London Melody
A few days after Miles had gone into the Musty Old Magical Curiosity Shop, it was Patrick’s turn to go into the shop to buy a birthday present for Penelope.
Patrick was sitting in the surgery when in walked his good friend Dr Singh.
“I’ve come to take your blood pressure,” he said as he walked in.
Patrick started laughing. “I need it,” he said. “What a stressful day! Nearly every patient is feeling depressed and I can’t think what to say. I had a call that one of my patients had gone all the way to Beachy Head to throw himself off the cliff - and what happened? Amazingly some geese flying by swooped down and plucked him out of the water, so he is OK.”
“Wow!” said Dr Singh. “That’s amazing! Who would have thought geese would do that!”
“Well, that’s what witnesses said it was. I think it was an angel of the Lord, don’t you? Anyway, Dr Singh, it’s my Penelope’s birthday. How do you fancy going up the Bayswater Road and helping to buy a pressie? We’ll have a drink afterwards in the Lion the Witch and the Unicorn.”
“OK,” said Dr Singh.
He and Patrick went to the Bayswater area. They were walking along when suddenly Patrick saw the Musty Old Magical Curiosity Shop. It had sprung up again out of nowhere.
“I’ve never seen this shop before,” said Dr Singh. “Is it for real?”
Patrick laughed and said, “It looks real enough, but I suspect it’s from a parallel universe.”
They both laughed their heads off.
They went in, and immediately Patrick noticed, at the same time as Dr Singh noticed it, a very large picture of London. It showed the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben and several London buses. The clock on Big Ben, seemed real.
“This will be great for a present for Penelope - a nice scene of London. It’s so eye-catching.”
“It certainly is!” said Dr Singh.
Mabble Merlin came over to them. This time he was wearing a pinstriped suit and bowler hat, just like a London gent. His hair was short, and he had no long beard or moustache, but he had the same mud-brown eyes like an owl’s eyes. When Dr Singh saw him he started to laugh and couldn’t stop. He didn’t know what he was laughing at, but it all seemed so funny.
Mabble Merlin suddenly said, “The possibilities are endless.”
“What?” said Patrick.
“I see you’re admiring the picture of London,” said Mabble Merlin. “Well, it’s called London Melody, and the scene changes to show different scenes of London, including scenes of days gone by. As I was saying, the possibilities are endless. It’s the motto of London Melody.”
“Oh, I see,” said Patrick.
Dr Singh was still laughing and trying not to, but Patrick remained poker-faced and took it all in his stride.
“I love the picture and the fact the scene changes - but what about the clock? Does it disappear?”
Dr Singh laughed again, but he tried to cough to disguise the laughter.
“Well,” said Mabble Merlin, “you won’t believe it but there is always a clock on the picture when the scene changes. The clock may be on a church, or it may be on St Paul’s Cathedral, or you may see a tavern with a clock on it, or Big Ben may remain on the scene, or a shop may appear with a clock in the shop window - do you get my meaning?”
Dr Singh was still laughing. He wanted to get out of the shop as it felt so rude to be laughing when Patrick was trying to find out about the picture. Dr Singh got out his handkerchief and pretended he had a bit of a cold, but everything Mabble Merlin said made him laugh. Then suddenly Dr Singh saw the owl in the tree in the window of the shop.
The owl said, “You won’t find empty spaces.”
“What?” said Patrick.
“You won’t find empty spaces on the picture, of course.”
Patrick wondered if it was some sort of riddle, but Dr Singh just thought that it was a hilarious random thought. It didn’t make sense, but neither did owls that spoke. Dr Singh wanted to hurry up and get out of the shop and go and get a drink - maybe a brandy would calm him down.
“I want to take the picture,” said Patrick to Mabble Merlin.
“We’ll have it delivered for you,” said the shopkeeper. “You don’t want to carry such a large picture through London - especially if you’re going for a drink and a bit of something to eat.”
“OK,” said Patrick.
Dr Singh and Patrick walked out of the shop, and Dr Singh’s fit of the giggles was gone - just like that!
They sat in the pub, and both had a Jack Daniels with a touch of soda. Patrick ordered lemon sole with organic vegetables, and Dr Singh ordered prawn curry, rice and poppadoms. They both pondered over London Melody and its motto, ‘The possibilities are endless.’ They both took a drink of whisky and looked at each other and burst out laughing.
Patrick said, “You must come to Penelope’s birthday party. We’re having a cocktail party on 31 October. It’s themed: a 1920s cocktail party.”
“Sounds like a great party!” said Dr Singh. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
They came out of the pub and said their goodbyes.