Somewhere in between

Heaven and Hell

You will find the quaint little shop

Of Miss Adelaide Bell

“Adelaide Bell’s Curiosity Shop”

I heard some people saying

And many souls, lost and wandering

Often came ‘round buying

You see, this shop is none

Like any other

For Miss Bell only sells

Every type of magic and every superpower

Telekinesis, immortality

Clairvoyance, invisibility

You name it and Miss Bell

Surely will have it ready

As many people get what they wanted

They would also have to pay a price

And for darling Miss Adelaide Bell

That would be: a piece of their lives

She would ask for the love in your heart

Or the happiness you can bring

She’ll demand for the sentiment

Behind a wedding ring

You’ll never feel it

As she takes away a talent or a memory

And when you sign the contract

You’re bound by eternity

Miss Adelaide Bell stands by her products

Indeed you will gain power

But you cannot take back

Anything you gave her

One fine winter solstice

Old man Chaos comes a-running

Into the Curiosity Shop

And asks Miss Bell for something

“Why, that’s rather unusual,”

Proclaimed the dealer.

“But I’ll see what I can do,

Be back here next summer.”

As Miss Bell toiled

For days and nights

For old man Chaos’s request

She was stuck in such a plight

The man came back

At the longest day of the year

And asked Miss Bell

The price for the peddler’s yield

“You don’t have to pay me anything,”

Said Miss Adelaide Bell.

“But you must promise me

Use your power often and well.”

You see, old man Chaos was tired

Ruining one thing after another

It’s getting weary over time

And he longed for slumber

He asked Miss Bell

For something that could do his job

Something small he could carry around

And pet and spoil and feed and lob

So Miss Bell gave him a butterfly

Inside a glass jar, frozen and paralyzed

Wonderfully designed, elegantly made

And Miss Bell instructed:

“Open the jar and breathe into the butterfly

And it will do the rest.”

And a contract bound

Chaos and Adelaide

The man came out of the shop

Happy and satisfied

When he came home,

A dark cloud on top of the world

He opened the jar

And did as he was told

The butterfly came to life

Gave its wings their first flutter

And Chaos heard

One thunder after another

He smiled, for now he could rest

With every flutter of the insect comes

A cataclysmic event occurs

Every being could feel the effect

As the old man slept

Strong storm winds knocked the jar over

And the butterfly escaped

And then flew afar then further and further

Chaos came back to Adelaide

To ask for amelioration

And the woman only gave him a laugh

Thus the man was confused from the derision

“I didn’t make you pay

Because now I get more lives than I ever had

More happiness surrendered

And more sentiment in my cache.

“You, old man, gave me a steady supply

Of things that would keep me alive

For the next hundred eons

As the people on Earth die.”

The old man wept

For he was bound by his word

And promised to look for the butterfly

So he went back to Earth

But all he saw were disasters

Islands splitting in half

Empires falling, diseases spreading

Dictators ruling and volcanoes acting up

What was then controlled madness

Now runs rampant on the streets

As Chaos continues to look for his insect

Its effect all but discreet

The Curiosity Shop

Is still run by Miss Adelaide Bell

But has now expanded her business

All throughout hell