When Ellie and Arnold arrived at the store, Arnold parked the car outside the shop in a large half-empty car park. Ellie read a big sign above some double doors, 'Grundbums TVs'.
Plus more colourful signs in the windows, 'We sell Televisions!' and 'Televisions now 99% off! *Selected models only and not off the one you want!'
Quite quickly Ellie and Arnold were walking around Grundbums. There were big TVs, tiny TVs, flat TVs, curved TVs, fat TVs, smart TVs, dumb TVs, 3D TVs, battery TVs, TVs with cinema dulby-digital surround sound and even one massive TV that had all of the above with built-in drinks holders!
As they browsed, a salesman who had been lurking somewhere in the shop, walked over to speak with them. He was quite nice. He seemed to know a lot about televisions. He put a movie on one of the TVs and turned the volume up to almost full. An explosion in the movie made Ellie cover her ears and rattled the shop windows. All the customers looked around in all directions exchanging worried looks.
While Arnold walked off to talk about TVs with the salesman, Ellie continued watching the movie with lowered volume. She had no idea what the movie was, but it looked good.
Sometime later, Arnold returned with a sad expression
"Come on Ellie. The telly's here are all too expensive," he said with a disappointed sigh.
"I thought it said 99% off, but the offer wasn't included on any of the telly's I was interested in."
As Ellie and her dad walked out of Grundbums empty-handed, her dad stopped just outside the shop doors, looking like two inspirational ideas had struck him in one day.
"I know! Let's try Magix Tellies. It's just around the corner from here in the high street."
Five minutes later they were parked outside a small brown shop with grimy windows. A sign above the door read "Mag x Tell s" because some of the letters were missing. Inside the shop, various televisions lined the walls on shelves from floor to ceiling and there was an odd smell of hot metal or smoke and a strange sweet perfume. Otherwise, the shop seemed quite empty.
Arnold rang a bell on the counter which let out a loud ting. Almost instantly a short man, no taller than Ellie, wearing round glasses and a dark brown three-peace pin-striped suit, appeared from behind the counter. He appeared so suddenly that Ellie jumped in surprise. The man let out a wheezing cough and said in a fairly high-pitched voice
"Welcome to Magix Tellies, how can we all help you sir?" This struck Ellie as an odd thing to say. The little man was quite clearly all by himself in the shop.
"Hi!" replied Arnold with a polite smile, Ellie just wiggled her fingers at chest height and grinned politely. The man grinned back.
Arnold stooped down towards the counter and addressed the man using his hushed voice, for when he didn't want anyone overhearing.
"Er... We are interested in buying a new telly, please. But we have a limited budget."
The little man's grin seemed to grow impossibly wide, into a smile that curled up at the edges so high, his cheeks showed dimples and they glowed red. He removed his round glasses, gave them a quick polish on a stained handkerchief he pulled from his waistcoat pocket before popping them back on the end of his nose.
Ellie couldn't help but notice the little man had pointed ears. The man looked at Ellie and winked, before responding to Arnold
"I think, we might just have the perfect television. Just the one you've been looking for sir!" in an equally hushed voice, with a synchronised knowing nod and wink at Arnold. Again, this struck Ellie as strange, because Arnold hadn't said anything about what they were looking for precisely. How could the man know?
The man indicated that Arnold and Ellie should walk around the back of the shop counter and follow him, by beckoning with a scrawny forefinger.
Ellie and Arnold walked around the back of the counter and into a room at the back of the shop. The room had a single light in the centre, with a lampshade that seemed to focus all the light onto a dark woollen blanket draped over a large mound with square corners. Otherwise, Ellie was unable to make out the walls or ceiling for darkness. But as they walked across the hard floor towards the illuminated area, Ellie could hear their footsteps echoing all around them and this gave her the impression the room was extremely large.
The little man stopped next to the dark woollen blanket still smiling. As far as Ellie could tell, this was the only thing in the entire room. The little man climbed a step ladder positioned next to the display
"Now!" Said the small man suddenly with excitement
"We all think you are very lucky! Yes indeed." He grabbed the top of the blanket and continued
"This is a very special and quite experimental telly we've had arrive in the last ten minutes. We only have one left, and it's in high demand." as he said this he pulled the blanket from the mound with a flap and a wave of his free hand as though performing a bad magic trick, revealing a remarkable-looking television.
It was thin and flat, the perfect size, with just the right look and feel. Arnold started to stammer
"Er, well, that's very nice, but as I said earlier, we have a tight budget."
The little man chuckled a mischievous chuckle then in a reassuring voice replied
"I assure you sir, the price is perfect too."
After what seemed like only a few minutes more, Ellie and Arnold were driving home with a brand-new experimental television safely installed in the back of the car. Ellie wasn't even sure how it had happened so quickly, it all seemed like a blur.
Arnold also seemed very pleased, but he also seemed confused. He just kept saying
"That was a good idea of mine, to go to that shop. But there must have been a mistake on that price Ellie? Far too cheap for a telly like that."
When they got back home, Arnold unpacked the new television and started to install it where the broken one last sat. It looked much bigger in their living room than it did in the large storage room at the small shop. Yet, once it was set up, it looked amazing. Even switched off. The screen was as black as midnight and Ellie thought it looked oddly deep, as though you could put your hand into it.
Arnold grabbed the TV remote and announced
"Let's switch her on?" as though he was about to test drive a sports car.
Arnold pressed the power button and there was a faint tick as the television switched on.
Quickly the impossible midnight black screen was replaced by a sandy beach where several small birds were wading about in the shallows. The picture looked so incredibly clear Ellie could have been sitting on the beach watching the birds in person looking through a window. The sound of soft waves lapping and birds calling seemed to be coming from within her head. "Wow, Dad!" Ellie said with her mouth agog. "This is amazing..."
Karen continued knitting.
Secretly Arnold was looking forward to watching the next football match!