Starbox

4am.

“Maaaamaaa. Waaaah. Mama.”

Me, slipping in between the children, “What’s up Rahul?”

“Where’s my book?” he asked, as he frantically felt around the mattress and floor.

Me: Which book, this one?

“NO. The one with rabbits and the balloons.”

Me: Uhhh….rabbits and balloons, is it this one then?

Even more agitated, Rahul: Not that one. With rabbits and balloons.

He’s either dreamt about floating rabbits, or it’s something from school.

That afternoon.

Me: What do you feel like doing Rahul?

Rahul: I want to go to the slides.

Me: But it’s raining outside now. The slides and monkey bars are all wet and slippery.

Rahul: Where’s Leila? And papa?

Me: Leila’s gone to Decathlon with papa. Today it’s me and you, together!

Rahul: I want to go to the box place.

Me: What box place?

Rahul: The BOX shop, where we went yesterday.

Me: Hmmmm. What did we do there?

Getting frustrated, Rahul: We played with boxes and stickers.

“Ummmm…”

Think fast. Think fast.

A few days ago we bought stickers for the kids and then hung out in a section with cube-like furniture at…

“Star…bucks? Starbucks!”

“Yes. Starbox,” he lit up.

“OK, let’s go get stickers from the shop next to Star BUCKS, and then we can share a hot chocolate.”

“OK. Let’s go!”