Chapter 1 - cont'
The shop was crammed with all sorts of unusual things, lots of blue-and-white Chinese porcelain,
furniture from every corner of the globe, mirrors, statues, but, most of all,
Peter’s favourite – boxes! Peter had never seen so many boxes anywhere. There were
different shapes and sizes, some wooden ones, even metal ones, but, best of
all, they were boxes. One of the rooms, which had the word Taxidermy on the
door, was full of glass cases with dead animals inside. Apparently, people used
to like to rip the innards out of animals and have them stuffed with
something or other. However, sometimes they did have the decency to surround
them with their natural habitat before placing them in sealed tombs. A red
squirrel, with a motionless, frantic stare, peered at Peter as Mrs Kipple
shouted through from the other room.
“Peter, would you like a nice cup of tea?”
“Yes, please,” replied Peter as he strolled from the back room toward
the stairs. Reaching over, he picked up a cup,
and he thanked
Mrs Kipple as she handed him a dry biscuit.
“Go on now, try to keep yourself amused around
the shop. I need to talk to your mother about grown-up things,” she whispered.
Upstairs, in a darkened corner of the old antiques shop,
there was a dusty china pot. Peter had seen this many times before when he had
visited with his mother. The urn was of an odd shape, had a dragon at either side for
handles with a mottled background of gilt and
chocolate-coloured patches that looked almost good enough to eat. Peter lifted the small, squat lid and an exotic aroma emerged,
a sweet spicy scent that somehow reminded him of his grandma’s bedroom.
“What are you doing, young man? One
must be careful regarding where one puts one’s nose. People say that smelling from the dragon pot will send you to
far-off lands when you sleep,” said Mrs Kipple as she appeared behind him.
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