Des Plaines General Store

This was another of those estate sales with a line to wait in, which is something I usually don't do. But the last one was so successful I figured that, maybe, this one would be something out of the ordinary, too.

This was a room full of women's shoes. The story goes that the man who used to live here had always wanted to open a store.

He embarked upon this dream -- which is in no way outrageous or mock-worthy -- by collecting lots of merchandise from here and there.

Some of it -- like the women's shoes -- was new. Some, not-so.

Apparently, he'd stocked the house with it.

And the garage. Those are sleeping bags up there on the top shelf. Dozens of them.

I'm not sure exactly what sort of store it was going to be.

There was a lot of hardware.

Including this bin of assorted hammers.

And handsaws.

There were a lot of antiques, too.

The kind of things I hadn't seen since the last time I watched Brazil.

The only problem was, he never actually opened the store.

But here's the irony: in a way, his dream kind of came true. Only he wasn't there to see it.