Julien recently bought a house and was filling it with furniture by whatever cheap means he could so to save money. This led him to visit stores, houses, and yard sales across and well outside of town. This eventually led him to 'Constant's Renewals' a pawn shop in a small dead end town 70 miles away from Julien's new house. The website listing stated they buy your old things and refresh them to be good as new. But as Julien pulled up, he began to worry it might be a scam.
He stepped out of his pickup truck and looked around. No one was in sight. This place looked like a ghost town. The pawn shop matched the town too, the shop's sign was faded, paint had chipped away. One of the hooks holding the sign hung lower than the other giving the sign a tilt to the right. He couldn't even see inside the shop. If a window wasnt boarded up then it had boxes and objects piled to the ceiling.
Julien built up the courage to just go in and look around. He pushed the door open and heard the rattling of an aluminum wind chime that the owner placed above the door. Shortly after Julien heard a deep aged male voice bellow out, "Ah, a visitor. Welcome, please. Have a look around. Shout if you have any questions." Julien couldn't quite place the accent, maybe old southern, but also a bit too sophisticated. Julien looked around the shelves to see who the voice came from.
Toward the back of the store he saw a round old man with ebony skin and a large white beard sitting behind a counter. He gave him a warm smile and gentle wave before going back to his book. Julien then began to browse the wares in search of any well priced furniture for his house.
Eventually Julien found himself in front of an old cherry oak wardrobe. It was tall and sturdy and looked like it came out of a fairytale. The price wasn't half bad either, well within his budget. The door was left ajar and he peaked inside. It was packed full of clothes that indicate it was likely owned by a young couple recently, a mix of men and women's clothes all of which were modern fashion. Julien closed the doors, but almost as soon as the doors closed a hand came from behind him and pull the door back open. "Keep. The doors. cracked." The old man stated in a serious tone.
Julien jumped back startled. He had not heard the man walk up behind him. Julien came to his senses and with a still pounding heart heart, "Excuse me? What do you mean?"
Almost as if coming out of a trance, the old man broke gaze from the wardrobe and a smile returned to his face. "Keep the doors cracked... Because... Uh.. I recently re-stained the wood. Don't wanna trap the odors inside."
"Riiight..." Julien responded not fully believing him. "So is that price correct, $600? Would you take $450?"
"Oh yes absolutely" the old man replied without a moment. Julien was surprised, he figured he would haggle and still pay over $550.
"What's with all of the clothes? I really don't need any of that, nor do I want to buy someones used clothes." Julien asked.
"Don't fret, it's all new clothes, never worn, comes with the wardrobe, no extra cost" the old man said adamantly.
"No it's fine, I don't -" Julien was cut off as the old man turned around walking back to his counter.
"Come with me" the old man said while ignoring Julien, "I'll cash you out and have my associates load the wardrobe into your truck"
Julien shrugged, this wouldn't be the weirdest person he met today. Julien met the old man at the counter, he filled out a check and paid him, got a receipt and headed out to his truck.
When Julien got to his truck he was surprised to see the wardrobe already strapped in and no one in sight. Julien was exhausted at this point of the day and just wanted to get home. He started his truck and drove home.
Julien met his brother at his house who was already dropping off other furniture. His brother helped him move his wardrobe into his bedroom. As the sun set, Julien thanked his brother and said his farewells.
Julien made his way to the bedroom and opened the wardrobe getting a good look at the clothes. Almost all of it was in fact brand new. Tags could be seen on many of the pieces. Julien figured he could sort through it in the morning. He removed a wedge the old man must have shoved in the doors to keep them open and pressed the doors closed until he heard a 'click'.
In the morning, Julien got out of bed and decided to try on some of the clothes to see what fits...