Junk Store

I've sussed it out!

It has taken me nearly two years, but I have finally put my finger on it! Every time I go into this one newsagent in the village I get this uncomfortable feeling of déjà vu. I know that I could never have been in the shop before November of 2004 but that unsettling air of familiarity was there every time I walked in.

This morning, as I was passing through the village, I popped in for some thing or other that I needed, expecting the déjà vu to hit and instead my mind presented me with the source of the déjà vu instead. It is uncanny, but the shop has the air of Mr. Wally Block's store on the main street in Parkers Prairie, Minnesota.

Granted, Block's Mercantile was much larger than the shop in the village. (Heck, it may have been larger than all the shops in the village combined!) I have to properly use the past tense because Block's has long-since gone the way of the dodo. How nice to know that it has popped-up again somewhere (in spirit at least) and still exists.

Now that I had a reference for the déjà vu, I could see it clearly! There was is a carton of dusty boxes of Christmas Cards on the top shelf. I have no idea how long they have been there… it is anyone's guess but they are at least two years old, they've been there since I first entered the store. There are cheap plastic toys hanging on the rack at the back of the store. The kind of thing that every child wants (and has to have) for at least the first ten minutes they own them (or until they break – which, given their cheap manufacture may or may come first). There are boxes of cookies which (I have been told) they no longer make, the factory having burned to the ground about five years ago.

All that is missing are the sacks of Halloween candy from last year and the illegal fireworks. (Though fireworks are legal here and the candy would be back in season now, so I guess this makes sense.) Ah! The memories! I spent some good times (and a goodly portion of my allowance) Block's - exploring and acquiring cheap toys and out-of-date candy. Damn! Now I have a hankering for stale peanut butter toffee.

Wherever you are today, I hope that you'll have a great day!

Don Bergquist – 25 September 2007 – Thames Ditton, Surrey, UK