The Shop Keeper

The Shop Keeper (Chapter 2)

Chapter 2:  The Shop and the Shop keeper


The Year 1996:          


         In downtown near an antique store and Laundromat, there is an Oriental shop of sorts. The shop specializes in art supplies and oriental odds and ends. There are dolls, Kimonos, jade sculptures and then there are the touristy stuff like wall hangings, chopsticks, fortune cookies, etc. The truly special stuff is in the back and is only shown to a select few.


         One day a young boy of about the age of nine or ten years old, walked into the store. The owner, a Japanese man in his late 60’s, walks in from the backroom and immediately greets the boy in Japanese. The boy responds in friendly Japanese and then the old man walks over to him. The conversation immediately goes to art and the boy’s desire to be a wonderful artist. The man sold the boy some Hosho rice paper, but at a very cheap price.


         “Mister, I can not take this for the price you have told me. It would be unfair to you, this is very good paper.”


The store owner spoke gently. “My dear child please take this and draw what your heart desires. All I ask is that you come back often and show me some of your work. This is not the best paper that I have. As your art gets better so will the quality paper that I will sell you. One day in the future I will sell you the most special, authentic paper that you have ever seen.”


         Elvin agreed and said he would be back once a week. The old man had no doubts, he could sense that this boy was very kind, good natured and extremely artistic. A little bit of suspense about the kind of supplies that he had for the boy to use in the future; the old man knew to expect great things. Elvin left the store with great pride for the paper he had in his hand. He knew this paper was very special and even though he was young he knew that the shop owner believed in him and expected great things.


         In the days that followed Elvin drew like he had never drawn before. He seemed more proud and eager to show his work. Being an artist was accepted in his family especially since his mother was an artist; so not being able to express himself was never an issue, but since he had purchased the paper it seemed like he couldn’t stop drawing.


         His brain raced and all he could think was to make the old man proud, so he would sell him even better rice paper. To be honest, Elvin was very pleased with the paper he had, but he wanted to please the old man. For some reason the boy felt like there was a special bond almost like the old man was the grandfather that he had never met.


         This bond was unspoken, but he could have sworn that the old man felt it as well. Elvin drew a waterfall with mist around it and beautiful green mountains, he decided that he would add a man sitting on a rock, but it would have to wait until he returned from school. On this day Elvin’s mother passed by his room and spotted the beautiful drawing lying on his desk. She went in to have a closer look, she couldn’t believe that her ten year old son had drawn this beautiful drawing it was absolutely amazing. It was simply the best drawing she had seen in awhile, not just from her son, but from the professional local artist community with herself included.


         She wondered where his inspiration had come from. Being Japanese herself, the drawing reminded her of the beautiful mountains and waterfalls back home, but she had not looked at those pictures in ages and couldn’t remember the last time she had showed them to her family.


         The inspiration and renewal of love of her home land from the drawing was amazing. She decided that she would discuss the drawing with her son when he returned home from school, but first she felt the need to be creative herself so she went up to her studio and began creating some of the most amazing art she had done in years. Elvin returned home to find his mom in her studio.


         He always knocked before entering even though it was not required; being an artist himself he didn’t want to startle his mother while she was in a creative mode. When he entered there were three beautiful abstract pieces and one ruff sketch of a landscape.          “Mom, Wow. How long have you been working on these? They must have taken several weeks.”


         “Oh Honey, I saw your drawing today and it inspired me. I have been in my studio since ten in this morning. What made you draw the landscapes of Japan?”


         “Mom, I didn’t know they were landscapes of Japan. I had a dream about these beautiful waterfalls. When I awoke yesterday morning I drew a ruff draft of the waterfall and the mist, then when I returned home I finished that part of it. This morning I drew the mountains, I was thinking of adding a man sitting on the rock near the waterfall.” Elvin paused for a second and then he spoke to his mother again.


         “Mom, may I go to town? I want to stop by the old store by the Laundromat. The old man there has really cool art supplies. I try to pay full price, honest, but he refuses. I think he likes me because, I am part Japanese.”


         “Sure you may go, but why do you say that?”


         “The old man is Japanese, sometimes when I am there, some rude teenagers come in and he immediately starts mumbling under his breathe in Japanese about how rude they are and how he misses the respect elders receive in his homeland. They come in to purchase art supplies, but he never shows them the supplies he shows me from the back of the store.”


         “Do you respect him? “


         “Absolutely, I always have. You raised me to respect all elders.”


         “Well, there you go. Maybe it is not because you are part Japanese, but because you respect him.”


         “Maybe. Anyway I am going there. Is there anything you need while I am out?”


         “Yes, please see if the old man has any oil pastel pencils of fine quality. Thank you dear. Oh will you let everyone know that I am up here and that we are ordering pizza tonight.”


         Elvin returned to town that day and entered the shop as he always did. When he entered some of the local teenagers were in there, they weren’t being rude, but they were kind of loud. When the bell rang from the door the old man looked up and greeted the boy as usual in Japanese.


When Elvin walked past the teenagers, one of them made a comment


”Man I wish they would speak English, they are so rude.”


Elvin turned around and very politely said, “I speak Japanese to the owner out of respect for him and our culture. You come in here often, but rarely do you even say hello when you enter or thank you or good-bye when you leave, talk about rude. Now if you will excuse me I am going to go talk with the shop owner before I look at his beautiful possessions.”


         The shopkeeper was very impressed with how Elvin had handled the situation with the teenagers, but even more proud at how he had stayed respectful to all the people involved. When Elvin had finally arrived to the front counter the old man smiled very casually. Then he spoke briefly in Japanese, “I am proud of your response.  Please wait here.” The old man returned a moment later with a small book in his hand. The book was about calligraphy and screen printing.  “Here this is for you. I know you prefer drawings, this book is just for you to see other art.”


         The old man then began talking about the boy’s artwork. They talked about an hour and then he remembered his mother’s request of art supplies. The shopkeeper gave the boy the best he had for his mother. Before Elvin got up to leave, he asked the shopkeeper a question.


         “Sir, the next time I come in to show you my art, do you think we can talk about your homeland and how you got interested in art?”  The shopkeeper simply smiled and nodded, then sent the boy on his way home.


         Once Elvin had left, the shopkeeper closed the shop and returned to the back of the shop. The shopkeeper reflected on how mature the boy had been on this day. The shopkeeper was very pleased. While in the back of the shop, he picked up some special paper and then went upstairs to his home. That evening the shopkeeper picked four items to help him tell of his homeland; a picture of his family, a sword, a drawing of a beautiful waterfall and a fish in a bowl.


         Elvin left the store, feeling a great sense of pride; he felt great honor that Mr. Wiu was proud of him and he knew that he would cherish the book from Mr. Wiu for always. Elvin returned home ten minutes after he had left Mr. Wiu’s shop, but the walk seemed very light and almost as time flew. He was just so happy.


         After drawing all day, working on the landscapes and the abstract drawings, Meyana decided that she would go through her pictures of Japan and place them around the house. She came into the living room, asked Celestra to please order the pizza, she then turned to Donavan, Leroy and Trista; “I need you three to come with me, we need to get several picture frames and mat boards. When we return home, I would like us all to look through the pictures of Japan. We will place several pictures through out the house, especially in the dining room and living room areas and if you don’t mind, we each can pick out our favorites and hang them in our bedrooms. Elvin and JC can you guys get the boxes of pictures? They are in the boxes in the closet.”


         Since they had moved into this house, Meyana had not unboxed her pictures. Everyone thought that was odd since Meyana loved Japan so much, even though they thought it was odd they did not question it. To be honest everyone missed seeing the beautiful pictures. Everyone did as they were asked and they all seemed to be in super elated spirits. When Meyana and the children had arrived home, JC had all the boxes opened, Celestra had the pizza out with paper plates, napkins and everyone’s favorite drink poured. The family gathered in the living room in a circle, they talked laughed, listened to some Dizzy Gillespie and sorted through all the pictures.


         Elvin was so excited that the pictures were going back up; his first thought was of Mr. Wiu, he couldn’t wait until he saw him again so he could tell him all about the pictures and which ones were his favorite pictures.


         The family finally finished going through all the pictures, framing and mating the pictures around 11 pm. Everyone was tired, but still wide awake from the energy of the family gathering and their accomplishments. Everyone had their favorite pictures and were ready to hang them up in their rooms. When the sorting had begun Elvin noticed several waterfall pictures. He wanted one for his room and suggested that one of the others be placed by the front door for people to see when they first entered the house.


         Elvin noticed something else in the box; a picture that looked similar to the pictures in the book that Mr. Wiu had given him earlier that day. He ran upstairs got the book and asked his mother if the picture was of a real Japanese Screen Print.


         “Yes, my uncle made the screen print, as well as many others.  He died not long after my family moved here. He had a bad heart since he was very young.”


         “May I hang this picture in my room?”


         Meyana was so pleased in Elvin’s new found interest in other art forms and his renewed interest in his culture. The store owner seemed to have a very positive influence on him. Meyana was elated that Elvin chose the picture of the screen print as one of his favorites. She had not thought of her uncle’s screen prints in years, now she wished that she had one of the originals and not just a picture of one.