The Shop Which Didn't Exist

20250721

Prompt from DailyPrompt.com

There was a shop in the royal city which didn’t exist. Ask anyone.
Mapmakers recorded that plot as empty. Heralds never posted anything through its mail slot. Guards, if asked for directions to it while standing right in front of its door, would earnestly swear to you that they’d never heard of the place.
Children who saw the shop tended to foolishly assume that it did exist, and had to be taught that it didn’t. Visitors to the city sometimes made the same mistake but were easier to correct.
And so the king was blissfully unaware of the shop which didn’t exist.
He wasn’t a bad king. In fact, he was a good one, which is why nobody wanted to break his heart by admitting about the shop. It was better this way.
And it wasn’t like he’d banned cheese for no reason; when his daughter was born the oracles predicted she’d die from the touch of cheese. So he’d outlawed cheese within the capital.
Not a problem for the people in his circle, who could simply gallivant out to the surrounding countryside whenever they wished to eat cheese. But a wrench for everyone else. Of course nobody wanted their sweet princess to drop dead from this tragic fate, but hundreds of years of cuisine and customs leave a plaintive weight when ripped away.
Which is why, tucked into a quiet street in a part of the city which the princess’s attendants made sure she never visited, was the shop which didn’t exist and didn’t sell cheese.
Anyone could walk in without issue, but it was strictly enforced that you had to eat anything you bought within the premises; stout footmen at the door prevented anyone leaving with cheese, for that would be illegal, what with the street existing and being part of the city, and all. There were always a guard or two loitering nearby ready to spring into action if anyone was caught trying to endanger the princess via cheese-smuggling.
Or to usher away anyone who got confused and insisted there was a shop in the clearly empty plot. The guards were well-trained in how to deal with people suffering from shop delusions in this neighbourhood.
And so the king was happy. And the princess was safe. And the people of the city continued to have cheese sandwiches, and cheese on crackers, and cheese soup.
When the princess - then queen - died in her old age of mundane health complications which had nothing to do with cheese, after the period of mourning the ban was lifted and the royal city once again had cheese shops.
But the populace never forgot the shop which didn’t exist, and the secret rebellion they’d all been part of. And to this day you’ll find a guard posted outside what is now clearly marked as the Southend Bow Cheese Shop. And, though they’ll point to the sign and wink as they do it, they’ll still earnestly swear that no such shop exists.
Ask anyone.

Prompt was “Write a story which could have the title ‘Secret Rebellion’”.