Designer Shoes in the Desert

It’s fair to say that western Texas consists of endless miles of stark nothing. The only break to the monotony of driving the back highways are the rare, gentle curves you can see coming for miles ahead. Alien succulents pockmark the dusty soil, halted only by the nominal fences of the vast ranches. If you’re lucky, you might see some of the cattle that live on those ranches. If you’re very lucky, you might see a roadrunner before it sprints off into the distance.
It’s easy to become complacent, driving those roads. You might not see another car until halfway through your day. You certainly won’t see anyone as you roll past the dead towns that line the road, not even one street deep anymore, if they were ever more than way stations.
So I think I’d be forgiven if I’d missed The Store an hour or so out of Marfa. Actually, I did miss it. It was my traveling companion who spotted it, while I stared sleepily into the desert. She turned us around to investigate a formerly white building standing all by its lonesome. Through the huge glass windows, we could see purses and pairs of ladies shoes, carefully lined up on three tiers of shelves as though in a Manhattan storefront. The door was padlocked against entry, although there was no shortage of heavy rocks to break the glass, if we so chose. But we didn’t. We circled around the building, staring in wonder. Two security cameras spied upon our investigations. The building in itself was a mystery - there was nothing else around, no signs of an abandoned town, gas pump, or well. It was small, a single story tall and only 15 feet deep and 30 feet long. It was like a single room planted in the desert.
I wonder, was this an art project by one of the folks in Marfa? A joke by a bored rancher? Are the security cameras even on? Is there someone, somewhere, watching the feed from them to see the few souls who stop a moment? I waved at the cameras, just in case. Maybe I connected with someone, and maybe there was no one on the other side.
I had already gone 2,000 miles on my journey, and I had another 2,000 to go. I had been traveling for five days, and yes, I had five ahead of me, too. In the middle of nowhere, I had found my own middle, and it was marked by designer accessories in the desert.