The Man

Day 1

I woke up and got dressed for work, button-down shirt, khaki pants, and a tie. As I was putting on my khaki pants, I stubbed my toe on my dresser. Ow.

As I stepped out of my apartment building, still cursing from the pain of my toe, I saw the homeless man who sits at the same spot every day, begging for money. I threw a tin gum wrapper that I shaped like a coin into the cup he had all his money in. Walked a few blocks and it was the usual crowd-people pushing and shoving to get to where they are going.

After shoving a few men out of the way, (still making sure I don’t push any woman) I finally got to the donut shop, and waited in the unusually large line. As I tapped my foot impatiently, my eyes drifted to the beautiful girl who worked at the cash register. Blonde hair, blue eyes, winged eyelashes, gorgeous red lips, and the same glass ruby gauges she wore every day.

Before I knew it, I was at the front of the line, staring right at her. The same way I do every day. Embarrassing myself, I stuttered for what donut I wanted. After a couple of painful seconds of stuttering out of shyness, she said “The usual?”, or something like that, and I just nodded. We never really exchange sentences. I just make myself look like an idiot.

So I got to work, got yelled at by my boss, went home, and fell asleep watching the news.

Day 2

Woke up, today I was more careful about stubbing my toe. Walked out of my apartment building, today I threw another tin foil gum wrapper, but this time I had smashed a bug with it earlier.

Still making sure I didn’t run into any women or children, I made my way to the donut shop, but the girl wasn’t there. Walking up to the cash register when I got to the front of the line, I asked “Where is…uh….?” Not remembering her name. The person at the cash register said she called in sick today. There went my morning. I bought some donuts, walk out of the shop, and threw it into the street, extinguishing my rage. After a few minutes, some birds and a few squirrels took their chance for easy food.

Got to work. Had to work late today, boss piled it on us. Word around said that his parents died in a car accident. Something about them swerving to the side, moving out of the way of some wildlife—I heard squirrels. They were eating something in the middle of the road, but it wasn’t confirmed what. I couldn’t help but laugh the whole day.

Came home and slept after work. Didn’t have time to grab a dinner—too exhausted.

Day 3

Found a dead mouse in a mousetrap in the hallway this morning. I had a genius plan. I went back to my apartment, got a brown paper bag, picked up the mouse with it, and dropped that dead mouse right in the homeless man’s cup. He was sleeping, but he’ll sure get a surprise when he wakes up!

I didn’t get the chance to grab a donut at the regular place—the road was blocked from some sort of car accident. I had to grab a bagel on a different road on the way to work.

By: Jakob Lewis