Everyone should have a dream.

Donald Crabtree's dream is, to say the least, unconventional. Some might say it's outrageous, or even bizarre. But it's his dream and he's entitled to pursue it.

Crabtree believed he'd achieved his dream when he opened the Grand View Topless Coffee Shop in Vassalboro. That's not topless as in no roof on the building, by the way; it's topless as in no shirts on the servers.

Unfortunately, the dream went up in smoke on June 3 when an arsonist torched the coffee shop -- and in the process destroyed Crabtree's "fallback" business, a wholesale lobster operation.

Most people would figure it wasn't meant to be and move on. But not Crabtree. He is determined to rebuild his topless coffee shop and has started raising money toward the estimated $50,000 cost of doing so.

Crabtree's dream, as it happened, did not include fire insurance.

"I got a huge mountain to climb," Crabtree says, "and each day that goes by, it's pretty discouraging. We've lost 90 percent of our business, but we're still trying to get everything worked out. ... A lot of people would like to see us come back."

The Vassalboro Planning Board has done its part, giving Crabtree approval to construct a new 3,000-square-foot building. The new shop would be big enough to serve 80 customers, compared with 25 at the original. No word on how many topless server jobs would be created.

He doesn't know how long it will take him to raise the money he needs or construct the new building, but Crabtree says he'd like to open for business "before snow falls."

To impatient would-be customers, we say: Keep your shirts on.