SNOOPING

I want to snoop.

Punk boy has started the 'moving in' process earlier this week. Him and a friend moved in a van full of stuff into my apartment on Thursday. Mostly bags of clothing and towels, a few boxes of records, a beat up old guitar case and guitar and some books.

But there is this one box...

It's a wooden box, painted white a long time ago with a few 'cow spot' accents on it. On top is a faded "My Name Is..." sticker with Punk Boy's full name written on in quick, yet clear script. The box is heavy, yet lopsided. When you pick it up by the handle on the top, the weight in the box is seated more to the right and the box tips. There are chips on the corners and the paint has seeped so much into the wood that the grain is starting to crawl forward.

I've seen this box before in Punk Boy's apartment. For some odd reason, when we first started to see each other, it was the only thing in his apartment I noticed. It was quietly tucked away on the bottom of the book shelf in his room and to me, stood out due to it's paint job. I never asked about it, but my eyes always darted towards it when ever I was over to visit.

On Thursday when it was moved into my apartment I was instantly draw towards it. There was not a chain from the handel to the clasp on the box - a chain I never noticed before. I wonder if it's a silent message - a 'do not touch' message. Maybe the fax that it's 'his' and closed also means that I should not touch it.

But I want to open it - very badly.

What are my entitlements here? Am I 'entitled' to open it as we will be living together and the box is, currently, in my apartment? Or should I be respectful of the fact that Punk Boy is in a situation that forces him to have some of his possesions out of his site and I should be respectful of that? I'm fighting my urges...