You are walking past a row of shops that you have walked past dozens of times before, but this time you see something different. Why haven't you noticed this shop before? You know the two stores on each side of it--how could you have not noticed that there was a shop between them? There isn't a name over the shop, so you conclude that it's vacant.

   To be sure, it's an ugly, inconspicuous place. There is green paint peeling from the wooden doorway. The windows are so smudged that you have to lean against the glass to see inside. All you see displayed are a handful of faded travel posters.

"Sail into the past with Christopher Columbus" reads one.

"Walk across the moon with Neil Armstrong" says another.

"Eat Snorklegrass with the Flufflesmorgs" says a third. (The picture on this one is not something you'd ever dream up in your worst nightmare. You're not even sure which is the flufflesmorg and which is the snorklegrass.)

   "Going in?" asks a voice behind you. You turn an look up at a gnarled old man.

   "Er--no," you say as you weigh the difference between talking to strangers and going into the odd little shop.

   The old man shrugs. "Have it your way," he says. "People don't know what they're missing and often miss what they see."

   What's up with this guy, you wonder. He sure is an odd one.

   "Want to buy something yummy to eat?" he asks and steps back revealing that he is, in fact, a sidewalk vendor. You figured that you will buy one small item and then walk away ... fast.

   'What do you have?" you ask.

The old man grins and you catch a glint of the gold tooth --the only tooth in his mouth. "Boiled broccoli bits here." He opens a lid revealing a few sad little broccoli tops floating in what appears to be dirty dishwater, and after closing it, lifts another lid, "Dried asparagus spears here," and with a flourish, he pulls a cover off of a tray and announces "Smoked snorklegrass.."

That's it... you run. But there is a crowd in front of you, so in desperation, you turn and open the door to the odd little shop.