I don't get this story. So the kids grandmother disappeared. Ok. Got it. Good. Why does no one say anything about it? And most importantly I don't get the ending.

"And, in the kitchen, all alone,
I saw him stab a knife into a box.
You made me love you.
I didn't want to do it."

Huh?!? I've been thinking that the grandfather was just perhaps having a psychotic reenactment of that night. But then the last two lines.... plzzzzz someone explain this to me.

P.S. I had a couple of my friends read Babycakes, hehe, one screamed and the other threw the book out the door. Good thing it wasn't raining =)

'You made me love you
I didn't want to do it'

It refers back to the opening stanza where it's mentioned as a song that the Grandmother sings.
Stabbing the knife into the box could be a psychotic episode. Or it could be reflection of the swords going through the magicians box. And the final blade through the red hat box was a kitchen knife too, not a sword. And a kitchen knife penetrating can be seen as a domestic accident. Could be the grandfather (who is shown as a man who knows how mechanical things work) be trying to recreate the trick to find out what happened to his wife. It could just be anger at his being alone and old, manifesting as a leitmotif.

Why does no-one say anything about the grandmother disappearing? Who says they don't? It's a long distant boyhood memory. The boy only spoke with his grandfather and the magician, who claimed not to speak english (was that a lie? how could he tell them he didn't speak english without speaking english?) What kind of boxes are grandmothers often put in? Are memories of two big occasions blurring because they happend close together and both involve boxes?

HAHA! Yes, I see. Thank you so much! Answered some of my questions and asked some I hadn't thought of. Love it!
Still though I don't think that one would forget an investigation or anything along those lines. Suppose that it was indeed a synthesis of two or more memories.
Thanks again! Appreciate it.

That’s the way to do it!