The Mind Flip

Later that day, I was still feeling down, about my own sick thoughts as much as the fact I still hadn't got so much as an interview, and to try and take my mind of things I decided to go for a walk in the northern part of the city, where there were streets of antique shops, junk emporia and charity shops, selling all kinds of rubbish.

IT was a habit of mine to spend any extra cash in these shops, on worthless nick-nacks that lined the walls of my room, waiting for the day I would have a flat or a house to furnish all of my own. Recent purchases included miscellaneous brass items, a vintage microscope in its original case, but with the lenses all missing, and a box of lead soldiers that now gathered dust under my double bed.

There was always room for more, though I was more discerning these days than I had once been -- no room for the really useless stuff, only the things that really jumped out at me. I had a fixation on vintage fittings, jars, scientific equipment, militaria. No more candlestick holders for me.

This time, I walked along in the drizzle for some time, before I saw a shop that looked promising. It was one I hadn't been into before, and in the window there stood a frayed-looking stuffed raven, an ancient army dress-uniform, and all manner of paintings, barometers, and so on.

I thought I'd be bound to find something in there. Inside the door, a little bell rang, announcing my entrance to the owner. The shop was dark, warm, and humid; a parrot paced up and down on the perch in its little cage behind a tall mahogany counter, and whistled at me. "Hello!" It said. "Hello," I answered back, feeling rather silly. "Don't mind me."

Silently, as though I was in a museum, I browsed the shelves of discarded items, flicking through the old maps and pictures. Hundreds of novelty thimbles were stacked in a case, and battered crockery. In one back room, I found a display of jewellery, probably all paste or glass. But one stone there seemed to beckon me towards it, nestled in a box of brass necklaces and beads.