The market stall

I promised you all some better pictures of my market stall and I still owe you them. The stall from the competition that I won 3rd prize in, remember?
It now resides at a friend's house, since I have had neither time or energy to go get it. Luckily she's a real sweetheart and she boxed it up safely to keep it from catching too much dust :) And the best part is: she took pictures! In the grass on a sunny day!
So thanks to Louise this post will be stuffed with photos! (By the way, isn't that one of the best names ever: Louise? So french chique and elegant.)
Posting the pics, I might as well tell you the story behind it :)

The stall owner is called Raúl and it's 1933 in Mexico. Times are difficult, especially for people in the entertaining business like Raúl. He was a shopkeeper once: he owned a religious bookstore. But dictator Calles runs the country and suppresses almost everything catholic, leaving Raúl with no work. His young and beautiful wife Luisa left him when it became obvious they were not going to be able to support a family anytime soon. He still misses her and he burns a candle for her every day. After his wife left him nothing seemed to make sense any more to Raúl. He didn't try to get a job and lived in the streets for months.Then, exactly one year after Luisa left, he witnessed a miracle that changed his life. It was a little white mouse with eyes as red as blood sitting in an alley beside a bar. At first Raúl couldn't believe his eyes and blamed the tequila. But after rubbing his eyes 20 times he saw it was true: the mouse was playing music on a teeny tiny little piano! Raúl slowly approached the mouse and listened to a sonata by moonlight. The music was heartwarming and Raúl was moved. But instead of leaving the mouse free to play for everyone to enjoy, he grabbed a box and locked the mouse up! He thought he could make big money and tour the world and by doing so, impress and win back Luisa. Unfortunately, as is often the case in such stories, fate gets you back if you maltreat somebody. Even if that somebody is only a little mouse. The mouse would never again play that night's sonata because he was miserable and lonely . Raúl searched for a mate to make the mouse play again, but nothing seems to make the little rodent happy. Now Raúl and his mice travel around the country in search of fortune and Luisa.

Here you see the stall in the whole. The front side (and the flyers and poster) says "El circo maravilloso de ratones" witch is Spanish for "The wonderous mouse circus".

The back of the stall, decorated with old posters of famous circus mice.

The chair is old, but that doesn't bother Raúl. At the end of a hard day's work (for the mice that is), he sits here and drinks a bottle of wine or tequila.

Here you can see Raúl in all his glory. He has a beer belly and greasy look and his smudgy pants are barely hanging on. You can also see his mullet that I added for some extra yuckiness.

Let's take a closer look. Here we have an overview of the inside. I ripped off the solid roof and replaced it with a more sunny and drafty one for more interesting lighting. I wallpapered the back and inside of the counter with a mexican newspaper from around 1930 that I aged. The shelves were also replaced with 'old' ones that sag.

Here's the left side of the shelves. The top one holds a little shrine for Luisa. There's a picture of the holy stairs in Rome that she gave Raúl when he opened the bookshop. There's also a picture of Luisa herself and two candles that Raúl can light for her. The cactus was just a joke and the cigarettes are a bad habit of Raúl. The bottom shelf holds the cash, a dirty magazine from America and some flyers from the circus.

The right side of the shelves hold a bag of sandwiches (not meant for the mice of course), a sign that reads prices for buying mice and seeing them perform tricks. The bottom shelf holds more magazines and the nursery.

Here's a better shot of the 'nursery' which is actually just an old rusty birdcage that holds two very very pregnant female mice. Poor things are about to burst and have nothing to eat.

I'm very pleased with the way Raúl's face turned out. It's just right: the age spots, the big flat nose, the eyes that are a little different from eachother, the wide ears that give him a clownish look and especially that big filthy mustache that seems to house several families of fleas! (And still, every time I see him, I love him a little more, don't know why!)

Here's one of the mice, trying to hide from Raúl's fiercegful gaze. I don't think it'll be much help if you're hiding in a glass jar, my rodent friend...

Here's another one, balancing on a trapeze. This one does amazing things on that trapeze, if you're willing to pay, that is.

And this is our hero of the story. He sits on his little stool behind that piano every day, but never plays. I sure hope that one day he will be set free...

At least this little guy has grabbed his chance, packed his suitcase and is ready to leave!