The Toy Shop

It was a shop like no other on Madison Avenue. A tiny brick house surrounded by giant high-rises kissing the skies.

The display glass was crowded with tiny heads. Above, it said, “ToY ShOp” in bright neon letters. The red light behind Y wasn’t working.

Not everyone could afford those silk-woven, eiderdown-stuffed dolls sitting behind the display. Some of the dolls had fancy electronics that could repeat the kids word for word.   

At about 5 in the evening, when the sun was sinking behind the large buildings, rows of kids crowded the shop to watch those magical creatures repeat their sentences. The kids chanting verses from their favorite songs, the dolls trying to repeat them, startled Blue Jays screaming from nearby trees and the wheeling sounds of the yellow Manhattan taxis in the background – it was an orchestra the pedestrians were familiar with.

The door opened with the clang of a large bell. A lady with a pink umbrella entered the shop. She was followed by a kid in bright red frock and pearl earrings. 

A dozen pairs of eyes move from all the talking dolls to the little girl walking inside the shop. 

“Shee mest bee rich” exclaimed a small boy, sporting a beret and speaking through a missing front tooth.

“Nah, they have got a money tree in their backyard, I’ve seen them pluck them green bills time to time” toyed his sister, waving her ponytailed hair. A red ribbon adorned it.

“Ugh, zip it!” said the first kid, who had had enough of the fancy.

They all followed the pearl earring kid hop from one tile to another, touching everything she fancied. 

“Jenny, dear. Who would you like to bring home today? Run around and pick your favorite toy” The lady with the pink umbrella. Still open for some unusual reason. 

The little one, Jenny, disappeared behind the rows of dolls, all in different shapes and sizes. There were also little cars, small stuffed insects, animals, and birds of different kinds. All smiling with a grin.

Just then, two small heads towed behind Jenny and disappeared along with her. 

Behind the front desk was granny, who we’ll just call Granny. Granny lifted her large wire-frame spectacles above her slopey nose.

“Um, madame, trois enfants?”

“What?” The lady finally decided to wrap her umbrella realizing it wasn’t so sunny inside the shop after all.

“You have three childrens madame?”

“No, no. I have no idea what you are talking about. Just Jenny, the little one I came here with”

“C’est no problem. Always happens. Granny takes care” Granny smiled and picked up a little cane. She walked stealthily through the rows of colorful, sweet-smelling dolls and disappeared.

“Mom, look what I found”, Jenny, jumped with a large spider-like doll. “Do you like it, ma?”

“oh, my, that… that looks so real! Are you sure, dear?” her mother staggered behind Jenny by a few steps. “Alright, you can keep it, just keep that thing away from me, alright?”

“Akay!” Jenny hugs her black, eight-legged being and tossed it across the counter waiting for the granny.

Granny returned from the aisle. “Jenny, dear, I got two more dolls, naughty ones, like little thieves. You want to see?”

Granny lifted them… “Formidable eh?”

Two small dolls hung from each of granny’s hands. One with a red-ribboned ponytail with an aghast open mouth. The other, beret-capped pony-like doll, with a missing front tooth.