Once upon a winter's morning (Anji)

[Arlene Baines]

Arlene was very patiently awaiting the arrival of spring. She was used to deep winter chills and knew that it was useless being irritated about the snow that continued to drift softly around the town. She had bundled herself up to drive to the shop, stayed bundled as the heater roared to life and then tentatively removed her jacket and scarf. She changed out of her boots to a cute pair of shoes she’d brought with her and then unlocked the front door before putting a kettle on in the small kitchen behind the counter and mounting the stool. She pulled a lap blanket over her legs and reached for a small box of trinkets she’d separated yesterday but hadn’t examined. There was also a stack of old records she had acquired through an estate sale, an old radio, a hand mirror with a cracked face and a misplaced tea tin that she’d found buried on a shelf upstairs.

In the tin she’d found a handful of polaroid’s and was trying to make sense of them. She picked them out of her catch all box first. There were about thirty in all and while they showed smiling faces and things reminiscent of an era not so long passed, the faces didn’t seem familiar to her. What’s more, trying to pull history from images was not giving her a direction. The pictures had been put into the tea tin at some point about fifteen years ago and while the tin had a short history of travel before it ended up on the shelf upstairs, nothing was good enough to help her. Sighing, she finished flipping through what looked like an interesting family vacation and put the pictures back into the tea tin for the time being.

She picked up the cracked hand mirror next and examined the glass. It could be repaired by someone who knew what they were doing and a cursory glance allowed her to date the object without delving deeply into its history. It wasn’t as old as it looked; it just needed to be polished up. She’d call around later to see if she could find someone to fix the glass. She set the mirror aside carefully and pushed the catch-all box aside to pick up the stack of records under the counter. She began flipping through them idly; dividing them into three piles based on if she felt that they were valuable enough to keep.

She had a few customers as the day had drawn towards the afternoon but now found herself in an empty store. She’d found someone to fix the mirror and would take it to him tomorrow, the records had been sorted appropriately and the items in the catch-all box had grown again. She’d just sat down with a cup of coffee and the box at the counter again when the door opened and caught her attention. “Welcome! It’s a lovely day is it not?” she smiled. The last time she’d implied this however she’d gotten a rather impolite snort but nevertheless, she’d insist on speaking about the weather.

[Anjali Kedar]

Anjali wished she were more sad. She was disappointed, as anyone should be when their great grandparents passed on, but in all honesty she barely knew the woman.  She had never made the move to the states, so her only time with her great Awa was when she was a girl and had visited India.  Her memories weren't clear from the visits, but one thing stood out in her mind; elephants.  Her great Awa had loved elephants, really loved them.  She'd explained to Anjali as a girl their significance in their culture, but these days she couldn't remember anything other than Ganesh, the deity or art and wisdom.  The woman's home was draped in tapestries and hanging art all depicting elephants, and the figurines..  Unfortunately it was the only thing about her Anjali could recall.  She didn't have the money to go back to India for the funeral.  It was a long expensive trip and with midterms it wasn't possible.  Instead she decided to pay tribute the only way she could think to; elephants.

Anjali liked elephants.  She always had, and she knew she wanted some more figurines in her own home.  They were good luck after all, especially if you had one pointing to the entrance of your home.  She knew it would help her feel close to the deceased relative, especially since she was so far from her mourning family.  The elephants she found online were all very overpriced and often not really what she was looking for.  She wanted something old, something that her great Awa would have liked in her own collection.  That's what brought her to the antique store.

Anji had passed it dozens of times but had never bothered going in.  What need did she have for antiques?  She opened the door and was immediately met with the musty smell of age, along with a friendly greeting.  Neither bothered her in the least.

"One of the warmest we've had yet." She replied, coming in returning the smile.  Anjali pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and looked around, realizing immediately that she would have to scour the shelves unless she asked the attendant for some help.  She made her way closer to the young woman, pushing her thumbs into the pockets of her denim pants.  "I was wondering if you might be able to help me.  I'm looking for elephants.. not necessarily big ones, just.. like figurines? Or.. maybe something in a painting? You don't happen to have anything like that, do you?"

[Arlene Baines]

Arlene thought for a moment. She was certain that ther were elephants to be had in the store. "Hold on, one moment," she said as she reached under the counter and brought out an old ledger that her grandfather had kept. Since he had time on his hands he tended to inventory interesting or valuable pieces that came through the doors. Since the store also sold "curios" and not just expensive antiques, there was a good chance that there was SOMETHING she could show the woman who had come through the door. She opened the ledger to 'E' and scanned a few pages until she found what she was looking for. "Hm, alright, somewhere around here there is apparently an elephant shaped teapot, a painting, an old photograph, a few figures AND...at least two stuffed animals," she smiled. "Do any of those sound particularly appealing? I know you asked for figures or a painting, but hey, there’s a teapot here too!” she explained as she got up off the stool and set the ledger aside.

“The book doesn’t tell me where they are, just that they happened to be somewhere here in this shop,” she added with an embarrassed laugh as she tried to remember if she’d seen anything recently. “Ah! Right,” she exclaimed as she came around the counter and towards a back corner where a cabinet stood. She opened the class front door and reached back inside it. Very slowly she withdrew the teapot that she’d seen just the other day when she’d been rearranging teacups. She turned and showed it to the woman who’d entered and smiled again. “What about this? It’s an antique, most like Tibetan in origin, they aren’t particularly rare, but this one is in nice condition. I wouldn’t recommend using it though,” she cautioned as she gingerly held it out in case the other woman to inspect if she wished.

[Anjali Kedar]

Anjali watched with curious fascination as the store clerk pulled a book from below the desk.  She looked between the volume and the girl, hopeful that she could find something reasonable.  When she started running down the list of object, Anjali couldn't help but feel her mood brighten.  All those things! Surely something in that group would be a worthy memento! 

"The teapot, most definitely!" How exciting! Her great Aya would have loved such an item.  Actually, Anjali wasn't entirely sure that she didn't.  Aya probably had several elephant teapots.  She herseld had three teapots.  It wasn't necessary, but she loved tea and drank at least two cups a day, sometimes more depending on how busy she was or hectic.

"And maybe the figures as well." She added pleasantly.  The woman seemed to be thinking out loud when she had her little "aha!" moment and led Anjali to a cabinet.  After rummaging inside a moment she pulled out a beautiful, silver teapot and Anjali let a little gasp.  It was beautiful and she felt drawn to it.  When the woman offered it she hesitated before taking it.  It was certainly heavy! She was right, though.  Anjali wouldn't want to use it, it would be strictly decoration, but it would look so lovely in her kitchen..

"I'm sure something like that's very pricey.." Considering the weight she imagined it was probably more than she was able to spend at the moment, especially on something that had no real purpose in her home other than to remind her of a woman she barely knew.  "I don't really have a lot to spend.  I mean, I know all antiques are going to be on the more expensive side because, yah know.. they're not making them anymore and stuff, but.." Where was she going with this? Anjali lost track and took a breath, shaking her head and smiling.  "I guess I'm asking how much something like that goes for..?" There.  That was better.

[Arlene Baines]

Arlene gave it a few moments thought. It wasn't that the pot was overly expensive but she was starting to wonder if it was really what the customer wanted, given her reaction after she had seen it the first time. "Well, it’s about $50…however," Arlene reached out and took the teapot from the woman to put it back on the counter. "I think the figures are a little less and in a bit better condition if we can find them. I thought I saw one on a shelf upstairs if you'd like to go up and look? I know one of the photographs is framed up there. I think the other figure and the painting are down here. I'll set the teapot aside though in case we can't find the other things and if they're unfindable perhaps we can discuss a more agreeable price for you?" she offered politely and with no hint of haughtiness that one might expect from such an offer.

At least, Arlene sincerely hoped that she didn't sound that way. She tried very hard to be respectful of all her customers since that's what her own grandfather would have wanted and he had worked so hard starting up this business from scratch that it would absolutely kill her for it to develop a bad reputation because she was unable to communicate properly with her customers. Outside the snow continued to fall softly and the heater hummed pleasantly in the small space without being stifling. It made Arlene think of the warm bubble bath she would take when she went home and the coffee she'd brew to go with the book she would surely curl up with in her favorite chair.

[Anjali Kedar]

Her eyes widened slightly at the price tag. Though $50 wasn't unreasonable for a piece like that, it was unreasonable for her to spend that much on a memento for her home.  At least for the time being.  She had some other expenses coming up and she couldn't drop that sort of money right now.  Still, she certainly appreciated how accommodating the woman was and couldn't help the genuine smile that creased her lips.  "That would be great, I appreciate it."

In all her time she wasn't sure she had ever met a salesperson so willing to negotiate on a price.  Then again, these were used items they were dealing with.  She supposed a fair price could vary, but still the fact the woman was willing to haggle at all warmed her.

She followed the woman as they went on their journey to find the other elephants in the store.  "It's nice and warm in here." She noted casually.  "I can't wait for the cold to just go away.  It'll be nice when it's this warm outdoors."  She didn't know if the woman was interested in idle talk, but Anjali sometimes liked hearing herself talk and if the woman decided to answer, then that would be nice, but not necessary.