korzon

Jake left for work again. The bum that lives outside his building smelled a bit worse today - it hadn?t rained in a while. Jake stood outside his building for a few seconds, and realized that he once again forgot where he parked his car. He tried to remember the moment that he got home from work yesterday, but it was all a blur. Yesterday blended together with the day before. He wasn?t even sure what day it was, and he didn?t really care.

He sat down, on the sidewalk across from his building and started wondering. If I can?t remember what I did yesterday, had I actually been alive yesterday? What have I to show for living through yesterday? Maybe I parked my car at fourth and Manchester? How can I smell this smelly bum from across the street? What if it never rains again, will I have to move to another place or maybe there are people who deal with smelly bums? If it never rains again, will smelly bums really be what I?ll be worrying about?

Jake wasn?t sure what to do next. He could search for his car and go to work, or maybe take a cab ? but that didn?t feel right. He could continue sitting on the pavement and think ? but that didn?t seem to be getting him anywhere. On the other hand ? where was he trying to get to? And why was it so important to get there? Why not be content sitting on the sidewalk watching other people trying to get to places? Jake continued to reflect on these things when he suddenly noticed an annoying sound emanating from his pants. It was his cell phone. It was letting him know that someone wishes to speak with him. He reached into his pocket to see who it was and to decide if he wishes to answer. He held his cell phone, and as he was about to pull it out of his pocket he changed his mind and put it back.

He needn?t see who it is to decide if he wishes to answer or not, because he realized there isn?t a single person in the world that could possibly be calling him to tell him something that will be of interest to him at the moment. Jake wasn?t interested in anything. He stopped carring. He found little reason to get off the pavement. Even the smell of the bum across the street stopped bothering him. Who is this bum anyway? Was he once a devoted employee like Jake was, who one day sat on the pavement and found little reason to get up? Would Jake become like that bum if he just continues sitting on the pavement? Would he smell as bad?

The day was almost half over. Jake had a few more calls he didn?t answer and he was starting to get hungry. He almost got up to get something to eat, but he quickly decided that the feeling of hunger didn?t really bother him, and if that bum across the street can make do without eating ? so can he. Jake began to reflect on his life. He tried to remember things he wanted to do but didn?t ? because they seemed too hard, too challenging, or because it didn?t feel like the right time to do them. He remembered a few things, but none of them seemed the least bit enjoyable at the moment. He wanted to raise a dog once, but it seemed kind of hard to do in Manhattan for a single working man, so he never got one. And now, for some reason it didn?t seem all that exciting to him to raise a being of lesser intelligence.

The sun has set, and Jake was still hungry and he was now getting cold as well. The pavement didn?t feel as comfortable as it did in the morning, he didn?t have the comfort of old and smelly pillows that he bum across the street had. That bum probably didn?t mind being hungry and cold as much either ? he was used to it. He envied him. He envied the smelly bum. Slowly, Jake?s mind began to fall silent. His thoughts faded slowly, first into meaningless noise, and finally into complete silence. His mental freeze came to a stop when he noticed an ambulance stopping right in front of him, blocking his view of the smelly bum onto which he was staring. His sirens were not on, must be just a couple of paramedics grabbing a bite.

Two paramedics came out, and were out of view for a while. They didn?t seem to be getting anything to eat. He heard a zipper close, and then the two of them carried a body bag and loaded it into the ambulance and drove away. As his view cleared, Jake noticed that the bum was no longer there. He died, apparently. Or he was dead the entire day, he didn?t move much ? Jake realized. And his awful smell might have been that of decay. Jake?s heart skipped a beat and he began to shake. But why? He was no stranger to death. And at a day in which Jake cared about nothing, why would he care about a smelly bum of all things? That was one question he couldn?t answer ? he didn?t know why, but he cared.

Jake went home, ordered some Pizza and took a hot bath. Even though he didn?t do anything but sit all day he was exhausted ? he fell right asleep as soon as he climbed into bed. He woke up the next day, found his car and went to work. He remembered what he did yesterday, and that day he got himself a dog.

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