What’s in the Box

A warm breeze slightly lifts the bottom of a young girl’s skirt, revealing her tanned and delicate ankles as she steps out onto the marble steps. The villa behind her, open and elegant, welcomes in the sunshine and stands proud atop Palatine Hill. Before beginning her short journey to the Forum Romanum, she takes a moment to admire how tranquil the city looks from up there. The Tiber River, crowded with ships waiting to dock and unload their exotic foods, cloths, and ideas for Romans to swallow up, looks like a dainty stream with leaves floating harmlessly by. Realizing she has never actually seen the Harbor up close, she starts walking down a cobble-stoned road toward the river, away from the Forum Romanum.

Her daydreaming takes her to the edge of the Tiber River. She slips off her left sandal and gently dips her foot into the teasing blue. The crispness refreshes her and continues to send her along the banks towards the Harbor. When she reaches the Harbor, the vitality and bustling of the city’s port shocks her. She awakens from her fantasy and stands frozen in front of giants! The wooden docks float gracefully atop the crazed waters, taming the beasts that try hard to break away and sail back into the unknown world. She stifles an excited cry and curiously follows two men carrying a large crate with a red ribbon tied on top.

She follows them to the outside of the Horrea. The warehouse looks much different than the marbled villa that she knows so well, but she’s not quite clear on why. When the men disappear inside, she runs to the wall of the building and suspiciously touches it. Bewildered at how much rougher it was compared to her smooth stone walls, back home, she decides that this must be concrete, the new building material she overheard her father talking about the other day. Holding her breath, she slips through a covered archway, entering the Horrea, trying to satisfy her curiosity.

Hundreds of people with crates and boxes unpack their goods inside wall-less rooms. Colorful fabrics drape the columns and the air smells of lilac perfume. Light beams in from above windows underneath the barrel-vaulted ceiling and catches certain jewels perfectly. Between the shadows she spots the two men with the peculiar crate. She watches them open the box and unload grain. Her suspense is replaced by disappointment and then she remembers what she originally was supposed to do today. She shoos off her imagination and rushes off to the Forum Romanum to buy a basket of grain for her mother, leaving her escapade to a dull end.