story when you DO NOT know it.
Why would you feel the need to judge others and post it on the internet?
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