Cardboard Tunnel

Cardboard canyons... left, then right! The basement bulb hummed softly overhead as I tiptoed between towering stacks of pale cartons. So quiet down here. All on my own! Ahead, a bottom box had its packing tape peeled back, leaving a cardboard flap hanging open like a secret tunnel. I bent my long knees, folding my skinny arms tight against my chest. Down on my belly I slid, inching straight into the dim hollow. My elbow bumped the corrugated side with a dull thud—whoops! But I kept wiggling forward until my head popped out the other side. A whole new aisle of boxes!