The Musty Old Magical Curiosity Shop

by Dianne Carol Sudron

  “Well, you have me now,” said Milly forlornly.

  “I hope Mog Og can help and that I go and do what I’m supposed to do instead of hiding away in this cupboard.”

  “Oh, you’re so funny!” exclaimed Milly.

  She was feeling so much better having London Melody to talk to.

  “Oh, I feel so hemmed in,” cried London Melody, “wrapped up in this silly wrapping paper! Right then, Milly - let’s get a telepathic message to Polly Quazar to tell Mog Og to come to the rescue.

  Then London Melody concentrated her mind and spoke telepathically to Polly Quazar. She asked Polly Quazar to send a telepathic message to Mog Og.

  Mog Og was sitting under the apple tree in the garden when he telepathically heard his name being called. He knew it was Polly Quazar, and he rushed into the house and into the dining room.

  “Hey, Polly, what’s up?” asked Mog Og, feeling a bit worried.

  “Oh, Mog Og, Milly is in the closet on a dusty shelf and there’s a new picture clock, London Melody, on the bottom shelf wrapped in paper.”

  “Goodness me!” exclaimed Mog Og, scratching his head. “That’s a very strange situation, but I’ll go to the rescue. Tell them both not to worry - Mog Og is coming.”

  Polly Quazar sent the message telepathically to London Melody, who informed Milly that Mog Og would help.

  Later that night Mog Og opened the closet door and went in to talk to Milly and London Melody.

  “Oh, Mog Og!” cried Milly.

  She was over the moon to see the fat cat, who was laden with armfuls of handkerchiefs. He handed one of them to Milly.

  Milly started to cry again as she told Mog Og about Claudette de Seconds taking her place. Milly’s mascara was running down her clock face, and her pink lipstick was smudged. Mog Og wiped a tear away from her blue eyes.

  “I will help you if I can. Of course I will help you, silly! Cats always help - you know that. You trust me, don’t you? Never mind that silly French court clock, Claudette de Seconds. She should still be at a French court - or in France, at least. She’s a long way from home, and she might start crying when she gets homesick. She won’t have the kind of life she’s used to - having servants, and having her powder put on her face for her, and even having her hair brushed. I wouldn’t be surprised if she even had someone to brush her teeth. She probably didn’t do anything for herself, so she might start asking us to run around after her. You, Milly, powder your own nose, put your own perfume on and paint your face all by yourself. I don’t expect Claudette will want to do the same.”

  Suddenly London Melody piped up: “Mog Og, would you be able to help me get this silly wrapping paper off me?”

  “Well,” said Mog Og, “the best thing to do is to get Penelope to find you. After all, you are a birthday present. What I suggest is that I carry you into the living room so Penelope can find you.”

  “That’s an excellent idea, Mog Og. I’m so pleased to meet you.”

  “And I’m pleased to meet you. I suspect you look spectacular without wrapping paper on,” said Mog Og.

  “I assure you, you won’t be disappointed. I am a picture clock, so I am tailor-made to be admired. I can change my picture, and I have lots of other talents to. I want to get cracking, and to be on show - not sitting on a musty shelf that smells of old shoes.”

  “I think it is old shoes that are causing the smell,” said Mog Og. “I’ve got my best eau de cologne on; I have to smell good as I’ve got a busy social life.”

  London Melody started to laugh, and the others joined in - even Milly.

  “Listen, Milly - you keep smiling. I’ll be back when I’ve thought of something,” said Mog Og.

  “OK, Mog Og,” said Milly and London Melody.

  “We’ll both wait. We’ll be patient,” said London Melody.

  Mog Og left the dusty closet, and he walked up and down the hallway until he was dizzy. By then it was nearly midnight - the time when cats can think best. He suddenly had a brainwave, and a moment later he tapped on the closet door.

  “OK, Milly, I have a cunning plan: I am going to have a walk tonight and see what I can find. I feel a journey is in order.”

  London Melody piped up: “Wherever you go, will you take me? It ought to be better than sitting on this dusty bottom shelf.”

  “Of course, London Melody, you can come with me.”

  Mog Og’s Late-Night Journey

  Late that night Mog Og crept out through the cat flap. He jumped on to the dustbin and over the high garden wall. Then he made his way over rooftops, garden fences and walls, and down very dark alleys. At one point he was chased by some loud alley cats with fleas. Finally he crossed a bridge and ended up in the Hyde Park area, where, in a familiar cobbled street, he came to a shop, and he was so pleased to see that the lights were on.

  ‘Excellent!’ he thought. ‘This could be the breakthrough for Milly Dilly Dally.’

  He liked to call her that because she did dilly-dally an awful lot.

  He was a straight-talking cat with a lot of ambition - albeit a fat cat that loved sleeping. ‘But hey,” he thought, ‘who doesn’t love sleeping?’ But tonight Mog Og was too busy to sleep.

  “Mog Og’s on a mission,” he shouted.

  At that moment a female cat turned the corner. Her fur was milky satin cream and she had an elegant walk. He was enraptured.

  As she walked past she whispered in a soft velvet feminine voice, “I’m Mystique, but you can call me Mysty.”

  “I certainly will!” said Mog Og. “And I’m Mog Og, but you can call me Mog or Og.”

  “I’ll call you Mog, if I may,” said Mysty. “Where are you off to so late at night?”

  “It’s a long, long story, Mysty, but I’m going to that shop over the road and I’d be really happy if you could join me on the mission. I think you’ll enjoy it, Mysty,” said Mog Og confidently.

  “OK,” said Mysty, sounding like a jazz singer with a smoky velvet voice.

  Then they both rushed over the road to the Musty Old Magical Curiosity Shop, which was in between a pub named The Cat’s Whiskers and a very large hotel named The Cumbersome Hotel. Mog Og and Mysty went into the shop through a cat flap in the door, and there in the shop was the old shopkeeper with his owl on his shoulder. The owl had the largest, oddest, wide-open brown eyes. He was wearing a monocle. He was a white owl.

  In an armchair in the shop was a Persian cat with fluffy fur and amber-yellow eyes. They twinkled with humour. The cat was named Twilight, and it was stuck between two worlds.

  “Well, well, well, well,” said Twilight, “look what the cat’s dragged in! Two cats for the price of one.”

  The owl hooted with laughter, and his monocle fell off his face. Then he coughed and cleared his throat and became serious.

  “How can I help, cos I am the owl of all knowing.”

  He blinked, and his brown eyes twinkled.

  The shopkeeper looked at the owl and said, “This owl is the owl of wisdom; if you want to know what to do, he’ll have the answer for you.”

  “Well, it’s like this,” said Mog Og: “I have a friend, Milly Paris. She’s a kitchen clock. She’s broken her hands, or rather they’re stuck fast - and, besides that, she can’t tell the time very well. I would like to know what we can do, Mr Owl.”

  The owl cleared his throat and began to speak: “I believe”, said the owl, “she must go to Tick-Tock School at once and learn to tell the time. Her hands need greasing with goose fat and tickling with a goose feather. They will do that for her at the school, and they’ll also help her with her times tables and teach her to tick-tock perfectly. OK?” said the owl.

  The owl seemed very professional and knowledgeable. He spoke just like doctor.

  “Yes. Wow!” said Mog Og. “That sounds like a plan! It
sounds excellent, fantastic, fabulous, incredible,” said Mog Og.

  “The only problem is,” asked Mysty, “where is Tick-Tock School?”

  “You see that door on your left - it says ‘Private’ - well, that is the entrance to our Tick-Tock School. It’s a private school for clocks, you see.”

  “OK, that’s just grand,” said Mysty.

  Mysty was an Irish cat. She’d left Ireland as a stowaway cat on a small coble - she wanted to see the world.

  “Well, Mog,” said Mysty, “I think we ought to go and get Milly. I expect she has been crying herself to sleep.”

  “Yes,” said the owl, “the sooner, the better. You bring her here and we’ll set to work on her. I’m sure she’ll learn quickly - most of them do, you see. In fact, we don’t have any failures, only successes. And if there is anything else she wants to learn, we’ll help her with that too. We also run a clock hospital. We have specialists in heartbeats, psychotherapists, psychologists, hypnotherapists, dieticians and make-up artists. Basically we have the best in health care. We also do face improvements, including facelifts - anything to lighten the burden! There is a beauty salon with nail technicians and massage therapists. We also have a beautician for cats.”

  “Oh,” said Mysty, “what can you do for me?”

  The owl piped up: “I said beautician not magician,” and he laughed until his monocle fell out of his wise brown eye.

  “Oh, I could do with a manicure,” said Mysty. “My nails are really sharp.”

  “Oh,” said the owl. “And what else would you like?”

  “I’d like longer whiskers and painted nails - a Mayan heart symbol on one, a diamond on another.”

  “Oh, yes,” said the owl, “like the symbols on playing cards.”

  “And I’d like some new perfume,” said Mysty.

  Mog Og decided that this cat was ‘high maintenance’, but the owl was keeping up with all her needs and wants.

  “Oh,” said the owl, “we have some new perfume: Cat Magick No. 5.”

  “Sounds cool!” said Mog Og. “What have you got in the way of aftershave for me?”

  “We’ve got a new fragrance: Cool Cat No. 7 eau de cologne. I will get you everything you need,” said the wise owl, and he laughed until his mortar-board hat fell off.

  “Right then,” said the old shopkeeper, “I think we’re ready to rock and roll.”

  “You rock and I’ll roll,” said the owl, laughing again until his head nearly fell off.

  Mabble Merlin clapped his hands in delight. There was a quick burst of lightning and the cats’ hairs stood up on end.

  “Wow! What was that?” said Mog Og.

  “Lightning never strikes twice,” said the owl. “So run, cats, run cos there could be a downpour,” said the owl.

  So off Mog Og and Mysty ran, all the way home, over ditches and benches and fences and through hedges and up lanes and down lanes and over fields, past cows, pigs and owls.

  Finally they reached home, out of breath. They crept into the hallway and saw that Milly and London Melody were fast asleep.

  Welcome to Tick-Tock School

  “Milly, Milly, wake up, wake up. We’ve found a private school just for you, where you can learn to tick-tock. They will teach you your times tables and how to tell the time - and anything else you need to learn. We’re going to sneak you out of the house.”

  Then London Melody woke up. She wanted to go with them, just for the journey and the fun of it.

  “Can I come, Mog Og, please?” she asked.

  “Of course you can, London Melody. When we have caught our breath we’re going to run like the wind to the Musty Old Magical Curiosity Shop. If you like, you can stay for a while and do the tick-tock course. You can also learn other things, such as dancing, if you want to. Or you can make your own perfume. Why not call it Love at First Sight? Wow! I bet you’ll be famous with that perfume. Come on, Milly - quietly does it!” said Mog Og.

  Milly couldn’t believe her luck. She was so excited. Mog Og helped her and London Melody down off the shelf, and the two clocks suddenly sprouted little legs to help them to be able to run, run, run, through hedges and over bridges and ditches - basically to run as fast as the wind in a midnight storm.

  The two cats and the two clocks sneaked out of the cat flap and hurried down back lanes and through hedges, under bridges and over bridges. They almost flew over the moon in their haste. Past cows and pigs and hens and ducks and geese they ran, until at last they reached the Musty Old Magical Curiosity Shop out of breath.

  The four of them stood in front of the old shopkeeper and the owl.

  “Now, who have we here?” said the owl.

  “Well, this is Milly Paris and this is London Melody.”

  “Why are you wrapped up in wrapping paper, London Melody? Do you not want to take that off? All you have to do is think that it’s been taken off and it will be done,” said Mabble Merlin. “In fact, as I was the one that wrapped you I say let it be undone.”

  Mabble Merlin clapped his hands and London Melody could then be seen and the wrapping paper was gone.

  Mog Og, Mysty and Milly thought London Melody was such a pretty, realistic picture of London. The picture was of the city at night-time, and it showed several double-decker buses moving over Westminster Bridge with Big Ben in the background. There was a large moon and little twinkling stars.

  London Melody enjoyed the admiring glances everyone gave her. She was so glad the wrapping paper was off and that she could at last breathe. She had felt suffocated in the deep-blue wrapping paper.

  “Well,” said Mabble Merlin, “you certainly haven’t wasted any time in getting Milly here, have you, Mog Og?”

  Mabble Merlin was wearing a purple pointed hat and a purple cloak, and on the cloak were strange symbols and equations from the works of great mathematicians and scientists, like Pythagoras and Einstein. Inside the cloak was the equation E = mc2. Magical numbers swirled inside his hat, bouncing up and down like numbered balls in a lottery machine. These numbers were alive - they could tell the truth and they could solve equations.

  Milly’s eyes were wide with wonder, and so were Mog Og’s and Mysty’s and London Melody’s. Of course, the owl’s eyes were always wide with wonder, and so were Twilight’s.

  “Don’t worry,” said the owl. “We’ll get you straightened out, Milly.”

  The owl went over to Milly.

  “Any back problems?” he asked.

  The owl was also a doctor, and he dutifully took out a stethoscope and listened to Milly’s heartbeat. She had been worrying a lot lately - especially since she had been put on the dusty shelf in the closet.

  “Oh dear, Milly! You have a few beats missing and your chest is wheezing. I’ll give you a spoonful of cough medicine for that, and a mixture of heather honey, sunflower honey and lavender honey. If you take this medicine, your chest will be perfect. Honey is really good for your voice too,” said Dr Hoot-Hoot. “You will be OK. After a four-month stay here with us, you’ll be fine,” said Dr Hoot-Hoot.

  “A four-month stay!” exclaimed Milly, almost fainting.

  Her little legs had turned to jelly.

  “Well, actually, it will only be four days, because we’ll speed up time with a bit of hocus-pocus. We’ll do a bit of time-slipping or time-bending,” said Dr Hoot-Hoot.

  “Oh dear!” said Milly. “I do hope it is only four days.”

  “Leave it to me,” said Dr Hoot-Hoot. “Mabble Merlin always has to speed up time in the school, because no one likes months and months going by, that’s for sure, when they can get away with a few days. This place, as you know, is no ordinary place - it’s no ordinary shop.”

  “You can say that again!” said Milly.

  “I agree,” said Mog Og.

  “So do I,” sai
d Mysty.

  “And I do too,” piped up London Melody.

  “Only if you’re lucky enough, will you see the shop,” said Dr Hoot-Hoot. “We can be invisible if we want to be, and we can disappear in a puff of smoke. We’re not always in the same place. We move about like gypsies. A rolling stone gathers no moss. We like to keep our customers guessing.”

  “Well, that’s fascinating,” said Mog Og. “I guess we are lucky, lucky, lucky!”

  Suddenly Lucky, the magical cat, appeared. With her long curly whiskers, big green eyes and black midnight fur she did look very strange.

  “Did someone call my name?” she asked.

  “Oh, I’m pleased to meet you,” said Mog Og.

  “Just call me Lucky.”

  Then Mog Og felt so lucky that he wanted to dance and sing. There was an old dusty piano in the room, and Mog Og went to the piano and started to play and sing. The others all felt very happy, and they started to sing along. Suddenly, as if by magic, musical instruments appeared. The sometimes-invisible cat, Lucky, played the flute, Twilight played the fiddle and Dr Hoot-Hoot played the double bass. Milly started to sing; London Melody joined in in a beautiful angelic voice, and Mysty joined in too. She sang like a jazz singer, with a smooth, soulful voice.

  As if by magic, the shop turned into a jazz saloon. Mabble Merlin started to dance. Musical notes with rhythm and a bass beat appeared from his hands, and musical stardust appeared in the air.

  His clothes had changed. He was now wearing a white suit with a white trilby. He looked like a 1920s jazz-club singer. He wore braces and a multicoloured striped shirt.

  “Let the real music begin. Let the real dance begin,” he said, and he clapped his hands.

  Suddenly a 1920s dancer appeared - a flapper girl. It was Zelda Fitzgerald. She and Mabble Merlin danced the jitterbug, the charleston and the cha-cha.

  They all had really enjoyed the evening. Milly felt she was in good hands. When the dancing finally ended, it was time for Mog Og, London Melody and Mystique to go home, but it was pouring down outside.