It was a hot summer afternoon during the holidays and Ma was taking a nap. Deepak was bored. He came upon a naughty idea. Boys are like that. When they want to be naughty, they have to be naughty.

So Deepak, in his naughty mood, decided to do what Ma had told him never to do. He decided to open Grandpa's black wooden box that lay in the guest-room. It was a lovely old, square box with brass hinges. The whole box was studded with buttons of brass that had tarnished and turned black with age.

The thought of opening the box excited Deepak a lot. He scurried into the guest-room and silently shut and bolted the door behind him. Ma would be ever so angry if she came to know he had opened Grandpa's old box. But Deepak had dreamt of opening it since he was five years old and he could even brave Ma's wrath, now that he had a chance. Open the box he would.

As Deepak inched his way towards the forbidden box, his eyes shone with excitement. What would he find in it? Precious jewels, gold coins or magic potions? He shivered with mild fear. Grandpa had been a magician. What if a genie jumped out and refused to go back? "Pah!" he thought, "I'm not going to be scared of a stupid genie! Besides, he must be very old after being in the box for so many years."

He went bravely towards the box. The clock on the mantelpiece ticked away, the only sound in the otherwise silent room. Deepak lifted the lid, holding the hinge with trembling fingers. Just then, the clock struck three. Ding dong, ding-dong it went loudly, making him jump out of his skin. He dropped the lid in fright and it fell back with a loud clatter. Deepak ran and hid under the cot, for sure Ma would wake up and come after him angrily.

He waited for a while, scared to even breathe; but nothing happened. So, slowly he crept out again, and went back to the box. This time, he opened it and sat down with a satisfied sigh. At last! At last, he was going to find out what the box contained.

As he ran his hands over the contents, a musty odour tickled his nostrils and made him sneeze. "What's this? What is all this?" he wondered. There was an old red silk scarf, a black top hat, even a feathered wand, and a stick. How boring! He had seen a magic show in school and the magician had used all this to make rabbits and flowers appear and disappear. Surely, he would find something more exciting.

He dug his hands deeper into the box. Something smooth and narrow came into his hand. Pulling it out, he looked at it. It was a pair of the prettiest sunglasses he had ever seen. They had a shiny red butterfly-shaped frame spangled with bright silver stars. The lenses were black as night and a shiny silver chain dangled from the sides.