the mask shop (🇺🇸)

A Masked Salesman

The Japanese say you have three faces .

"The first face, you show to the world. 

The second face, you show to your close friends, and to your family. 

The third face, you never show anyone, 

and that, is the truest reflection of yourself."

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                            There once was a travelling salesman. He spent most of his life travelling from town to town doing business with his goods: masks. He had them with all kinds of faces, happy, funny, sad, angry, depressed. Any mask you wanted he had it. He had masks for anyone and for anything. He was so committed to his work that he used a mask himself throughout the whole time he was in public and because of that, nobody knew how his face looked. Differently from the masks he had in his shop, his mask, didn't display any emotions. It was a plain and simple white mask with two holes for his eyes that didn't even show what they should. So little light entered the mask that it was like looking into two complete black holes. That had frightened customers before. However, he always had it on for some reason.

Nobody knew who he was, where he had come from or if he had family or friends. Most people figured he didn't since he always avoided contact with others. Unlike most salesmen who are used to approaching everyone they consider a potential customer, this one would rather wait for the clients to come to him. He never set up shop inside towns, or banged on people's doors. That was not the way of a masks salesman. He would always cross the town only once to let himself be seen by other people. It was his subtle way of promoting his arrival. After that, he set up shop outside town. Roadsides, forests, hills. Those were his usual business spots.

Apart from that, there was nothing subtle about him. He was a very well-dressed man. Besides the white mask, he wore an expensive-looking suit and a very colorful shirt beneath it. He had an opal ring on one of his fingers and a tie that matched the ring's colors. If you looked too deep on either one it could make you dizzy for a moment.  Even though there was a certain lack of showmanship, all that was sure to catch people's attention. Specially in a small country town like Alcott.

Alcott had a few thousand residents and public service facilities that could be counted with one hand, it had many local shops which did small daily deliveries. Kids could walk to school  and newspaper was delivered door to door. It was a city stopped in time, very far from any big metropolis. Thus, everything and everyone stopped as the masked salesman crossed downtown on his carriage. Guided by a horse on a leash, he conducted  the carriage which contained his products inside. From the street it was very hard to see the interior, but the red curtain on the windows would waver with the movement of the carriage and people could have little glimpses of the colorful masks. 

After crossing the town of Alcott, he spotted a forest and entered half a mile deep. He finally stopped the carriage and got off from it. He had found a nice spot on the forest to settle for as business was done. He was scaning the place with his eyes when a voice came from inside the carriage.

- Is this the most ideal location? Are we to find a mask here? - The voice asked.

The masked man turned his eyes in the direction of the city, he could not see it, but it was there. His deep dark eyes preyed on it. 

- Indeed we are. - The masked salesman answered.

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