"Right on the edge of the lake there was one great big building. That was the store, Pa told her. It was not made of logs. It was made of wide, gray boards running up and down. The sand spread all around it... There was a wide platform in front of the store, and at one end of it steps went up to it out of the sand. Laura's heart was beating so fast that she could hardly climb the steps She was trembling all over.
The store was full of things to look at. All along one side of it were shelves full of colored prints and calico. There were beautiful pinks and blues and reds and browns and purples. On the floor along the sides of the plank counters there were kegs of nails and kegs of round, gray shot, and there were big wooden pails full of candy. Here were sacks of salt, and sacks of store sugar. In the middle of the store was a plow made of shiny wood, with a glittering bright plowshare, and there were steel ax heads, and hammer heads and saws, and all kinds of knives - hunting knives, and skinning knives and butcher knives and jack knives. There were big boots and little boots, big shoes and little shoes.
The store was full of things to look at. All along one side of it were shelves full of colored prints and calico. There were beautiful pinks and blues and reds and browns and purples. On the floor along the sides of the plank counters there were kegs of nails and kegs of round, gray shot, and there were big wooden pails full of candy. Here were sacks of salt, and sacks of store sugar. In the middle of the store was a plow made of shiny wood, with a glittering bright plowshare, and there were steel ax heads, and hammer heads and saws, and all kinds of knives - hunting knives, and skinning knives and butcher knives and jack knives. There were big boots and little boots, big shoes and little shoes.
Laura could have looked for weeks and not seen all the things that were in that store. She had not known there were so many things in the world."
Laura Ingalls Wilder, Little House in the Big Woods
Even though this is from a children's book, this is cinematic writing at it's best, no? I remember feeling the exact same way when I first went into David Jones. Gripping my mum's hand real tight I remember staring up at the racks - and racks, and racks - of clothes and hoping that they didn't swallow me whole. There are so many things in the world.
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