{This is a response to What Pegman Saw, a prompt inspired by Google Maps. Today we are in a shopping district in Stockholm, Sweden. I have borrowed street names and partial store names from the internet and the photo respectively. In all other respects, this is a work of fiction. Thank you for the prompt and for reading!}
The golden owl looked down its beak at Jens. Perpetually perching above the door to Apothek, his favorite bookstore. The one and only bookstore, on Biblioteksgatan.
Nothing but designer clothes, the whole length of this sparkling, gaudy, overblown sidewalk.
Ironic, thought Jens. Bibliotek means library. But then, Apothek means pharmacy.
Elsbeth, his teenager, threw a hissy-fit, to get here. You’d think, she never left the Embassy.
He shuddered. Elsbeth, window-shopping, wasting his time. He ditched her, of course.
As he crossed the threshold, the bell jingled. Calm engulfed him.
“Welcome back, Ambassador, Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary,” purred the woman behind the counter. His woman. She toyed with her scarf.
Walking past the dusty spines of long-neglected volumes; past a rolling ladder, spanning the centuries and leading heavenwards; he wondered, vaguely, if the door was locked.
One thrust closed the backroom’s velvet curtain.
Elsbeth would not be pleased. Nor would his wife.
This works so well, Andrea. It has a distinctive voice and rhythm, I love the quirky details (the owl, the shops and roads with their ironic names) and quickly he ditches his consumerist daughter in favour of earthier delights. A great story all round. Now, what happens next? 🙂
Earthier delights, well put. Sounds like a downward spiral is imminent in this eminent Ambassador’s life. ?. But he seems pretty clever–he might escape unscathed.
So many schemers do! Probably how he got where he is, being so good at what he does
Oooh I like this. He seems a little supernatural and the vibe is magical realism. With the irony in the names of the place, I can’t help but wonder if there’s further irony in his title, like exactly what is he the ambassador to?
Thank you Karen. Effects unintended but I’ll take them!
Funny, the idea was, that he was the Ambassador to Sweden from the US, and came from the American South, himself (“hissy-fit” for “tantrum”). And not a very nice man.
I found the delightful honorific, or form of address, in a list of proper greetings to a Swedish Ambassador, but somehow, after the bookseller said it, everything turned a bit sleazy.
I think the clear indication of their intent, her leading him by the hand to the rear of the store, got cut in the final edit, and the story may have suffered a bit as a result.
Towards the end, the part about centuries and heavenwards, was both “lit-erally” descriptive, when it comes to assorted books holding the contents of centuries, and bookshelves rising high overhead in this shop, and also meant to be a sort of “fireworks display” (50’s movie reference, ) indicating obliquely what was to come.
As for magical realism, sure, why not?
The disapproving glance of the golden owl was primarily there, to foreshadow the coming disapproval of his family, if his affair is ever found out.
Thanks and sorry my story required such a long and dreary explanation!
It’s all the more interesting. Love how your meanings go fathoms deep and how every careful choice does double duty, deepening the theme/symbols. Nice!
Interesting start! I like the rhythm of this piece.
Thank you Josh. It does seem to scream “to be continued,” doesn’t it??