Welcome to the Blog Post Challenge

The Secret Emporium

Cont. End of chapter 1 – Through the Door

“I see you’ve found my book of marvels,” hissed a voice. Poppy gasped, closed the book and looked up at the owner. He was an old man whose eyes shone like rubies. On his shoulder perched a white barn owl. It shook its head at her, disapprovingly.

Chapter 2 – A Warning Disobeyed

“My name is Luciano Gold,” he said, staring at Poppy until she shifted from one foot to the other, uncomfortably. “This is my shop. Do you like it?” Poppy didn’t know what to say so she just nodded her head. “Here is my Book of Marvels. You are free to look round my shop but do not touch the book!”

A moment later, Mr Luciano Gold had disappeared with a swirl of his long, black overcoat, behind a curtain and Poppy was alone. She realized that she had been holding her breath. She had meant to continue looking round the shop but there was something about the book that called to her. She longed to look at what was hidden in its forbidden pages. She peeked round the curtain and could just see down a long, empty corridor which had what appeared to be at least hundred doors. Where do they all lead, she wondered?

Turning back, she opened the book. Each page contained a different idea for some sort of wonderful world. There were drawings and notes about cities, 6 towns, villages, sky-worlds, forest houses, deserts, ocean ships, mountains and more. In each place there were wonders beyond imagining.

The next thing Poppy knew, there was a pen in her hand and she was drawing a forest and inside the forest there was a cottage and, through the window, she drew the outline of the one thing that she longed for most of all.

“This way,” said the owl. Poppy closed book and, without thinking, followed. The owl flew down the corridor until it came to the one door that had been freshly painted. It stood on the floor, put its head to one side and tapped on the door with its beak. Poppy knew exactly what she was supposed to do. She opened the door and entered.

She stepped, not into a room, but into a forest. Sunlight filtered through the trees. She paused and listened. It was quite still, except for the sound of the birds flitting through the trees. A path curled away from her, towards a cottage. The strangest thing was that it all looked exactly as she had imagined; exactly as she had drawn inside my Luciano’s book. Without pausing for a second, without looking back, without any concern, Poppy ran down the path towards the cottage.

© Pie Corbett 2021

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