Adventures of a Dwergish Girl by Daniel Pinkwater

Adventures of a Dwergish Girl by Daniel Pinkwater

Author:Daniel Pinkwater [Pinkwater, Daniel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Juvenile Fiction, Fantasy & Magic, Social Themes, Adolescence, Paranormal; Occult & Supernatural
ISBN: 9781616963361
Google: 3BZTzQEACAAJ
Amazon: 1616963360
Publisher: Tachyon Publications
Published: 2020-09-25T04:00:00+00:00


18.

MOST SUBWAY ENTRANCES IN NEW YORK are straightforward sets of stairs going down, surrounded by iron railings that look to be about a hundred years old, and probably are. But some subway entrances are inside big buildings, or partially inside them. The stairs might be set back from the sidewalk in a big open space. And most of the subway stations are just what you’d expect, a set of railroad tracks with a platform running alongside, but there are big stations that are like an underground plaza, with booths where you can buy subway tokens and passes, shops of various kinds, maybe a barber shop, maybe a food shop, a pizzeria, a hot dog stand. The idea of getting something to eat in the subway, which is filthy and foul-smelling, struck me as insane, but I suppose if you are a New Yorker in a hurry, and do not care if you live or die, or perhaps do not believe in the germ theory, it’s something you might do.

The entrance to the subway near Papaya King is one of those partially-in-a-building ones, and partway down the stairs is the entrance to a shop, not underground and not above ground, with a strange assortment of goods in the windows. On our walk uptown, I had noticed that most of the shop windows showed carefully arranged and artistic displays, mostly of expensive-looking merchandise. This half-underground place had an assortment that could only be described as crazy, a plastic model spaceship, taxidermied squirrels, plates, cups, and saucers with a crummy image of the Statue of Liberty, T-shirts with a picture of King Kong, and a set of bagpipes. In gold letters on the window were the words Das Kleine Museum. Maybethe papaya in our bloodstreams was making us seek experiences and adventure. Leni and I drifted through the door.

If the window had been crazy, the inside of the shop was a complete insane asylum. There were model airplanes, and inflated cartoon animals hanging on wires from the ceiling, shelves and display cases had plastic dinosaurs, carved wooden masks that sort of looked like they were real tribal masks, but you could see they weren’t. Rusty spears, swords, and pool cues leaned in a corner, there were books about flying saucers, and vegetarian cooking, racks with weird articles of clothing, sweaters with nuts and shells worked into the knitting; hats with logos saying NY Mets, Yankees, Yorkville; and a big dollhouse, complete with electric lights and tiny furnishings.

The proprietor was a tall guy with an elaborate, shiny black beard. It looked like he’d had it permanent-waved in a beauty parlor. He also had a gold earring and was wearing a New York Yankees hat.

“Welcome to the finest shop in Manhattan,” he said. “My name is Carlos Chatterjee. If you don’t see what you want, just ask. If I don’t have it, I can get it for you in twenty-four hours.”

In a large glass case, sort of like a freestanding wardrobe or closet, was an elaborate red suit of clothes, a tall kind of helmet-hat, and an old-fashioned musket.



Download



Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.