In part 1, the narrator, who is blind, and his five year old son go looking for dead ends. They find a dead end down a small lane in a quiet corner of Tokyo. The lane contains a curiosity shop, and the two of them enter it.
*
So I had my son guide me through the front
door and called, “Good day!”
*
The Curious Curiosity Shop, part 2:
“Welcome,” answered the Japanese lady in the shop. It’s hard to be very precise with voices, but I’d say that she was in her mid fifties. And she probably wore spectacles. Something in her voice suggested spectacles.
There was a strange atmosphere in the curiosity shop. It was the odd mixture of sounds and smells. One moment I was reminded of a museum, noticing a curious scent that I have only smelled in an exhibition of dinosaur bones – perhaps it was some kind of preserving fluid? In the next moment I was reminded of an organic food shop or delicatessen, with a hint of truffles or fungus in the air. Then I smelled coffee.
“What can you see?” I asked my son. My voice echoed back to me from several angles, as if we were in a tight space, or down a deep hole.
“I don’t know, Daddy,” he answered. “Is it a toy shop? I can see headphones, and books, and shoes. I think I can see a coffee grinder!”
The shop clerk walked over to us and spoke. “Can I speak to you in Japanese?” she asked.
I said that was fine.
“Oh, that’s a relief,” she said. “We have a lot of different curiosities here. Perhaps you would like me to introduce a few items to you?”
“I’m not sure if we will buy anything,” I said. I was a little worried about what the price might be. If this shop sold antiques, then they would probably be very expensive.
“Not at all, Sir. It does no harm to take a look. Is there anything that catches your fancy? Perhaps your son has seen something he is interested in.”
I bent down to my son’s head height to see if he would answer.
“Um, um, um,” he hesitated. “Can I see the shoes?”
“Certainly,” said the shop clerk, and she walked off to fetch the shoes. I didn’t think my son had made a good choice. Who ever heard of someone buying antique shoes?
But the shop clerk came over carrying the shoes. “I think these will fit your son, Sir. Perhaps he would like to try these Bruce Lee shoes on?”
“Bruce Lee shoes?” said my son and I together.
The clerk put the shoes in my hands, and I felt their shape and material. They were tiny little things, perhaps small enough for my son to wear. They were a little like slippers, with a soft, silky material on the outside, and hard, flat soles. I thought I had better be polite, so I thanked the clerk, and helped my son take off his trainers and put the “Bruce Lee shoes” on.
My son was very happy. “Am I like Bruce Lee now, Daddy?” he asked.
“Yes, they’re very cute,” I said.
I was about to ask the clerk why they were called Bruce Lee shoes when she asked if my son would like to try them out.
“Yes, yes, yes!” he shouted. And so the clerk led us down a narrow aisle to an exercise mat. She led my son onto the mat and said, “Why don’t you try a few kicks?”
He shouted “Hiyaa!” and started kicking imaginary opponents. Strangely, he seemed to be kicking the air with incredible speed. I could feel a little gust of wind coming from the air above the mat. I held my hand out and invited my son to give my hand a little kick.
“Hiyaa!” My hand was kicked sharply backward, and my palm was stinging with pain.
I gave a little cry of shock, and the clerk apologised and asked if I was okay.
“I’m fine, I’m fine,” I said. “But I don’t think we’ll buy those Bruce Lee shoes. They seem a little dangerous.”
“Sorry, Daddy. Sorry, Daddy!” said my son, as he took off the shoes.
The clerk was very apologetic, and kept asking if my hand was okay. She was very keen to find a curiosity that I could enjoy to take my mind off my hand, which was still stinging. I told her that I liked music and audio books, and wondered if she had anything I could listen to.
“What kind of music do you like?” she asked.
“Um, all sorts of music,” I said. “I like folk music, rock’n roll, jazz…”
The clerk brightened up. “I think I have something you will like,” she said.
Once my son had put his trainers back on, the clerk led us down another aisle to a different area of the shop. Then she pulled out some headphones. “Through these headphones you can listen to the Devil’s playlist,” she said.
“What’s the Devil, Daddy?” asked my son.
“He’s sort of like a demon,” I said. “When bad people die, they go to Hell, and the Devil is kind of like the king of Hell.”
“Excuse me,” said the clerk, and she slipped the headphones over my head and ears.
I reached out and grasped my son’s hand. “Some people say that the Devil has the best music.” My voice was muffled by the thick headphones.
I didn’t catch my son’s answer, as I was distracted by a familiar voice, which began to speak into my ears. Elvis Presley was introducing a song from his comeback-comeback album, which he said was called, “Elvis Has Left the Graveyard”. He started singing something like, “Don’t step on my Bruce Lee shoes!” I stretched out the headphones so that my son could listen with one ear. I held my thumb up to the clerk to show that I was enjoying the song.
Then the next one started and I recognised John Lennon’s voice. I am a big fan of Lennon’s work, and I wondered whether this was going to be a Beatles song, or one from his solo years. Then he started singing something called, “Sulphurous Fields Forever.”
I took the headphones off in shock. That’s not a real John Lennon song!” I said. “The correct title should be Strawberry Fields Forever!”
The clerk said, “Oh, yes. Lennon has a wicked sense of humour, doesn’t he? He recorded Sulphurous Fields Forever as a kind of joke, after he died. All of the songs on the Devil’s Playlist are versions recorded from beyond the grave.”
*
Oh, dear.
This really is a curious shop.
Will the narrator and his son be okay?
How did this shop clerk get hold of songs recorded by singers after they
had died? Will this be a dead end for
the customers? Find out in part 3 next
week!
Vocabulary:
preserving fluid – a liquid which is used to prevent dead bodies from decaying
a delicatessen – a food shop that sells a
variety of luxury food items, such as cheeses, salami, ham, etc.
an antique – a rare or valuable old item,
such as a 200 year old clock
to catch one’s fancy – to attract one’s
interest
to be muffled – of a sound, to be unclear
or partly blocked
a comeback – of a singer, a tour, album
etc. which is intended to recapture lost popularity
sulphurous – containing or being similar to
sulphur, a smelly yellow chemical which can often be smelled around volcanoes
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