The History of the Chais
The man's named was Arthur and as a young man he was extremely happy. His happiness was due to two things he loved. The first was toys --- or if you want to get really specific --- stuffed animals. He had loved stuffed animals ever since he was a boy. He had studied medicine in college and was going to become a doctor but when he graduated, he realized he didn't really want to open up people's chests or replace their hips, what he really wanted to do was collect stuffed animals. And so he decided to take some money that his father had left him and open a toy store. Naturally, he called his toy store, Arthur's Toys and right away, people loved it.
Arthur as a young man
Arthur smiled at Marie Luna. Then he took another chance.
Arthur walked up to the counter to order a cup of black coffee, as he always did, and then went to sit down at a table. Except that the cafe was very crowded and there was nowhere to sit. But he did notice an empty next to the girl and he was thought maybe he could sit with her.
Marie Luna in 1922
Chai GG in 1922
His three favorites were a dog, a cat and a buffalo. The dog was very cute. She was black and white with a cute pink tongue and she wore glasses. That was very strange since he had never seen a dog with glasses before. She didn't have a name but he marked her "A" since she was the first dog he had gotten for the store. There was an old buffalo that looked very strong and fierce. He did not have a name either but Arthur called him "One" since he was the first buffalo he had gotten for the store. There was also a cat who was pink. She had long whiskers and a stiff tail and a funny circle over one of her eyes. He thought she was a good girl cat so he called her "GG" for "Good Girl."
They talked about this and that and then there was a pause in the conversation. Arthur looked deep into Marie's eyes and she looked deeply back into his. Suddenly he had the urge to kiss her. He leaned over the table but before his lips found hers, he tipped over the Chai Tea all over the table. "Oh...my Chai" she screamed, "It's everywhere!" Arthur jumped up but before he could do anything, the Chai Tea soaked all three stuffed animals. They were covered in Chai. "Oh Arthur," Marie Luna, "your stuffed animals, they are so wet." "Yes," muttered Arthur sadly. But then he looked up at GG and he was sure ---well, almost sure --- that he saw GG's tail move...just a little.
Arthur and Marie Luna continued to live out their days happily. On the anniversary of their first ice skating trip, they were married with all of their friends in attendance. At the ceremony, they brought One, A and GG and Arthur’s best man (his brother Frank) held the stuffed animals.
They worked at the toy store selling stuffed animals and other toys to their customers --- except for the chosen three stuffed animals, of course. They went ice skating in the winter and went swimming in the summer. They tended to their garden and ate at old-time delis.
Arthur and Marie Luna liked to bring the stuffed animals everywhere they went. On the ice, Marie would hold A (the biggest of the three) and Arthur would hold GG and One. When they went swimming at the beach, they would arrange the three stuffed animals on their towel and sometimes even wave to them from the water. The stuffed animals were very special to both of the newlyweds.
Now ever since the day that Arthur had spilled the Chai Tea onto the stuffed animals, they always smelled a little bit like Chai Tea, especially in the hot, muggy months. Jokingly, Marie Luna began to refer to them as “Chai GG” and “Chai A” and “Chai One,” because of their funny Chai smell. When A’s glasses broke and they made her new ones, they actually wrote “Chai A” on the frames of the glasses.
In the months after the tea-spilling incident, Arthur got into a funny habit. Each night, Marie Luna would fall asleep first. Soon after he kissed her goodnight, (“Goodnight, my Chai Luna,” he would joke), he would soon hear her light snoring. But Arthur would lay awake with the habit of thinking about Chai GG’s tail. He was sure he had seen it move on the day when he spilled that Chai Tea.
He started to think perhaps it was magical Chai Tea. He was not the type of man to believe in ghosts or the supernatural, but you know, he thought, that Chai Tea is really good. Perhaps it could be magical?
Then other strange things started to happen. One day, Arthur saw a cockroach in the store. Terrified, he raced into the next room, which happened to be the showroom where he kept all the stuffed animals. His heart, having gotten one shock from the cockroach, soon got another shock. He looked up on the shelf to see Chai GG, Chai One and Chai A sitting around a table with a tea set on the table. Even stranger, he thought he saw the teacup still moving slightly when he raced into the room --- almost like one of the stuffed animals had quickly set it down on the table, when Arthur had unexpectedly raced into the room.
Careful to avoid looking around the room where he had seen the dreaded cockroach, Arthur went downstairs to find Marie Luna.
“Chai Luna,” he said, “did you put the Chai stuffed animals around a tea set Darling?”
“A tea set?” she asked. “Goodness, no. I have been too busy this morning with all the customers.”
“Well, they are sitting around a tea set,” replied Arthur.
“Are you sure?” said Marie Luna, laughing. “I think you are becoming loco, Arthur. Next thing you are going to be telling me that there are cockroaches in the upstairs showroom.”
“Uh…well…” said Arthur.
Now Arthur’s habit at night was more complex. He spent long nights thinking about Gigi’s tail and he thought about the tea set incident. Then a few months later, a third event was added to his late-night thinking habit. It was October of 1925 now and the radio had recently been invented. Everyone was getting radios for their houses and businesses, it was the latest craze!
Arthur and Marie Luna put their brand new radio in their living room and were excited to listen to shows like Jack Benny’s Comedy Hour and the Lone Ranger. One night, Arthur couldn’t sleep as he was thinking about you-know-what. Feeling thirsty, at about 3:30 AM, he decided to go into the kitchen for a glass of milk. Passing through the living room, he heard the radio on at a very low volume. That’s weird, I must have left the wireless on. he thought to himself. (People called their radios “wirelesses” in the 1920s). When he turned on the light, he was shocked to see the three stuffed animals facing the radio, almost as if they had been listening to it. The program on the radio was called “The English Tea Hour.”
Arthur did not mention this incident to Marie Luna. After all, he loved her very much and he did not want her to think he was crazy.
After ice skating the next day, the couple wandered through a small fair that had been set up in Central Park. The fair had rides and cotton candy and tables where merchants sold small trinkets and perfumes and hats. Marie Luna noticed one table where there were some stuffed animals being sold by a very old lady. She looked like she might be over 100 years old and she had a very long nose, a nose ring and strange but very kind pink eyes. “Is there something you would like to purchase, Marie Luna?” said the lady. Marie Luna did not even notice that the old lady had called her by her name, which the lady had no reason to know. She had been distracted by the old lady’s pink eyes and the fact that she smelled a little like Chai Tea.
Marie looked at a very cute stuffed dog with a handsome face. “Oh, you like Chai B, do you?” said the lady.
“What did you say?” said Arthur shocked.
Marie Luna continued to just look into the old lady’s eyes in a dazed state. The old lady turned to Arthur and winked at him.
“I said, ‘Oh you like my tea, do you?’” and she held up a cup of tea. Arthur looked puzzled.
Marie Luna came out of her daze and enthusiastically told the lady, “I will take this dog here.” The lady nodded seriously and handed them the dog and a receipt. Arthur noticed the receipt said Ch #4: CB.
On the walk home Marie Luna was very quiet. Then she looked up into Arthur’s eyes and said: “I will call him Chai B. He is the husband of Chai A, you know.”
