Don't Piss Off Imaginary Antique Shop Owners
a return to Mr. Egret's Emporium & Trade
This short story was written as part of my year-long creative writing challenge. Every Monday, I use a random number generator to select a new writing prompt and share my response by the following weekend. You can learn more about the project here.
Someone’s beloved collection is destroyed. How do they react?
“Ingrate! Heathen! I’ll have you thrown in jail!”
Tansy ducked as something came whirling through the half-open door. The apartment behind it was stuffed with furniture and knick knacks, broken tea kettles and mismatched chairs. Dark green curtains on either side of the floor length windows appeared to have been hastily shoved back. Sunlight was filtering through the smudged panes, highlighting the chaotic array of items and dust motes floating in the air.
“Did you really just throw a spoon at me?” Louis’s voice erupted angrily from somewhere inside.
“Hello?” Tansy called, knocking tentatively on the door frame.
“I ought to do much worse than that, my boy. How dare you remove my personal affects without my permission—”
“I’ve been telling you for weeks that I was going to start clearing this place out! You were supposed to tell me what you wanted to keep—”
“My priceless collection! All gone! Destroyed! Shameless!”
“It was just a box of old doorknobs! What use could you possibly have for—ouch!”
Tansy pushed open the door and the rest of the apartment came into view. Louis and Mr. Egret were at opposite ends of the little kitchen, a no-man's land of half-packed cardboard boxes between them. Mr. Egret’s nose was purple with fury, his white hair standing on end even more than usual. He held a wooden bowl in his hand, raised and ready to strike. Next to an old stove that looked like it belonged in the 1950s, Louis had grabbed a battered silver serving tray and was brandishing it like a shield.
This fragment is a spin-off scene from the antique shop story I wrote for Week #12’s prompt. You can find the original story here:
I had a hard time finding the energy to write this week. My baby hasn’t been feeling well, so it’s been difficult to make space to think creatively. There were a few ideas bouncing around in my head that would’ve worked for this prompt. In the end, I chose one that was fun and easy to do—just a little moment with the characters from Mr. Egret’s antique shop—and wrote it during a 15-minute buddy write with a friend on Thursday night.
I do feel a bit disappointed that I didn’t write a complete scene or story for this week—but I’m reminding myself that the whole point of setting a minimum goal of 10 minutes writing each week is so that I can still complete the project when other things get in the way. So far, I’ve been able to write for much longer, flesh out stories and really sit with my characters. But there were other priorities competing for my energy this week, and that’s okay. I will find space to do a longer story again soon.
