Christmas Gift Box

Our little shop is in Rani Wala Market, which is always a bit chaotic. We mostly deal with boxes and packaging, especially for the holiday season, but it feels like Christmas all year round with the amount of cardboard we have piled up. The space is narrow and the ceiling is low. I spend a lot of time just moving boxes from one side to the other to find what a customer wants. It’s a family thing, really. My wife helps with the smaller gift items and I handle the heavy lifting. The market is loud and the smell of street food is always drifting in through the front door. We don't have a fancy display window. Most people just know we are here because they’ve been coming to this market for twenty years. Sometimes we run out of red ribbon and I have to run to the shop three doors down to borrow some. It’s that kind of place. We don't have a big staff, just us and a boy who helps on busy Mondays. The floorboards creak when you walk to the back. We aren't trying to be the biggest shop in the city. We just want to make sure people have a decent box for their gifts. It’s practical work. Most days my hands are dry from all the paper and cardboard, but that is just part of the job. It gets dusty, but it is our place. Sometimes it is hard to find the tape.