RECYCLE MAGIC

“I did it!” I called as I walked in the door carrying several bags of groceries.

Alex took the bags from my hands and went into the kitchen with them. “I can see that.” He put the bags on the countertop. “Thanks for doing the grocery shopping.”

“Oh, you’re welcome but I wasn’t talking about grocery shopping when I said ‘I did it’.” I reached into a bag and pulled out a small baggie filled with toothpicks. “I found something that I can store in that really great candy box you gave me for Valentine’s Day!”

Alex looked confused as he took the milk from the bag and went to put it in the refrigerator. “Are you serious?” He turned around to look at me. “You saved the Godiva box?”

“Of course I did.” I opened the drawer where I kept the utensils and tucked in the back of the drawer was the golden metal box. “See?” I pulled it out and showed it to him.

Alex shook his head. “I can’t believe you kept that.”

I had to laugh. “You can’t?” I put the box on the countertop and tore open the baggie. “You know how much I love boxes!” I poured the toothpicks in the box watching as they slipped out of the baggie and into the box. Once they were all in I shook them into place. “Perfect fit!” I put the lid back on and opened the spice cabinet sliding it next to my recipe box. “That’s so much better then a baggie of toothpicks!”

Alex looked over at me. “I guess.”

“What do you mean you guess?” I took the box back off the shelf. “This is so much nicer than the cardboard boxes they usually come in.” I began pulling the tightly fitting lid off. “And I couldn’t even find any of those in the store. They only had the baggies.” I pulled a little harder finally getting it open but spilling several toothpicks onto the counter.

“How many fell out Rain Man?” Alex asked me.

I began to laugh as I scanned the countertop. “Eight toothpicks. Definitely eight toothpicks.”

“How many came in the bag?” Alex asked.

I shook my head as I continued to laugh. “Nope, not doing the math on that one.” I scooped the toothpicks off the counter and tossed them in the trash.

“You’re going to go through them pretty quickly if that happens every time you open the box.”

I shook my head again as I put the lid back on and placed the box back on the shelf. “I don’t care. I’m not giving up this box.”

I paused for a moment. “Wasn’t it two hundred and forty six?”

“Two hundred and forty six what?” Alex pulled a loaf of bread out of a grocery bag and was headed for the cabinet.

“Two hundred and forty six was the number of toothpicks the waitress dropped in the movie.”

Alex began to laugh again. “Two hundred and forty six definitely two hundred and forty six.” Alex quoted from the scene.

“Wow!” I shook my head. “I can’t believe I remembered that!” I went back to putting away the rest of the groceries. “Maybe when we’re done with this we can find an old rerun of The People’s Court and see what Judge Wapner is up to!”