A New Perspective

By Gary Bentley

Sometimes we don't see the wonderful right under our noses.  Sometimes we need a nudge to do the right thing.  Sometimes we need a new perspective.

Majestico's Magnificent Menagerie of Mysticism is a strange little shop.  A place of curiosities and wonders.  There is something for everyone but are you prepared to pay?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gary Bentley
• Release date: Dec 25, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386858812

Book preview

A New Perspective

Gary Bentley

Published by Gary Bentley, 2018.

This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental.

A NEW PERSPECTIVE

First edition. December 25, 2018.

Copyright © 2018 Gary Bentley.

ISBN: 978-1386858812

Written by Gary Bentley.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

A New Perspective

Also By Gary Bentley

Isn't it funny how sometimes you just don't notice things?  I can't remember how many times I've walked up and down Gurtle St.  Is it hundreds?  Thousands?  Not once in the last three years have I ever noticed Majestico's Magnificent Menagerie of Mysticism.  Surely the name alone would have attracted my attention?  It's not a name you hear every day is it?  Dullard though I am, at some point in the past the large weathered purple and orange sign with the large ostentatious yet fading green letters should have impinged upon my consciousness.  I've wracked my memory but try as I might I don't have any recollection of the place and that's the most surprising thing.  Jammed between a newsagent and a secondhand book store the tiny shop, with the crooked doorway, chipped and crumbling brickwork and stained windows looked like it had shouldered its way in between its neighbours and was now squatting there patiently, like a large old toad, as if waiting for me to notice it.

*  *  *

Today had been just like yesterday and the day before that and the day before that, my usual humdrum existence punctuated by a regular midday visit to the sandwich shop on Gurtle St.  Although if I'm honest, today was different, today I'd tried a different type of sandwich.  Instead of my normal ham and cheese in a wholemeal bun, I decided I would splash out, try something new.  So, completely out of character for me, I asked Julie, the pretty girl behind the counter, to choose a sandwich for me.  Her well plucked eyebrows rocketed high above her pale almost azure eyes as she recoiled in shock and disbelief.  I can't blame her, every day for three and a half years she had diligently prepared for me the same ham and cheese bun with just a thin layer of butter on one side and an equally spartan covering of mustard on the other, and now here I was asking for something new.  I didn't fully understand it myself, but today, for reasons I couldn't express I wanted to try something different.  After recovering her senses and no doubt mentally checking the date to make sure it wasn't the 1st of April, she suggested chicken and sweet mustard in a toasted ciabatta loaf.  That sounds great, I said, giving her what I hoped was a winning smile.  I had no idea what a 'ciabatta loaf' was but today it sounded perfect.

A few minutes later I found myself almost strutting down Gurtle St. happily munching on my surprisingly delicious discovery.  Since today was a day for new experiences I decided I would go to the park, find myself a nice patch of grass and lounge in the sun for a while, I might even share some of the extremely tasty ciabatta loaf with the birds.  But then, just as I was passing the newsagents, disaster struck and a large glob of mustard dripped from the end of the sandwich and plopped down onto my shirt.  My tiny bubble of happiness imploded and I stopped, snarling at my misfortune.  I jabbed angrily at the blob sitting defiantly on my freshly cleaned white shirt.  It was no good, all I managed to do was spread a dark yellow stain across my chest, deflated