You Break It, You... Fine.

There isn’t another way to say it, the Walrus had caused a mess. He had wanted to simply check out the grand opening of a new Fine China shop in town, in fact, he was the first in line, but unfortunately, disaster was simply in the cards for today.

The owner of the shop, an elegant Crane, was truly excited for opening day. It had been months of prepping her store and years of traveling around the globe gathering the finest and most delicate pieces of China to show the people of this small town some of the finer things life had to offer.

When opening day finally arrived the Crane saw a gathered crowd. She was so excited. Finally, all her hard work had come time to bear fruit.

The Walrus had heard so much about fine China. He had read about it all over the internet but had never seen it in person. The Walrus was a fan of delicate things. He had been fascinated how on the same earth something as delicate and fine and treasured as a piece of China, could also produce something so large and bulky and sturdy as himself.

The Crane opened the doors to her store for the first time. A triumph of her drive and passion. She welcomed the Walrus in and greeted him warmly.

“Welcome, have a look around. Let me know if you have any questions.” The Crane said.

“Why thank you,” the Walrus replied. “I have been looking forward to seeing all these beautiful pieces since I saw your coming soon sign out front.”

The Walrus began browsing around the China shop and saw so many wonderful pieces. Intricate. Highly decorated. Beautiful. Everything the Walrus had hoped for.

Then from outside, someone called in, “Hey Walrus, whatcha doing in there?”

The Walrus, always friendly, turned around without thinking to say hello to whoever had called out to him. But he turned a little too quickly, and a little indelicately which caused some of the china to… well…

Crash

Bang

Shatter

Shatter

Shatter

The Walrus stood amidst the shattering of all the fine and delicate china in the shop. It was a chain reaction. Almost as if the shop had been inadvertently set up like dominoes so that if one piece fell all the others would soon tumble over.

The Crane looked on, not in horror as you’d expect but simply in resignation. Her work here was done. She brought the China to her small town. That’s what she had wanted to do. The Walrus apologized, surely he hadn’t wanted to destroy the China but that’s what happened. No use making anyone feel worse than they already do.