"I surprised you, haven't I?" the girl said, while holding back a laugh.

Theo's face blushed, "No!" he denied, lying.

"Aah, you liar", said the sheep girl, taking off the rest of her sheep costume. She grinned at Theo and said, "I like liars".

She jumped down from the stilts she rode on. It turns out her height was not more than Theo's. She took up the tip of her wide skirt and bowed to him politely. "Welcome to the shop", she said. "My name is Alice, I'm the shop owner. I shall try to fulfil your needs."

In a moment, Theo stunned to see the girl's movements. She bowed in a very soft and magical way. Just like a n.o.blewoman from the past time, but it was more enchanting. In her movements, it looked like she put on an incantation to charm Theo's heart.

Theo frowned, "I don't want to buy anything. I don't have money and it was your little brother who forced me to come with him".

Alice straighten up, her eyebrows linked, "My little brother?"

"Yes, the one in the rabbit costume. He is your little brother, right?"

"A rabbit costume? Oh!" Alice laughed, shook her head in amus.e.m.e.nt, "You mean Reginald?"

Alice reached into her pocket, took out a little golden hand bell, with a blue yellow ribbon bound on it. She shook it several times. A door beside the cas.h.i.+er table opened, and a rabbit, the one Theo saw earlier, came out with an angry face. It barked to Alice "What do you want?".

"I don't want anything. It's nothing". Alice grinned to Theo, "He is not my little brother. He is my servant".

"Y- y – you mean.. he is a rabbit? A real rabbit?" Theo asked, stuttered in disbelief. "It wasn't a costume?"

Alice frowned, tilted her head in confusion, "Of course he is a rabbit, what else could he be if he is not a real rabbit? You are very odd, Theo".

Theo halted, has he told her his name?

The girl s.h.i.+fted to the sour rabbit and said, "Reg, please get some dried c.o.c.kroaches and some worm tea".

"Some crackers and warm tea, you mean?" Theo corrected.

Alice flicked her hand, ignoring Theo's words. "By the way, because you are here, that means you will buy something. You have to buy something. I'll tell you, if you don't buy anything, the door wouldn't be opened".

"Hei, you're trying to blackmail me! Let me out of here!"

Instead Alice said, "Oh, do you want to hear this shop's theme song?"

Then she started to sing in her soft voice but in a messy tones

♫  "In and out, you can't get in

because the shop is not open yet.

In and out, you can't get out

because the shop is not closed yet.

If you're in and you're not out,

the sheep will eat your eyeb.a.l.l.s.

If you're out and you're not in,

the sheep will slaughter your belly.

In and out, you're in then you're out" ♫

Theo frowned and blurted out harshly, "It was a very ugly song. The lyrics was very bad. It doesn't rhyme and doesn't make sense".

Alice snorted, "I like an impolite boy. I'll tell the sheep to not eat you. It means, I'll let you out later, even if I prefer to see the sheep eat your eyeb.a.l.l.s. Reginald! Take the key!"

Theo rolled his eyes, "The sheep, wasn't it just a costume?".

"Yes, but he can eat you if he wants to" Alice smiled.

"What?"

Reginald arrived in a hurry, taking a giant golden key, the size that would not fit in the door's key hole. Alice hugged the giant key with both hands.

"Okay, now you can get out from the shop so the sheep can't eat your eyeb.a.l.l.s. But sooner or later you have to come back here again. If you don't come back, the sheep will slaughter your belly. That means, today you will not get your main request".

"What do you mean?" asked Theo in confusion.

"Hmm" Alice put the key on the floor, stepped over it, then went around the room, scanned the cabinets one by one without paying any attention to Theo's protests.

She pulled a tiny bottle containing something that looked like a disgusting greenish grey fog.

"Farting Smoke, it will make people faint except the one who opened the bottle. It's really useful for stealing your friend's wallet or cheating the exams".

She went around again, then she took a copper red iron box.

"Dirty Candy, it makes your enemy diarrhea uncontrollably in their pants. Dragon Burp, like the Farting Smoke but more effective, the most fatal effect, it could cause amnesia, insomnia, impotence, and pregnancy and fetal disorders. And the most special one is, the newest variant of smelly gas that smells the most, a mixture of stewed werewolves toenail, changeling babies teeth, faun's armpit hair and emu's dirt potion. If you eat it, undoubtedly you will be expelled by your own mother".

"Wow, wow, woo, stop it. Are you insane? Why would you stew the emu's dirt? But for the Dirty Candy, I can say it's not bad for the wicked fat-George, if it really worked. But I don't understand… are you crazy or are you playing on me? Moreover, I can get out from here anytime, with or without buying any of your crazy stuff". He stopped and added fiercely, "That giant key obviously is not the key for this door".

Alice put back her smelly bottles into the cabinets, looked at Theo coldly. "Oh yeah?" she challenged. She folded her hands on her chest, pulled up her chin, "Why don't you try to open the door, by yourself"

Theo glanced to the shop's door suspiciously, he also folded his hands arrogantly. "I know you can make the door locked, and I will sue you. Don't you think that I don't understand the law!"

Of course he doesn't understand the law, but he often hear the words in the TV dramas or films, when the bad guy gets arrested by the police.

"How could you sue me" Alice said calmly, "when you cannot come out from this shop?"