Vanishing Alley

-2-

 The next day, my parents told us we were going to go into town to the local grocery store to buy some things we needed for the week. It's true that we brought some food with us from home, but it was just some of the food that we already had in the house that would be wasted by the time we got back. Anyway, what we brought with us definitely wasn't enough for 2 months! I didn't mind that we had to go into town, in fact, I loved going! I still do! It has such a cute and quaint feel to it. The buildings are old but taken care of. There's the grocery store of course, a bakery... no wait, make that 3 bakeries — 2 of them sell bread and some pastries, while the 3rd specialises in just pastries. There's also a general hardware store, a few antiques shops (which I love), souvenir shops, ice cream parlours, and of course, clothing and craft boutiques, among others. The light posts always have hanging baskets with beautiful flowers to add to the streetscape, and some of the boutique owners put their own planters with flowers outside their shop. It's definitely picturesque. Taking a stroll along the main street can be pretty relaxing, even with the mixture of locals and tourists. Everyone is always very friendly — waving hello and holding doors for each other are common interactions. Some days you can even catch local musicians putting on a free performance in the town plaza. During these days, people gather around to watch and listen to some great music. You will always catch kids dancing along, and yes, even some adults join in. But the fun doesn't stop when the sun goes down. The neighbourhood is awake and lively well into the night — ok, until 11pm on weekdays and until midnight on weekends (restaurants and pubs tend to stay open for about an extra hour). But I love that they have this law in place. It ensures everyone in the area has a nice, quiet and relaxing night. So, you can see why I love going into town. My friends and I love hanging out at the local café, grabbing lunch at one of the restaurants (the French restaurant has the best Poutine I've tasted so far) and sometimes we'll just grab some ice cream and stroll through the streets window shopping. Ok, I say window shopping, but one or more of us almost always ends up buying something. Me? I love old things — anything vintage and antique — so the antiques shops are my Achille's Heel. The way things used to be made and designed, and the stories that come with them, or the stories that I imagine and create about them, always add a hint of mystery and increased fascination. But, no matter what we decide to do, we always have a good time. That's not to say that I'm bored when I come with my family. I enjoy spending time with them too, just as much as with my friends.

Anyway, that day we went into town. Before going for groceries, our parents let us go in to some of the shops. They even let me go into one of the antiques shops! I didn't remember seeing it the last time we went, so I was pretty sure it was new. I figured it must have opened after we left our cottage the previous summer. "Annie's Antiques", it was called, just the name alone sounded so cute, it made me want to go in even more. Both the name of the shop, the design of the sign and the look of the shop itself were all very effective marketing choices. While in the antiques store, I went to look around as my parents stayed with my sister who was looking at a doll she liked. On one of the tables, there was an item that caught my eye. I can't explain why, or what about it caught my attention, (maybe it was the design, or because it was in such pristine shape as if it was never used) but I was drawn to it. I'm going to tell you what it was, but, you're probably going to find it weird. Alright, here it goes... The item I saw...just sitting there on the table...was...a watch. Now, I know what you're thinking — A watch? A plane old watch? Yup. It was a plane, old woman's watch. I guessed it to be from the 1930s. There was nothing really special about it. The back of the face looked like it was gold, with a delicate design. The face of the watch was white with small stones around the edge, and the numbers and hands were black. The belt was black leather, which made it elegant, and went well with its overall look. I can't explain to you why my eyes went to this watch, and to be honest, I didn't really know why I was drawn to it. The lady who owns the store saw me looking at it and came over to where I was standing.

"So, I see something on this table caught your eye. Is it, by any chance, this watch?"

"It is! How did you know?"

"My dear, you aren't the first, or only, person who has come in and looked at this watch since I acquired it a couple of months ago. Plus, my shop may be knew to the area, but it's not my first store, so I've learned to pick up on clues."

"You mean a lot of people have looked at it? And no one's bought it?"

"I've had quite a few customers come in and stop at this table, just like you. They stood here, looked at it, picked it up, and some have even tried it on. They all liked it, but none have come back to buy it."

"I wonder why none of them bought it! It's so pretty!"

"Well, I think it's because, once they heard the story that comes with it, they may have been too afraid to buy it. They all said the same thing, that they had to think about it. But they never came back for it."

"There's a story that comes with it? That made them afraid of a watch?"

At this point, I was even more intrigued. I love hearing the stories that come with antiques. I always wonder about the stories they could tell if they had the ability to tell us.

"Would you like to hear this watch's story?", she asked with a bit of a cautious tone, as if to tell me to choose carefully.

"Actually, I'm very interested to hear it!"

"Ok. But remember, you wanted to hear it."

And with that warning, she started to tell me the story...

"For this story, I'll take you back 3 months to April. It was a nice spring day — very sunny with still a bit of a slight, crisp chill in the air. I opened my shop around 9.30am, as I always do, and expected to have a day like any other — the appearance of some usual customers and some random stragglers. At that time of year, there are a few more tourists than in Winter, but it's still pretty quiet. Little did I know, that day would bring me such a rare, unusual, interesting and unique item. I know, that's a lot of adjectives, but you'll see they all apply."

She had just started to tell me the story and I was already fully invested in hearing all of it. As she was telling me about the watch, I noticed my parents and sister look towards us with a curious look on their faces. I saw my sister put back the doll she was looking at and they all came to hear what we were talking about.

"As I mentioned earlier, the day started off like any other. I opened the shop, dusted the tables and items, made sure everything was arranged in a pleasing and appealing way, and that nothing had been moved by customers the day before. Around 11am (it's hard to forget the time, and once you hear the whole story, you'll understand why), a well-dressed gentleman walked into my store. I greeted him, as I do with every customer..."

As she recounted what happened, my imagination started to wander as I started to imagine that day. As I stood there listening to the story, I began to picture it as if it was all happening at that moment.