The morning the box appeared was only the beginning.  How it got there was anybody’s guess.  How long it had been sitting up on the top shelf was a mystery. She never paid much attention to what was up there, but that morning she woke up to Jasper making all kinds of funny grumbling sounds.  "Oh Jasper, please go back to sleep it's too early to get up" she moaned, but the grumbling continued. 

 

She slowly opened her eyes, as the sunlight filtered through the window at just the right angle that her eyes caught its reflection of a mysterious green glow in the mirror.  Rubbing the sleep from her eyes,  she noticed Jasper chasing something on the floor beside her.  He grumbled and scratched at the green spots of light on the rug.  Angelica's eyes followed the streams of light up to the top of her bookcase. 

 

That's when she saw it!  A strong burst of green light eliminating from a rectangular shape. The light was so bright she needed to squint to make out the shape of the green glowing object. Angelica stood up on the bed to get a better look at it. It appeared to be a strangely beautiful box glistening with jewels in the sunlight.  Where did it come from and who put it up there, she wondered?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The curiosity was more than she could stand!  Bounding out of bed she climbed up onto the small step stool and reached for the box.  Carefully balancing on her tiptoes, she suddenly became dizzy with excitement. She lurched forward she grab the edge of the box.

           

Then, all of a sudden, the room seemed to move in many different directions.  The box flew up in the air and Angelica tumbled off the stool -- head over heels, up, and then back down to the floor.  When the dust settled and she opened her eyes, she could see a strange green glow hovering over her bed.

           

Slowly peeking over the edge of the bed, she saw that the box had landed safely on the bed.  There it sat, nestled in the bed-covers with it's lid slightly ajar.  Looking closely now, a glint of sliver sparkles caught her eye.

 

Carefully, she lifted the lid from the box.  Her eyes danced with wonder as she opened the jeweled lid to find a beautiful apple green and gold satin bag beneath a nest of sparkling tissue paper. A beautiful heart-shaped pin secured a small card and a folded  note to the bag.  The card featured an intricate design pattern on the front side she read the words; "Spin to Begin" “Expect the best, prepare for the worst, and take what comes" not sure what that meant she reached for the note next, with the hope of finding out who sent the box. 

 

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Inside the note she found an interesting map, but not a even a clue to where the box came from.  The map had several interesting castles, a few mountains ranges and forests all surrounding a magnificent Green Castles featured right in the middle of it all. Angelica traced the winding yellow path leading from the castle traversing across the map to several smaller castles and villages.  Again the words on the smaller card we repeated along the boarder of the map.  And the words "Spin to Begin" were centered in the compass rose that appeared in the lower right hand corner of the map. 

           

Perhaps whatever was in the bag would clear up the confusion.  Angelica untied the tassels and reached inside.  It felt like a shoe.  There were two of them!  She pulled them out.  She couldn't believe her eyes!  These were not just any old shoes. These were magnificent sparkling ruby shoes!  Her eyes widened as a crazy thought crossed her mind. Could these be the ruby slippers Glinda gave Dorothy on her visit to OZ?  If so, how could that be?  who sent them to her?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

          

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Staring in disbelief she reached for a closer look at the map. Suddenly it started to all make sense. Could this be a map of Oz!  She traced her finger along the yellow path and with a closer look was wondered if represented the Yellow Brick Road.  It the path did circle around and led up to a beautiful emerald green castle was located in center of the map. The curious pieces began to fall into place. It must be Oz, she thought,  She just felt it in her heart. The Wizard of Oz was one of her all-time favorite books.

 

Many questions began to race through her thoughts. How did did they get here?  Why were they sent to her?  and what was she supposed to do now? 

 

Carefully she picked up one of the shoes, that's when she noticed the label inside the shoe. She examined the label closely, the words above it read "The Royal Shoe Makers" and the logo in the center of it was actually two enter-twining letters.  Those letters were an "O" and "Z".