Pandora Mink

Pandora Mink's entrance into this world is some kind of mystery . . . you see, she was never really born . . . she arrived! And, as if to set the pace for the rest of her life, she arrived in a very bold, unexpected and glamorous way. This is the story...

Chapter One

Wedged in between the Old Druids Hall and the cemetery just outside town was Athena's Olde World Antiquities.

Mr. and Mrs. Mink were greeted at the door by a majestic older woman in a puffy velvet dress. She was dripping with jewelry, and wore her hair piled up high.

“Greetings... I am Athena. We've been expecting you." She motioned them inside with a sly smile.

“I have a feeling you will find what you're looking for.” Then she slipped away leaving them alone to inspect the curious maze. The Mink's had just moved to town and were in need of some furniture for their new home.

“Smell that!" said Mrs. Mink twitching her nose. ”It reminds me of those giant fruit bats in the rain forest on our trip to Indonesia last year.”

Mr. Mink peered up at a winged Greek God swinging from the ceiling. He brushed a bug off his purple striped pants and thoughtfully stroked his bushy salt and pepper mustache. "There appears to be a whole museum in here, but from the outside it's such a tiny house... fascinating!"

There were chairs on top of tables on top of old canoes.

Bronze statues, stuffed animals, huge gold edged mirrors and angels from tombstones. Cricket wickets, African masks, pianolas and portraits of long forgotten aristocrats.

One room was a tangled sea of bicycles, penny farthings and unicycles. The next had dozens of hanging chandeliers, smothered in cobwebs and spiders, but all burning as bright as a comet.

The Minks lost all track of time, and were having great fun wandering the dusty corridors when Athena appeared suddenly from behind a pipe organ.

“Follow me.”

She lead them to a room stacked with old trunks, chests and boxes of every shape and size.

“I thought you might enjoy these,“ she said. ”Please let me know if there is anything that intrigues you. We deliver of course.“

The Minks looked at each other with amusement as she swept out the door.

"Oh darling, look at that one!"

Mrs. Mink pointed to a large ornately carved oak chest, perched way up high. “We must have it for the spare room - I love it!”

Mr. Mink climbed up to get a better look and used his sleeve to clean the brass plate on the front of the chest.

“It's got the initials PM engraved on it. What a pity your name isn't Penelope or Pearl,“ he said, trying not to sneeze.

“It's locked... I wonder if there's a key somewhere?”"

On the way back to the store entrance, the Minks chose a dining table and chairs, a writing desk, and a giant four poster bed. They asked Athena to deliver them the next day along with the chest.

“It will be my pleasure,” said Athena, writing their receipt with a feathered fountain pen and stroking a slinky black kitten on the counter top.

Outside the store, Mr. Mink tapped at his watch.

“That's funny - My watch must have stopped the moment we entered this place.”

“Get a new battery my sweet, you haven't changed it in twenty years... just like your fashion sense,” said Mrs. Mink.

“But, I had it replaced last week!”

Chapter Two

The next day, a truck full of furniture from Athena's Olde World Antiquities parked outside the Minks house, and three little men tumbled out like circus acrobats and began to unload it.

“All right now,” Mrs. Mink said with hands on her hips, "the bed will go in there, the desk in the office across the hall, the dining room is up on the next floor... and the chest... In the spare room right here, thank you.“

After everything was effortlessly put in place, the men bowed to Mrs. Mink, back-flipped down the stairs and rattled away in the truck.

“I wonder where Athena found those guys?“ she said.

The chest was the only thing in the spare room, but it's presence alone seemed to fill the space with good vibrations.

Mrs. Mink ran her fingers along it's edges, inspected every delightful carved groove, and dusted and polished until it's dark wood reflected the sun shining through the window.

For some reason she felt like this old chest had belonged to her forever. She polished the brass key hole and remembered...

“Oh no! We forgot to ask about the key, and now I can't open it!“

Mrs. Mink left the room making a mental note to call Athena's later on and find out about that key.

That same night, a couple of strange events occurred in the house of Mr. and Mrs. Mink. One that would have them reaching for fluffy slippers, and one that would change their lives forever.

At about 2 am, Mrs. Mink was woken up by a sound. The sound of a cat... or a baby crying...

But it couldn't be, she thought, because they had neither.

She got out of bed, tip-toed into the hall and noticed goose bumps on her legs. Outside, she saw little white flakes floating down past the window.

“Snow in May?... It can't be!” She blinked her eyes and rubbed her stomach, thinking it must be a dream brought on by the curried shrimp they had for dinner.

But there was the sound again, coming from the spare room.

“Waaaaaaaaaaaah, Awaaaahhhh!“

She went quickly into the room and could not believe what she saw... The walls, which had been dirty grey, were now shocking pink. Silver star mobiles dangled from the ceiling. Pink satin curtains danced in the breeze coming through the open window, and the lid of the chest was flipped back.

She bent down to see inside...

“It's a baby !“

Chapter There

Mrs. Mink caught her breath, and then reached for the baby girl, who stopped crying immediately.

She was dressed in a hot pink jumpsuit with little black booties and a black fluffy hat.

”But how?... I don't believe it!... Where did you come from?“

The little face looked up at her and smiled.

Mr. Mink appeared at the door in his pajamas, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

”What's all this noise?... Darling, when did you paint the room pink?... and why is the chest open?... and what's - A BABY doing here?“

”Shhhhhhhhh,” she whispered to him, ”I have no idea - she was just laying in the chest.”

”Well, that woman from the antique store must be playing a prank or something!" said Mr. Mink, now wide awake and flustered. “The poor little thing, stuck in that chest all day... What are we going to do?”

Mrs. Mink tried to hide her own state of distress.

”For now, we'll get her to sleep, and then figure out something in the morning,” she said.

The baby girl easily settled down, but no such luck for the Minks... Mr. Mink lay staring at the ceiling, and Mrs. Mink tossed and turned until dawn.

Chapter Four

Very early the next day, Mr. and Mrs. Mink and the mysterious baby girl drove back to the Antique store.

But it had vanished. Well, the house was still there, but it was completely empty. No furniture, no bicycles, no knick knacks, no stuffed animals, no little men and no Athena.

One sticky lollipop, a ball of string and an old book of Greek Myths was all that remained.

Mrs. Mink picked up the book.

“How could they possibly move all that stuff out in one day and one night?” she said, feeling desperate.

Mr. Mink looked at her and scratched his head. They needed some answers!

At the local police station they spoke to a potbelly sergeant with donut crumbs in his beard.

“No babies reported missing. You could take it down to the adoption center... they're always lookin' for more babies.“

“I'm not giving this little girl to an adoption center!” said Mrs Mink.

He hardly bothered to look up from his newspaper.

“In that case, if no one claims it in a week it's yours... finders keepers - that's the law 'round here.“

“Thanks for all of your, um... help, officer,” said Mr. Mink.

They left the police station, and crossed the road to do some thinking and walking in the park.

“If only we knew where Athena's has moved to!” said Mrs. Mink, holding the baby close to her.

“Do you still have the receipt?

Mr. Mink produced the crumpled document from his wallet, and held it up to the sun to read.

“It's completely blank!“

Chapter Five

They sat for a few minutes in deep thought while the sun set exploded silently all around them, in beautiful shades of pink, purple and orange.

”Darling, I know we've never discussed children before, but - I have a wonderful idea.“ Mr. Mink said, kissing his wife's cheek.

Mrs. Mink was nervous and delighted all at once.

“Do you mean... we could keep her?

”Yes... we paid good money for that chest and the baby was inside, so I think she belongs to us?“ Mr. Mink was joking, but he knew that look in his wife's eye... she was serious.

“We would have to think of a magic name for such a girl... if we do keep her.”

She casually flicked throught the pages of the book she had picked up from the floor of Athena's old premises.

“Hmmm,“ she stopped at one page, ”I've always liked the name Pandora.“

”If I remember my Ancient Greek correctly, Pandora means all gifts, how perfect!“ said Mr. Mink.

The baby gurgled and giggled and pointed at them.

”Pandora!“ said Mrs. Mink. ”Pandora Mink! Yes, I like it.“

”And with a name like Pandora Mink, she could be a princess, a movie star, a hostess, a ballerina, a florist, or a beauty queen on the cover of a magazine.“

Mr. Mink laughed.

”Darling be serious now... with a name like Pandora Mink, I think she could be... the President, a lawyer, an architect, a doctor, an astronaut, a novelist, a banker, an analyst, a scientist... or even better!... (he swung at an imaginary baseball)... a World Series home run hitter!“

”Welcome to the world, my baby girl!" the Minks said together.

Little did they know, Pandora Mink had plans all her own.

Copyright, 2001 Sherry Sich