Week 4 Story: Adam's Bad Day

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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 in such short notice, after his then-girlfriend got him kicked out for breaking every rule that the previous apartment complex had set.

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, the moment he stepped out, 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 tell himself that everything will 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 began to feel 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 2 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 to 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 broke down on the side of the highway, defeated. Finally, the tow truck driver arrived and picked up Adam and his car. After delivering his car to a local mechanic, the driver dropped the now-gloomy Adam to his apartment. Despite his bad day, Adam still tipped the driver healthily out of gratitude.

Walking into the apartment complex's main office, you could see the disparity on Adam's face. 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 suppose to be his new apartment engulfed the whole building, destroying every apartment. 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 greeted by the apartment complex's manager, apologizing for the situation. Adam remain calm and told him that he was not angry, just a bit sad. The manager responded to this with what he described was fantastic news. Since the insurance money would cover everything for the fire and make it even better, the manager was able to upgrade Adam to a nicer, larger apartment, free of charge. Adam reacted ecstatically! Though he was still feeling glum, this news did make him feel better. Upon his arrival to 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 return it.

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 is 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: In my last post, I suggested a modern, less grim take on the banishment of Adam and Eve from Eden. In the story, you can see many references to the Biblical tale. I wanted to keep the theme of "everything works out in the end" in my story, but without the overly cruel punishments.

Bibliography: Book of Adam and Eve, link

(Adam being evicted from Eden:

Mystics)