His curiosity overwhelmed him. What kind of things did they sell? why was it back here? why did the man give him such a look of suspicion? who came back here?
Andrew pushed the door open, causing a bell to ring overhead, The old man had now moved towards a counter on the far right. "allo" the old man said calmly with his back turned. His Chinese accent was noticeable.
Andrew looked around. It was a room, a large, dingy, dark room that smelled of incense and something odd. He looked around him. Large wooden tables supported stacks of jars 2 feet high, some labeled in Chinese, some not even labeled. There were 4 long aisles that lead towards the dark back corner of the store. Andrew wondered if he should ask about what the old man was selling or just look around some more. He walked slowly forward, moving down the first aisle of products. The jars looked old, the paper covering on some of them had yellowed, and all in Chinese. No English to be had.
The jars seemed to go on and on. He moved quicker down the aisle looking for something in English, or labeling of any kind. Nothing. Well, he noticed on the table were little papers that looked new with handwritten Chinese letters in black ink. 'ok' Andrew thought to himself... 'so there is a system, i just cant read Chinese'
Jars and jars, tons of them, thousands. it seemed endless. The old man walked towards the aisle Andrew was in, turned looking at the jars and then over to Andrew. "Yes, I was wondering, what is it that you sell?" Andrew asked politely
"these herb jar." Said the old man in a heavy accent.
"what kind of herbs?"
The old man looked confused. "these special" He said, again, motioning to the jars in front of Andrew.
"what is it for?" Asked Andrew again, in a polite tone.
"dis?" questioned to old man.
"ees fo new life... ees fo change" He replied.
"follow me" the old man said quietly and then began walking towards the main desk. The man moved behind the desk and grabbed a paper written in sloppy handwriting: "for transformations: jars of many different types for different desires, different transformations, tell us what you want..."
'that’s odd' Andrew thought to himself. "um, so..."
"so wha kind of trans...trans... you like? what you want to be? anyting... anyting... "
"um um...."