Bristol city was crowded at the morning. Everyone get busy by their own job. Same as a man with white shirt and black office trousers who walked to his office with bored face. He did not have special appearance on him. If someone passed over him at the street, they will not turn their head and just ignore this usual office worker. His name is Lucas Morgan Whitlock.
He did not have any family left. Just him at his small dimmed apartment. If he disappeared, no one will know or care about him. Lucas also not a very sociable person. Most of the time he spent it with keep silent.
His face even a typical of bored person. Sleepy eyes, gloomy face, and tidy hair. How about his work performance? Quite same as him as well. You can’t expect so much from this bored man. Come to the office at 9 am and returned to his home at 6 pm. Nothing special.
But, one day Lucas was spent his weekend by take a walk to St. Nicholas Market just for sightseeing because he feels so bored. That street always crowded because tourists also visit this place. Lucas tried to avoid the crowds and he took a small alley which more quite.
His eyes caught something at the end of the alley. There was a small shop with brown painted wall. If he did not look at it carefully, he will not realize there was a shop at there. Everyone will pass this shop automatically.
Lucas walked into that shop in curious. He was wandering who will come to this shop if the place was really uninteresting at all. No other shops beside this small shop. He then read the name of this shop, ‘Celine’s Attic Antique’.
Lucas looked into the attic of this shop then he nodded in agreement with that name. The roof was decorated by tilted board that filled with so many antique items. An old teapot, rustic iron, broken broom, and many others. It really looks like a second hand shop than an antique shop.
Really curious about what inside the shop, Lucas entered that place. He looked around and found many antique items were displayed here. An old lady looked at him and she smiled, “Welcome. Take a look as you like,” she said kindly.
Lucas explored everything at that shop. There are so many paintings hanging on the wall. Lucas knows that those paintings was really valuable. Most of them are about horses and their riders that reached the popularity in 19th century England.
In another display, Lucas found some video game consoles from 1980s. He was thinking if that consoles still work or not. Midcentury barware also catches his eyes. The appropriate graphic and colorful barware with just the right dose of gold glitz by well-known glassware companies such as Libbey, Federal Glass, Hazel-Atlas, and Culver.
Milton Bradley board games, antique mirrors, and some clocks. Lucas stopped at the clocks display. He has seen so much clocks in his life because his father was a watchmaker before he passed away. There are no more interesting clocks than his father’s.
Lucas almost skip that display before he looked at something that caught his eyes. A classic pocket watch with unique design. That watch was made from brass with classic carving style. Lucas knows that this pocket watch must be aged more than his age but it still looks great. No dull at its chain and looks like the owner of this shop always clean all of the antique items here. Lucas even could not found any dust at the display racks.
The most interesting for him about this pocket watch is the time. It stopped at 12 and the second needle did not tick. It looks like the pocket watch was not working but Lucas feels so attached to this watch. He can’t take his eyes off from that watch as he was hypnotized by that thing.
Finally, his hand reached that pocket watch and he could feel the cold of the cover. He looks carefully of the design and startled a bit when he heard someone was talking to him.
“You seem like this pocket watch. This really a good item. You have good eyes,” the owner came to him and smiled. Lucas then could see the owner’s face from near. The old lady has a kind face with full short-cut white hair.
Lucas did not know what to said to her because he was not a very social person. He just tried to smile a bit and nodded.
“Want to buy it?” she asked.
“I don’t know. I still think about it,” he replied in small voice. But the owner keeps smiling to him.
“Take your time. And by the way, you can call me Madam Celine,” she introduced herself before back to cashier desk.
Lucas looked at her until she continues her job. She was cleaning some small statues with carefully. That’s how she keeps everything in clean.
“I see you are new to my shop. I never see you around,” Madam Celine started the conversation with Lucas.
“Yeah, I just found this place if I didn’t look at this alley carefully. You opened a shop at the quiet place,” Lucas commented. Madam Celine just smiled.
“Antique items should be at this kind of place. If you take a crowded place, these valuable things will turn into like a second hand items,” she chuckled.
“And also this is called an art,” she added with smile.
Lucas understood and he looked back at the pocket watch on his hand. He did not intend to buy it but he also did not want to release it from his hand. Lucas keeps doubt about buy that pocket watch or not. What’s the function of this thing? It even not working at all. But still, Lucas can’t forget this pocket watch easily.
He then decided to buy it. He did not know how much the price of this pocket watch but he thinks that he could asked Madam Celine. If it too expensive, Lucas can let this go. He was not a rich man.
Aksara