an unbelievable story

"I've done it," the old lady said, coming out of her front door. I had just gone out to check the mail. She had deep scratches across her cheek, and she was tired in her eyes. Her bones creaked as she pointed one long finger straight at me, turned her hand over, and beckoned me inside. Her apartment was a cave, ficus and wandering jews and night blooming jasmine clawing at the door, darker and darker the farther in you looked. We had often wondered how many rooms, and in what order they were arranged. And certainly there were shelves and shelves of strange objects- "Come and see what I have done," she said. She brushed at the cuts on her face. She smiled a strange, sweet smile. There was a light deep within her cave, and I stepped towards it. A sweet smell invited me to take a second step. It was ginger and cinnamon, smokey and fresh, very old and very new. The walls were indeed steeped in shelves. Green eyes caught the light. A very small wooden man on an upper shelf with emeralds behind his wire glasses winked at me, and rapped me on the head with his can. "Go on in," he said. "You won't believe what you are about to see!" He sat upon a stack of books stacked sideways, and appeared to always be on the edge, teetering above the herringbone floor. "Danton," she said and flicked at him with a short white stick. "He never shuts up."
"Look over there," he said, pointing at a darkened corner of the entry. "Look, look! Watch carefully, now-" He paused, took a deep breath, and rapped his cane on the cover of his book bench. Very little happened. "He's still learning," she said. "He's so old, I hope he gets it before-"
"Wait, wait!" he yelped. "Something is happening!" And indeed it was. The dark corner was no longer so dark, had gone from pitch black to a muddled grey, and a shape began to grow. It was a cube, but elongated. A tank. A fish tank. A red stone within began to glow. "I've done it! I've done it!" Danton stood on his books, rocked back and forth, and leaped into the air. "Danton!" she cried as he flipped head over heels, "You've done nothing but illuminate! You've done nothing!" He crashed onto his back, and the books went flying. "Look what you've done!" Danton rolled upright, and stared at the old lady. It was a fierce, intense stare. Perhaps they were lovers once. "Look. What. I. Have. Done." he said. She stared back, and readied her white stick. As she lowered it to his nose, the red stone burst fiercely bright, and filled the room with a warm light. "Holy shit," I said. But it was too late. The old lady had already turned Danton back into wood, clothes and all. The stone continued to glow. The old lady picked Danton up, re-stacked his book, and set him upon them. "We'll have no trouble from him for awhile," she said. Within in the tank, something had begun to stir.