NATCHEZ — A closed mailbox can represent a lot of things.

It could be empty, signifying nothing, or stuffed full of pink and yellow bill collection envelopes, symbols of dread.

But when The Dart found William Brown, 4, at his home on Espero Drive, the mailbox was a symbol of hope.

He was expecting a box.

“I think it could be here,” his father, Will Brown, called to him in a singsong voice from the end of the driveway. “It might be here.”

William’s anticipation of his box seemingly overwhelmed him, causing him to half run, half dance the length of the driveway.

For William, the wait for the box left him hopping as his father opened the hinged door, his potential package a totem akin to Schrödinger’s cat. Was it there? Was it not?

The answer came a moment later.

“It’s here,” Will called, holding up the box.

William high-fived his father, and they headed back to the house.

But now the box was the symbol.

Did it have what he was expecting?

Will handed the box to his son, and William opened it with the enthusiasm of a late July Christmas, bending the flaps back and gasping at what he found.

Inside the box, there it was, the heart of the mailbox’s symbolism, the long-awaited — well, three-day awaited — coming of a new Hot Wheels Ballistiks car.

The toy car was designed to roll up into a ball, and when dropped transform into a vehicle that would roll. William immediately took the new car and — making his own sound effects — demonstrated how the ball toy would be used up and down the driveway.

“His grandmother bought him one of these toys at the store that was meant to hold a bunch of them at once, but it was missing some, so she ordered him this one,” Will said. “He’s been waiting for it every day. He likes transformers and cars, and this is kind of both of them, so he’s real excited.”

For his part, William said he thought his new toy was fun and started making plans for a future collection of similar cars.

“I got a green one at the store,” he said. “I want a shark one, too.”

And even though the box — the short-lived symbol for the hopes of what it might have inside — was now empty, William found a new use for it.

It was a hat.