Personalities in a Bottle

An old man stands behind a hard wood counter. Names are scratched deep into what used to be a flat surface; now, it is a small landscape, or a picture for the blind. But, neither the man, nor the counter is what is really important about this picture. You can picture any old man that you know. It could be your grandfather, or the man you thought looked a little like Santa on vacation last summer. No, those are not important. What you should focus on is the bottles that cover the walls behind him. There are perfume bottles that glow the color of the little sprouts of grass that pop up as the snow melts in spring, mason jars holding a red liquid that reminds people of cherries, and the typical mystical potion vials that are strangely clear. Any shape you can imagine could be found on those shelves in the store in any color you wanted.

You have been down this block of the road almost every day for so long that you can’t believe you missed this old man and his bottles. But there it is one day, and your curiosity wins. You push the door open and the man looks up from the counter.

“Good day, what is it you’ll be needing?” he turns, ready to head down the aisle to grab the bottle you specify. He pauses for a second on his toes before turning back around with a grin on his face. “Or, may I ask, is this your first time here? Ah yes, I can tell, you have that first time glimmer in your eyes. Don’t worry, we will find exactly what you need.” He walks down the far left row, whistling a tune you could have sworn you grew up hearing.

He comes back with a small notebook, bursting with sticky notes, and a black ballpoint pen. “Shall we begin? I just want to ask you a few questions.”

“Question one: What was your most prized possession as a child? Now I know, doesn’t seem like it has any relevance, but trust me, these questions have never failed me before.”

As you answer his question he considers a pile of sticky notes in front of him, before grabbing a blue one and drawing a strange symbol on the note and sticking it in the center of the page.

“Where were you headed before you walked through that door?”

Again, his hand hovers over the rainbow of sticky notes before deftly pulling a yellow one off the pile and placing it in the upper right corner with no writing.

“When was the last time you cried?”

This time it is a green note, with a small circle placed half over the blue in the center.

“Final question, what are you looking for?”

His voice makes you hesitate as you consider what he means. Does he know you lost your favorite shirt yesterday? Is talking about relationships? What about money? But, there is something in his eyes that tells you exactly what he is asking.

He hesitates before pulling a small purple note and placing it lightly in the crease of the book. He studies the book and turns it around a few times.

“Now you see, these bottles hold the key to what many people think they need. Over there on the top shelf of the far row, you see those bottles that are a nice bright pink? Most people think that those are what they need, many times they ask for it without even realizing that it’s not what they want. You see those bottles are full of consideration. I know, the color deceives you, you were thinking pure and true love? Well, that’s not what I sell here. I don’t sell feelings here, you can go down a block if you want those. Here, I sell something much better, I sell personalities.”

“Although, now that I think about it, maybe I should go ahead and sell the compassion to those who ask, the world seems to be lacking that these days. Ahh, but that would go against the honesty side of my personality.”

“But, back to the point, personalities are so varied and people are always wanting the change them. They see someone who is intelligent and leading the world in the fight against hunger and they believe that just adding some of this,” he motions towards a perfume bottle shaped like an owl half filled with deep sea blue,” will give them the same success of that person.” He gives a small chuckle as he admires the bottle on the shelf. “No, what they miss is the kindness, and ingenuity side of that particular personality.”

“Personalities are as varied as the bottles in this shop. Everyone has a different mixture of different amounts, but I have yet to come across the perfect ‘recipe’ as I like to call them. So, why are you here today? What do you believe you need?”