The Girl and the Genie Read Free Page B

was no one else in the shop.
    The pine shelving and floor looked every bit as ancient as the sign out front. Emily wondered briefly whether the old man could’ve been the Mr. Smythe from the shop’s name, but she had a feeling that the shop was much older than even he was. Perhaps he was a grandson or great grandson of the original proprietor.
    The store’s shelves were filled with artifacts from bygone eras. Toys that when wound up would cause little figures to spring to life dancing or do other amusing things, intricately painted dolls from the nineteenth century, glass figurines of breathtaking beauty, and many other such objects. Emily soon felt as if she were in a museum. A weird and wonderful and very cluttered museum. It was when she was looking through a pile of antique stuffed animals that she discovered the wooden chest. It was two feet wide by three feet long and painted white with what looked like gold leaf detailing different scenes from the Arabian Nights, and when she opened it she found that it was lined with a rich red velvet. It was heavy also, at least thirty pounds, and seemed solidly constructed. There was no price tag on it. Emily thought about taking the chest to the old man sitting up front to ask how much it was, but then her resolve weakened. Whatever the cost, it would be too much of an extravagance for her. She didn’t have the money to be wasting on an antique wooden chest, especially since she was going to have to save so that she could move to another apartment. While Sally hadn’t made any demand yet about her moving out, Emily knew it was only a matter of time, and besides, she couldn’t stay there any longer, not if Mitch was going to be in the picture, and especially not if Sally didn’t trust her. Reluctantly she put the chest back down on the shelf.
    “That once-in-a-lifetime antique chest is only a measly three hundred and fifty dollars, Miss. I would reconsider if I were you.”
    Emily hadn’t heard the old man come up behind her. While his speaking voice was very different than the grunting noise he had made earlier, it sounded how she had imagined it would when she had first seen him, almost like a rusty door creaking open, so it didn’t startle her. That amount of money was too much for her, and she was surprised at how disappointed she felt realizing that she wouldn’t be able to purchase it.
    “I wish I could afford it,” she said wistfully.
    “A shame,” he said. “I can tell when one of my curios is perfect for a customer, and Miss, you were meant to own this exquisite object.” He shuffled forward so that he could pick it up and show it to her. “This was hand built over a century ago. Look at the craftsmanship.” He opened it and pointed a think finger at the hinges. “Those are brass. They’ll last another century. And look at the antique velvet used for the lining. You’re not going to find something like this every day. Go ahead, feel it.”
    Emily did as he asked. She felt herself weakening, and the old man must’ve known it also from the way his thick lips twisted into a smile.
    “This price is only for you,” he said in his thick croaking voice. “Two hundred and seventy-five dollars.”
    She had lost the battle, and she knew it. She didn’t know why this wooden chest had such a pull on her, but it did. “Do you take credit cards?” she asked with a defeated sigh.
    The old man smiled fully then. “Of course, Miss,” he said. “We’re living in the twenty-first century after all.”
    ##
    It was two-thirty in the morning the first time that Emily heard a dog barking, and she was too groggy with sleep to make sense of what she was hearing. The second time was ten minutes later, and she had woken up enough from earlier to pay closer attention to it. The sound was muffled, but it definitely seemed to be coming from a dog, which struck her as a bit odd as she had never heard a dog barking before from anywhere inside the apartment, especially her