Marvelous Tales #3 - On the shelf

Radiv the violin sat on the dusty shelf where he always sat, next to an old Rubik's cube and a radio with no antenna. The shop keeper would come by occasionally, and dust them off, hoping they might catch someone's eye. On the shelf in the back, however, the chances of that were few and far between, and the customers had dwindled down substantially in the past few weeks. For everyone at the antique shop, including Radiv, time would hold still for hours on end while they waited for their turn to get thrown out.

Radiv looked back at his life, which had spanned three centuries and many owners, who had let him weave beautiful music with his strings. However, it was not the fond memories of great musicians who had used him or his current state of affairs that saddened him. His heartbreak stemmed from his family, who had all long since passed.

It had been some time since he had seen a brother or a sister, or the sculptor. Since he had been one of the first, he had watched the creation of all his brothers and sisters as the sculptor worked tirelessly to produce them. Radiv feared he was the last of his tribe, and upon his demise all the memories and thus all the history of his family would cease to exist. Soon none of this would matter, as no one had looked at Radiv, picked him up, or played him for some time. The end was near, and best he could do to not despair in his misery was keep his form and stay in tune.

Later that day an old man came into the shop, and slowly roamed the aisles. As he turned the corner to the back shelf, Radiv heard the man, wondering if he would come all the way to the back shelf.

The old man picked up Radiv gently and cleaned him off , tenderly cleaning his neck and bowl. He then strummed the strings delicately. He repeated this process twice before gently putting Radiv down. Radiv had seen this before, and watched the man walk away towards the door, like many and more had done before him.

Radiv did not speak the language, so he hardly paid attention as they continued to talk.

"Is that violin 🎻 for sale sir?" Asked the man
"Why yes, 60$, it holds a tune quite well, although I have never heard of the brand Radiv."
" I'll give you a million dollars, after all, it is a Stradivarius."
The shookeeper rushed over and quickly put Radiv in the bag. Was this how the end came? Was this to be his final resting place?
"Yes, yes of course, it will play many fine songs for you sir." The shop keeper excitedly said "And I have never known it to go out of tune".

"I don't plan on playing it" said the man as he wrote the check to the shopkeeper. "It will go nicely in my collection, I have 7 others."

This is my entry for the #marveloustales contest

found here