This was totally me. I had all of those accessories.

What initially caught my eye was the relic of my favorite toy growing up–the Little Tikes Dollhouse. These are vintage now. The brilliant thing about this dollhouse from a marketing perspective was that all the accessories were smaller versions of Little Tikes toys. The family car (which only fit one person) was the same red car you could buy to drive around your neighborhood. This particular dollhouse, however, has no accessories, and the front two stone columns have been uprooted by a careless adult. My guess is the little pieces went straight in the trash. On a personal level, it’s scary for me to see something I so beloved cast aside with ambivalence.

But let’s talk about what else in this picture. There are some other toys, a dirty table, and half a planter. The stuff is lined up like someone might want to take it home, but most of this is junk that waste management won’t even take away. And then there’s that black unmarked van. What’s going on here?