Flip It

“Why would you want to go there?” I asked my brother when he declared we were going into the antique shop in the middle of the shopping center.

“Why not?” He answered.

He was always short when his mind was made up. There was never any use in trying to deter him. Reluctantly, I followed him across the parking lot. Into the small section stuck between a hand-me-down clothing store and a magic shop. I remembered rolling my eyes when I entered the store behind my lovely older brother.

“What are you looking for, anyway?” I asked when he stopped at a small table with a tanned globe resting on it.

“If I find it, I'll let you know.”

“Fine,” I walked away slightly annoyed.

Despite my reservations, I couldn't help but to stop at whatever caught my eyes. What I found wasn't anything special. There were only three different things. I saw something silly like the end of a musket turned into a lamp at the front of the shop. There was a stupid wooden spork ("Carved by Lincoln, himself!") placed on a pedestal. Then I found some incredibly tacky items.

How many items made from animal "fur" can they fit inside this place? I wondered aloud.

The more I explored however, the more this store revealed to me. I don't mean the random knick-knacks, either. It was almost like this store had secretly expanded its borders.

I continued down this endless maze of crap, sometimes absentmindedly, and would touch something shiny or pointy. Then I saw a shelf full of hourglasses in the aisle just to my left.

I was never able to resist flipping these things.

“Oh, sorry, excuse me,” my brother explained not far from me.

I discovered that this place does actually have one other customer in here.

“No, no, my mistake,” she said.

A few more seconds pass. I made my way to the hourglasses and instinctively flipped the first one I saw. I watched the sand fall for a second. Then I looked at the collection to notice a medium-sized one. This had water ripples carved into the three arms circling the sand-filled containers.

This was not what caught my eyes, though.

This instrument possessed sand that stayed in the top capsule at rest. Yet, standing on the completely empty glass attached to it.

I rubbed my eyes, did a double-take; but it changed nothing, the sand remained fixed in its home. I inspected the thin middle section, nothing was there to block the sand. So then I shook it once-twice-a third time to no avail; the sand moved but refused to fall.

I stared at it for another few seconds. Finally, I decided to turn it upside down. The sand fell to the bottom of the hourglass (the part touching the shelf bed) lying flat as possible. However, the grains started to slowly move upward to its now-top half, contradicting how hourglasses work.

“What the hell?” I said as the sand ascended.

“,ekatsim ym ,on oN” a voice echoed behind me.

I scrunched my eyebrows at the strange sound and turned in the direction my brother was in. I watched him open his mouth as I walked closer.

“.em esucxe ,yrros hO”

My eyes bulged as the two back away from their location. Their surprised expressions reversing into focus. My brother walked backwards down an aisle of mirrors, the lady refocused on the fuzzy item in her hand.

I shook my brother. “What are you doing? Is this a joke?”

He stopped in his tracks and stared at me, an eyebrow raised.

“?yas uoy did lleh ehT”

“Uhh?” I stopped shaking him and he continued backwards on his predestined track.

I inspected the other customer. Then I tried to retrace my own steps before my brother ended up unentering the store.

I soon realized what was responsible and immediately ran to the last shelf I touched. The strange item continued to defy gravity. Testing fate, I decided to turn it back on its original end. The sand turned around and climbed up the other way, still towards the sky.

“The hell-? Uh, bro…?” my brother asked from where I left him. I swung my body towards him, jogged down the aisle and almost ran into that same customer.

“Oh, so-rry…?”

I forgot about her..., I thought as I walked to my sibling. “You called?”

He pointed at the mirrors near him. “Um...nothing, thought I saw...but it was a reflection.”

I looked at the mirrors. Without thinking, my eyes forced me to look back down the aisle. As if completely under their control - my legs carried me back to that curious hour glass.

I don't know how long I stood there, watching it. My brother declared he was leaving so I took it off the shelf and approached the register.