Adam's Bad Day
Adam's Bad Day
Adam was up early today, packing. Yesterday, he received an eviction notice from his apartment complex due to something his now ex-girlfriend did. Adam was sad. The apartment was perfect! It was fully furnished with modern furniture and had everything a man could want, so much so that he nicknamed it "Eden." But now it was no longer his apartment. Adam had neatly packed all of his belongings into his small hatchback that was bound for his new domain, a small studio apartment that probably didn't have a working AC unit. This sorry excuse for an apartment was all he could find on such short notice, after his then-girlfriend got him kicked out for breaking the one rule that the previous apartment complex had set: never eat from the landlord's apple tree.
"I bought her a whole bushel of apples, but she still had to go and steal our landlord's!" Adam thought to himself. He was saddened by the fact that his landlord had the ability to evict him for such a childish reason.
After returning his key to the front office, Adam walked out into the blistering heat hoping to stay optimistic. Though he had lost his dream apartment, it was not the end of the world. He had faith that everything will be good again. However, stepping out into the blinding sun, his face was greeted by a rather large deposit of bird dropping. Disgusted since he was a germaphobe, Adam told himself to be calm as he tried to clean his face with as many sanitizing wipes he could get out of his car's glove compartment. Adam felt that this incident was some type of ominous warning for the coming day, but he decided to press on with some optimism.
Driving down the freeway, Adam kept telling himself that everything would work out in the end. It was at that moment when black smoke began spewing out of his engine bay and his car made sounds similar to that of washing machine filled with bricks! He then started feeling that his car could no longer accelerate, so he pulled it over along the road to dodge the rest of the cars behind him. For the next hour, Adam tried all that he could to turn his engine over, but to no avail. Adam was sure that all of the groceries that he had packed for his new apartment was spoiled by now in the summer heat. Adam decided to give up and walk to the nearest gas station to call for a tow, since he suddenly realized that he forgot to charge his cellphone the night before. Again, Adam tried to remain optimistic.
After a half hour walk, Adam arrived at the closest gas station and called for his car to be towed. The operator, however, did not have good news to share with Adam, saying that the nearest driver would not be available until two hours later. Adam accepted this half-heartedly and decided to have a pseudo lunch at the gas station to wait. After about an hour, Adam began his trek back to his car, but upon his arrival at his car, Adam discovered two citations placed on his windshield. Apparently the local police department did not appreciate that his car was left abandoned here for so long. At that point, Adam had lost all his optimism and kicked his car out of frustration, defeated.
Finally, the tow truck driver arrived and picked up Adam and his car.
"Sorry for taking so long, friend!" said the care-free driver.
"No problem!" responded Adam, even though the wait was what caused him to receive two different tickets.
After delivering his car to a local mechanic, the driver dropped the now-gloomy Adam off at his apartment.
"Keep your head up, boy. Things will get better!" suggested the driver.
Despite his bad day, Adam still tipped the driver healthily out of gratitude and thanked him for the ride.
Walking into the apartment complex's main office, you could see the exhaustion on Adam's face, a result of a hellish day. Even so, he remained courteous to the front secretary. Adam told her who he was and that he was moving in. Upon learning who he was, the secretary's face grew pale. Apparently, the night before, a fire next door to what was supposed to be his new apartment had spread to his apartment as well and damaged it to the point that it is no longer habitable. Again, Adam was sad, but not surprised considering how the rest of his day had been. The secretary asked Adam to wait as they tried to find another apartment for him. After about two hours of just wallowing in his self-pity, Adam was met by the apartment complex's manager.
"We're terribly sorry for the inconvenience, Adam, " said the manager. At this point, Adam wanted to scream, to kick and to throw everything around him. Despite this, Adam restrained himself.
"I understand, " said Adam with a half-smile. Both the manager and he knew that Adam's reaction was merely a mask to cover his combination of sadness and exhaustion.The manager responded to this with what he described as fantastic news.
"Fortunately, Adam, we have insurance! However, that doesn't help you. So I took the liberty to upgrade you to one of our luxury apartments."
Adam was taken aback. This was the first good news he received all day. Though he was still feeling glum, this news did make him feel better. Upon his arrival at his new apartment that was even better than the one he was evicted from, Adam received more good news when the mechanic called him and told him he was able to fix his car and was on his way to the apartment to drop it off.
In the end, despite having probably one of the worst days of his life, everything worked out in the end. Adam was away from his crazy girlfriend, his car was in its best shape in a long time, and he now had an apartment that he was more proud of than his previous one. Adam went to bed that night thinking how all that suffering that day was nothing compared to how the day ended.
Author's Note: I wanted a modern, less grim take on the banishment of Adam and Eve from Eden. For those of you who don't know about this story, after Eve's violation of God's rule of never eating from his tree in the Garden of the Eden, the pair were no longer under God's good graces. After this act of disobedience, Adam and Eve were kicked out of Eden and were no longer safe from the outside world. Adam and Even experienced hardships such as dehydration, encounters with monsters, and even being trapped in a dark cave. In the story, you can see many references to the Biblical tale. Adam is the protagonist while Eve, who realistically is the root of their banishment, is depicted as the ex-girlfriend who gets them both kicked out of their "heavenly" apartment. I even thought it would be funny to nickname his previous apartment, which he loved, Eden. I made the story take place on an especially hot day to reference Adam and Eve's time without water during their banishment. I wanted to keep the theme of "everything works out in the end" in my story, but without the overly cruel punishments. Another thing to point out is, where the original Christian legend hints that God himself is the one who causes all of Adam's and Eve's anguish, luck (or misfortune) is what causes Adam's bad day. I thought it would be cool to show Adam's antagonist in the story not as a person or figure, but as an uncontrollable force. Overall, I really enjoyed writing this story since it flowed so effortlessly while I was sitting in Devon Energy Hall one morning.
Bibliography: Book of Adam and Eve, link
"I bought her a whole bushel of apples, but she still had to go and steal our landlord's!" Adam thought to himself. He was saddened by the fact that his landlord had the ability to evict him for such a childish reason.
After returning his key to the front office, Adam walked out into the blistering heat hoping to stay optimistic. Though he had lost his dream apartment, it was not the end of the world. He had faith that everything will be good again. However, stepping out into the blinding sun, his face was greeted by a rather large deposit of bird dropping. Disgusted since he was a germaphobe, Adam told himself to be calm as he tried to clean his face with as many sanitizing wipes he could get out of his car's glove compartment. Adam felt that this incident was some type of ominous warning for the coming day, but he decided to press on with some optimism.
Driving down the freeway, Adam kept telling himself that everything would work out in the end. It was at that moment when black smoke began spewing out of his engine bay and his car made sounds similar to that of washing machine filled with bricks! He then started feeling that his car could no longer accelerate, so he pulled it over along the road to dodge the rest of the cars behind him. For the next hour, Adam tried all that he could to turn his engine over, but to no avail. Adam was sure that all of the groceries that he had packed for his new apartment was spoiled by now in the summer heat. Adam decided to give up and walk to the nearest gas station to call for a tow, since he suddenly realized that he forgot to charge his cellphone the night before. Again, Adam tried to remain optimistic.
After a half hour walk, Adam arrived at the closest gas station and called for his car to be towed. The operator, however, did not have good news to share with Adam, saying that the nearest driver would not be available until two hours later. Adam accepted this half-heartedly and decided to have a pseudo lunch at the gas station to wait. After about an hour, Adam began his trek back to his car, but upon his arrival at his car, Adam discovered two citations placed on his windshield. Apparently the local police department did not appreciate that his car was left abandoned here for so long. At that point, Adam had lost all his optimism and kicked his car out of frustration, defeated.
Finally, the tow truck driver arrived and picked up Adam and his car.
"Sorry for taking so long, friend!" said the care-free driver.
"No problem!" responded Adam, even though the wait was what caused him to receive two different tickets.
After delivering his car to a local mechanic, the driver dropped the now-gloomy Adam off at his apartment.
"Keep your head up, boy. Things will get better!" suggested the driver.
Despite his bad day, Adam still tipped the driver healthily out of gratitude and thanked him for the ride.
Walking into the apartment complex's main office, you could see the exhaustion on Adam's face, a result of a hellish day. Even so, he remained courteous to the front secretary. Adam told her who he was and that he was moving in. Upon learning who he was, the secretary's face grew pale. Apparently, the night before, a fire next door to what was supposed to be his new apartment had spread to his apartment as well and damaged it to the point that it is no longer habitable. Again, Adam was sad, but not surprised considering how the rest of his day had been. The secretary asked Adam to wait as they tried to find another apartment for him. After about two hours of just wallowing in his self-pity, Adam was met by the apartment complex's manager.
"We're terribly sorry for the inconvenience, Adam, " said the manager. At this point, Adam wanted to scream, to kick and to throw everything around him. Despite this, Adam restrained himself.
"I understand, " said Adam with a half-smile. Both the manager and he knew that Adam's reaction was merely a mask to cover his combination of sadness and exhaustion.The manager responded to this with what he described as fantastic news.
"Fortunately, Adam, we have insurance! However, that doesn't help you. So I took the liberty to upgrade you to one of our luxury apartments."
Adam was taken aback. This was the first good news he received all day. Though he was still feeling glum, this news did make him feel better. Upon his arrival at his new apartment that was even better than the one he was evicted from, Adam received more good news when the mechanic called him and told him he was able to fix his car and was on his way to the apartment to drop it off.
In the end, despite having probably one of the worst days of his life, everything worked out in the end. Adam was away from his crazy girlfriend, his car was in its best shape in a long time, and he now had an apartment that he was more proud of than his previous one. Adam went to bed that night thinking how all that suffering that day was nothing compared to how the day ended.
Author's Note: I wanted a modern, less grim take on the banishment of Adam and Eve from Eden. For those of you who don't know about this story, after Eve's violation of God's rule of never eating from his tree in the Garden of the Eden, the pair were no longer under God's good graces. After this act of disobedience, Adam and Eve were kicked out of Eden and were no longer safe from the outside world. Adam and Even experienced hardships such as dehydration, encounters with monsters, and even being trapped in a dark cave. In the story, you can see many references to the Biblical tale. Adam is the protagonist while Eve, who realistically is the root of their banishment, is depicted as the ex-girlfriend who gets them both kicked out of their "heavenly" apartment. I even thought it would be funny to nickname his previous apartment, which he loved, Eden. I made the story take place on an especially hot day to reference Adam and Eve's time without water during their banishment. I wanted to keep the theme of "everything works out in the end" in my story, but without the overly cruel punishments. Another thing to point out is, where the original Christian legend hints that God himself is the one who causes all of Adam's and Eve's anguish, luck (or misfortune) is what causes Adam's bad day. I thought it would be cool to show Adam's antagonist in the story not as a person or figure, but as an uncontrollable force. Overall, I really enjoyed writing this story since it flowed so effortlessly while I was sitting in Devon Energy Hall one morning.
Bibliography: Book of Adam and Eve, link
(Adam being evicted from Eden: