Corners

As a young child I spent most of the summer in my families card shop, I spent most of my time at the back of the shop behind the counter in my own little den, abundant with note pads, coloured pencils and small blue tack animals.

The secluded part behind the counter was in the shape of an L, with incredibly high corner shelves and a small counter top covered with clutter. There were vibrant purple and blue veils separating the den from the rest of the shop, blue carpets fraying at its edges. The shop was made of blue and gold colours and so was the den, clear storage boxes filled birthday, sympathy and good luck cards. Stationary set everywhere. The shop also sold ornamental dragons and fairies, ones which were borrowed by myself to play with, dragons flying around the shelves or two epic dragons fighting over the magnificent card designs. This place made me feel safe and secluded, I had this feeling of being sneaky because none of the customers could see me, yet I had the element of surprise as I could see them.

It got to the point where I reached the age of 12, I started to help more in the shop and get myself more involved, I soon started to stop thinking about the den as a play area. But to this day I still sit in the back with my laptop or something and catch a glimpse of a dusty dragon or pirate figure that fell back behind the shelves all those years ago. When I think back to these memories, I feel nostalgia and cosy as I used to bundle myself in coats or anything I had with me as the shop often got cold.

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Story from Danielle Gibbs, re-written by myself