Jinn, of the bottle

Chapter 1
To buy a gift

Chapter Description: Introducing Sam who is seeking a gift for his step mom for mothers day in the antique store of a strange little man.

Mothers day was approaching, a week on Sunday, Sam, a scruffy blonde haired boy in baggy jeans and a t-shirt was pacing about town looking for a present for mothers day, he’d just overhead someone talk of a motor incident involving the bus which was promptly removed from service so he couldn’t get into the city. Instead he was stuck for ideas in this crummy town.

Without any idea of what to buy, Sam approached the old antique store, his step mother loves this kind of stuff so any old piece of junk would probably do but he needed one which one would demonstrate that he put some thought into his gift.

Upon entering he saw a small, bald man behind the counter, his complexion was eastern and he wore a half buttoned up shirt. He stood atop a box with his hands place firmly on the counter, his eyes were but beads glinting in the dim light of the shop.

The shop was musky with a slight smell of damp, it was dimly lit with any light simply encouraging creeping shadows to spread across the walls. Sam scoured the wooden shelves of the shop, he viewed all the interesting items and was a little upset to recognise that those that looked worthy were far beyond his price and those within budget were all a bit crummy.

The shop was strangely organised, the highly decorative pieces were displayed at the front of the store, all within sight of the store owner. Behind him were locked safes and padlocked cabinets, a sign claiming the keys were not held on the premises was dangling above them.

To the side, in the middle of the shop was a whole range of items varying in worth, mainly trinkets of low value or damaged goods varying in age that may have once been worth some money. Against the wall learnt a large rug tied in a roll, it was bound down the middle with a thick rope of silk. It was somewhat elegant, with beautiful tappers and rich vibrant colours even from the dusty outer side. It was strange, Sam had the desire to reach out and…touch it.

“DO NOT TOUCH!!!” yelled the little bald man, a cane snapped against the wrist of the boy, it stung a little but did not really hurt.

“Oww, that’s no way to treat a paying customer” wailed Sam.

“You wanna pay but you ‘ave no means tah pay for dis, you need more than munneh” the voice was shrill yet grizzled at the same time, he carried a thick, undistinguishable accent, “Dis is pwicewessssss, you can not buy”

The store owner re-propped the rug and tightened the cord around it “and you must nevah undo da cord and you must nevah, evah let da wug outta d’shop”

Sam was a little shaken by this strange little man whose beady little eyes were glistening in the dim lighting of the dusty antique store.

“Whadda you wan’?” snorted the little man, “why you come to dis par’ of da store???? Good fings upfwon’”

“ummm, ok” Sam replied, cautiously, “I, I didn’t know this was out of bounds”

The store owner whipped his cane upto a barely visible sign above the tall, heavy curtains, “Dis means K-E-E-P O-U-T…..,”

“I’m sorry mister, I’m just looking for something for my step-mom”

“You wanna buy summink…. special for ya mama?”

“Well, yeah kind of, it’s Mothers’s day coming up and kinda HAVE to buy her something you know” replied Sam

“Ah… so, you wanna buy or you just buy ‘cos you ‘ave tah eh?” the small man had made his way over to Sam, swaying with each step tapping his cane as his left leg limped rigidly beneath him, it were as if he were examining his every movement, with each bobbing step.

He continued his advance, his head twitching with each movement, Sam moved backwards, with every step back the little man shuffled forward until Sam backed himself onto the furthest most rear shelf.

He stammered into it, a clatter of imminent destruction chimed as the items trembled teetering in their place, Sam turned slowly with a cringe on his face expecting carnage but was relieved to see that nothing had fallen. This was fortunate, all but one piece had come to a rest as it were, all but one which was swaying precariously on edge.

He reached out and cradled the object his hands before it could topple, in his hands was an old perfume bottle, but it was the strangest bottle he had ever seen.

He stepped backwards treading onto the foot of the store owner, jumping with a fright he called “oh sorry” as he wheeled on the spot, the little man snagged his shirt and pulled him to eye level, “Dat is worthless, you don’ wan’ it….. put it back on da shelf”

Sam looked at the ornament in his hands, “No, I do…I… I…. do” it was beautiful, behind the dust was a highly decorative piece, the body was silver, embossed with the flames of fire. These flames looked so real, it was as if the flames were dancing across the body of the piece.

Atop the body was a sharply cut glass neck with a flat silver lid on top, the flat of the lid was hinged with a small hinge lock, the lid was smooth on top with an ordained edging, the silver was tarnished under the dirt but no less elegant, the edging consisted of three serpents spitting flames, each serpent’s flame ended with the birth of the next serpent. The hinge lock itself was the last flame, or perhaps it was the first.

Beneath the lid was a large green stone, Sam could see the stone through the glass neck but the lid was shut fast, the hinge did not move to Sam’s gentle thumbing of the piece.

“You don’ wan it” said the shop keeper, in as a demanding tone as he could muster be with such a high voice “worthless!!!”

Sam was entranced, his eyes had widened as if in awe of this bottle, it was as if the serpents were really chasing each other around the lid of the bottle. He wanted to…. own it.

“If it’s worthless, I’ll give you ten bucks for it” Sam said, he pulled a handful of coins from his pocket and stuffed them into the hand of the shop keeper who hung his head low whilst accepting the cash.

Sam hurried himself to the shop door, he placed a hand on the door pull and looked back to the little man still with his back to him resting on his cane, money in hand.

“Sam, be careful….”The accent was gone, the voice was just a grizzled shrill, for reasons that Sam couldn’t comprehend, the shop keeper seemed kind of sad “what you ask for…..”

Outside the shop Sam looked at the strange dirty object in his hand, the grime was thick over most of it, it certainly needed a good clean, it was old, the lid was stuck and therefore of no use for what it was intended to be, it was perfect for the mantelpiece and that was all, “Oh man, I can’t believe I paid ten bucks for this, I bet he’d let it go for five, damn”

Looking up at the darkening skies he decided he’d better hurry home, the clouds promised a storm, rumbling in fury, they wanted to rain.