Unlocking the Illusion

Image by Tom Joseph on Unsplash, cropped by me.

My pawn shop exists at a junction where reality is threaded with magic. To regular customers, it’s just a store. To special clientele, it’s a place to purchase items that arrive from another dimension. These special things have a distinct vibrancy, a definite glow, that makes the world around them appear old, faded, and worn. These items get put in the glass case under the till.

This morning, the only dimensional item to arrive was a small chest filled to the brim with bits and bobs. I was in the process of rifling through it to determine how best to display everything when the bell above the door jangled.

I closed the chest and shoved it into the case while putting on my ‘happy to help’ face. “Hello,” I said before looking up. “What brings you by?” The last word lodged in my throat.

There, standing just inside the door, was a giant Siamese cat.

I blinked a few times and my eyes adjusted. Not a cat. A woman in a sleek ivory fur coat with three quarter length sleeves. The soft brown of her slacks matched the long sleeved shirt peeking from the coat. Both matched her heart-shaped face and the headband with cat ears anchored in the soft cloud of her hair.

Words fell out of my mouth before my brain fully engaged. “I thought you were a cat.” Heat stained my cheeks. “I mean-”