The Olde Antique Shoppe

L.C. Schäfer is to blame. I'm just going along with it for the endurance fitness. Check her idea out here:

Prompt number twenty-seven:

You've inherited your grandfather's antique shop, but all is not as it seems.

***

"Well, here we are," I said as I opened the door. I was on my own but it was my grandfather's shop and I couldn't quite bring myself to believe he wasn't still here somewhere. It would have been rude to have ignored him.

The door was resisting and there was an enormous pile of junk mail and free leaflets on the doormat. I bent to pick it up to get inside the shop.

I never failed to feel the wonder of this place. Little china figures in cabinets, scattered amongst snuff boxes and paperweights and hipflasks; walnut tables alongside ottamans and tallboys; a chandelier cascading and glittering from the ceiling; an old pedal car and wooden skis crossed on the wall. True, it had looked better as it was muted by dust, the normally warm tones of the antique wood furniture looking less than inviting with their powdery coating. Grandad must have worked hard to keep it pristine. I'd soon get it looking right, elbow grease needed.

Some items had been here for years and it was a wonder that they hadn't been sold as they were truly well-crafted items, made with skill and reverence for the process. Maybe Grandad had an attachment to them that he hadn't admitted to in life. I wasn't sure that I'd be able to sell them either for the same reason.

I closed the door and revelled in the silence as the road and its business were shut out. It allowed the sadness to arrive. I sighed deeply.

"I hope you're okay, wherever you are," and went towards the back room to look for cleaning stuff.

On the way there, I paused as I passed the desk where Grandad would sometimes sit to open letters. On it was an envelope and on that, my name.

Inside:

Dear Emma,

This shop is not what it seems. It is a repository, a safe place but magic. You already knew that. You will be visited by strangers all the time. Use the Rolodex to seek them out for validation.

Look to Alice for help.

Good luck,

Love Grandad xx

I was stunned. A magic repository? Alice? And what was a Rolodex?

***

366 words

I will return to this again, I think as I have an idea of where I can go with this and I have left it on quite the cliffhanger. Wouldn't it be great if antique shops held magic things? Actually, you could argue that they do as they are tickets to the past in a limited way.

I think Emma may be in for a few more surprises.

Here's a link to yesterday's story:

And if horses are interesting to you, there's this too:

Thanks for stopping by. If you do happen to read it, please do leave a comment as I do love to interact with my readers.

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