Shotgun cupboard

 

#EllyninEngland

#Herfather'sAntique shop

#favourite scene

“That man is shooting at a cupboard,” shrieked Joe.

 “What’s he doing? Here, let me have a look!” The boys were squinting through a hole in the fence behind the antique shop. Danny elbowed Joe out of the way. Joe was shorter but the hole in the fence wasn’t very high.   

“That doesn’t make sense. Maybe he’s shooting at rats or something.”

 “No, he’s definitely shooting at the cupboard. Maybe there’s someone hiding in there, a criminal or somebody. Maybe there will be a gunfight.”

“There’s only one man with a shotgun.”

“It’s an old cupboard. Maybe it’s a ghost.”

“Don’t be silly,” said Danny. “A shotgun wouldn’t work on a ghost.” As the older brother,  Danny very occasionally felt the need to be sensible and superior, although the two of them were small, scruffy and inevitably dirty. 

“Who is he, anyway? That’s Mr. Boswell’s shop. He’s not Mr. Boswell, he’s got blond hair. Maybe Mr. Boswell is in the cupboard. Mr. Boswell isn’t a criminal.“

Danny winced. He wasn’t about to share with Joe what he had heard yesterday or it would be all over town in no time. He was also worried about Joe’s reaction if blood started to seep out from the cupboard door or something. 

 “Maybe we should go round to the front of the shop and check if Mr. Boswell is there.”

They ran down the alley to the front of the shop, just in time to see David Boswell unloading another cupboard from his van.

“Mr. Boswell, Mr. Boswell!”

David put down the dresser he was carrying and looked down at the boys.

“What’s up, lads? Is something on fire?”

“No,” said Joe, importantly. A man is shooting somebody in a cupboard in your back yard.”

“What?” David looked at Joe and burst out laughing. He had to hold onto the side of the van.

“Shooting somebody in a…in a cupboard?” “Eric, Eric! You’ll never believe this!”

The blond man came out of the shop. Danny noticed he wasn’t carrying the shotgun but Joe hid behind Mr. Boswell.

“It’s him, he was doing it!”

“These boys think you were shooting somebody in a cupboard, Eric. Have you been murdering someone in my backyard?”

“What?“ Eric’s eyebrows shot up in to his hairline. “Who says this? I’ve been doing no such thing,” he shouted. “I am distressing your dresser, as you well know!”

 “You see boys, it’s a way of adding old-style decoration to furniture,” David explained.

“And there’s no one in the cupboard?” asked Joe, quavering. 

“No, shall I show you?” David said. Joe still looked a bit scared and was watching Eric uncertainly.

“Eric, could you unload the rest of the furniture from the van, please?” 

The boys went through the shop to the yard with David, who opened the cupboard and showed the boys there was nothing inside. They looked carefully into the corners of the cupboard but there was no blood anywhere.

Joe said, “See it was a ghost. It was stressed, Mr. Boswell said so.”

David and Danny looked at each other and shook their heads. David cuffed Joe’s hair and said,

“So how about a lollipop each?” and led them back through the shop to the street.