The shopkeeper glanced into his crystal ball. Malcolm would be nothing but trouble from now on. The shopkeeper would have to go over everything that Malcolm might have touched to prevent the magic fungus from infecting anything or anyone else in the shop. Malcolm had to be contained. Reaching under the counter, the shopkeeper said, "Wait Malcolm, I just remembered some ointment that might help."
He put a plain white jar on the counter. Malcolm stared he had just inventoried under the counter this morning, and there had been no white jars of anything. Still it was a magic shop, and the shop seemed to inventory itself.
Malcolm opened the lid, and suddenly, he was inside the jar staring out. Unlike Brick earlier, his clothing had shrunk with him. He shouted, "Hey! What are you doing?" His voice squeaked and was barely audible.
The shopkeeper didn't need to hear to know what Malcolm was saying.
"Malcolm, you've been a good employee over the years, but that curse is too dangerous to allow you to handle other magical items. They might become infected, I might become infected, and there's no telling how that curse might mutate. Well, there might be a way. That's why I put you in this jar. When I close the lid, time will move differently for you, than for the rest of the world. You won't age or need food, but time will pass. Hopefully, the curse will run its course."
As Malcolm screamed the wizard screwed the lid in place, and the temporal paths diverged. He next took a white poster board out, and a red marking pen. He wrote, "HELP WANTED" in big letters at the bottom he added in cursive, "Inquire Within." Then he put the sign in the window.