Looking-Glass Ladyboy

I took the mirror from its place upon the wall, surprised at how light such a seemingly ponderous object was, and made my way, ever so carefully, down the narrow aisle, past heaps and mounds of merchandise on tabletops and racks, mindful, every step of the way, of the opportunities of chipping the frame or breaking the glass of my treasure, and arrived, finally, before the counter upon which reposed the proprietor's ancient cash register, willing to shout and curse and rant and rave and threaten and cajole and plead and beg, if need be, to make the purchase I had set my heart, my mind, and my soul upon making, here and now.

The store's owner, a stooped and wizened old man reminiscent, to my mind, of the sin-aged portrait of Wilde's Dorian Gray, with but one eye, and it as hideous as that of the old man in "The Tell-Tale Heart," which Poe's narrator describes as "the eye of a vulture--a pale blue eye, with a film over it." There was also something of the mesmerizing quality of Coleridge's ancient mariner about both the "glittering eye" and the demeanor of the old man. Despite his slight figure, the old man's appearance gave me pause. There was something about him that didn't seem quite right; that seemed, despite his diminutive form, dangerous, in fact.

My hands trembling, I lifted the mirror--gently, carefully--and set it down, with infinite caution, upon its back, atop the counter, and, clearing my throat, said, with attempted insouciance, but in a voice hoarse with nervous tension, "I'd like to buy this mirror, please."

The old man met my gaze, and my very blood ran cold, for there was, despite his stooped and fragile frame, something sinister behind his single, piercing eye, something beyond mere menace, although he smiled--or, rather, seemed to sneer. He plucked the price tag up, in his bony fingers, and examined the florid script in which someone's hand--his own, I'd wager--had written the numbers the label bore. Inwardly, I cringed, just knowing that he'd say the price was wrong, that it was a mistake, and name the true amount he required, which would be too dear for me to pay.