Dezmando's Multigenre Mashup Smackdown Anthology

Matter Of Time

Dozens of people enter the shop, forming a chaotic line. The little bells at the top of the doors are ringing, the ticking of a clock sounds all throughout this place. So many people come here to buy gifts, small and large. They never choose me, but that's okay.
I am always on the shelf, tail swaying like the pendulums on all these clocks.

A little girl in black walks towards me, the clock on her wrist ticking on a different beat than most; it's broken. She stops at my shelf, looking me over, I'm a little excited, I think. Then she grabs the toy next to me. That's great. I hope she never comes back.

More people come, passing me by. I must be broken.

There is a man in a tophat, carrying a crate. He is picking up toys and gadgets, searching for a specific style, no colors. That's a little sad.
He turns around, glancing along my shelf. He picks me up? He sets the crate at the front desk and pays. The shop owner looks at me, smiles, and pats my head.

"This one finally made it off the shelf, huh? I knew it was only a matter of time."

Tophat man takes the crate down the street to a crooked house. Bolts and screws litter the crevices of the pavement that he walks on, attracting small children who run up behind him with patched up bags to snatch them up as they fall off his boots.
In the crooked house, there is a table with a chair that doesn't match and a shelf with too many items. Tophat man sets the crate down and puts me on a shelf, once again.

The man in the tophat comes and goes many times throughout the week, passing me by. It's night, and he finally takes me off the shelf and sets me on the uneven floor, only to leave again. Tophat man is really strange.
He comes back with a screwdriver and a small bottle, lifts me up and tinkers around. When he puts me back down, he winds me up from the key on my back and pushes me lightly until my wheels begin to roll on their own.

He puts me on his desk this time. I'm off the shelf, tail swaying like the pendulum of the clock on the wall.