Boxer

Thomasina was the fastest in the West. Or the East for that matter. No-one could deny it, not even her most hateful of enemies.

Give her anything and she would have it boxed within the hour. Usually within five minutes, but when folks started showing up with cast iron stoves or wheelbarrows the terms had to be changed a bit. Not that she'd made any guarantees about time in the first place, but people did like to talk about her speed and the truth was it had never taken her more than an hour, not even the time Mrs. Smith came by with an apple tree to be boxed.

But one day someone new came to town, a stranger to all. He set up a sandwich board on the main street of the town proclaiming his boxing business open.

At first people scoffed. Did he really think people would pay for something Thomasina did free? Then again her services often had a wait and why not pay if you were impatient and had the money.

A few curious folks did end up taking their objects to him, just to see. Reports trickled back in. He'd boxed them up competently and quickly. Not that anyone would say he was better than Thomasina, not at that time, but he'd done what his sign declared. And that was one advantage he had over Thomasina—a sign.

So the war of boxers began, with a sandwich board and a growing stream of whispers amongst the townsfolk.

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This story was written for the Thursday #freewrite by @mariannewest.

Photo by Leone Venter.