Four Weeks - The Beginning

The Perfect Life

There was a beautiful house in the beautiful city of Minneapolis in Minnesota. However, if you were to look through the skylight, you would see a very untidy room. Clothes were scattered all across the floor. Paperwork was dumped on tables in a disorganized manner. There was litter and tin foil everywhere. Through all the mess, you could see a hint of a bed on which lay a man. He lay with his torso, which was not clothed, sticking out from under his blanket. With a body like that of a Greek soldier, he had strong biceps and chiseled abs. He had messy grizzled hair, down turned eyes adorning a high, broad forehead, a typical Greek nose and a diamond shaped jaw. He had dark green eyes with a bluish tint. By his bed stood a table. An alarm clock, almost teetering on the edge of the table, rang loudly and Alan, our man, opened his eyes. He took a cursory glance at the time and snapped to an upright position.

'Alan! Breakfast's ready!' a woman's voice screamed.

Alan slapped his palms on his face, ran them up his head and down the back of his head, through his hair and slumped back on to his bed. A few moments later, he overcame his lethargy and walked to the bathroom. After completing his routine bathroom chores, he came out, all dressed up for a big day, and stepped out of his room. The house dining area had a central dining table on which lay a bowl of cereal. Over in the kitchen, separated from the dining area by a wall with an opening to allow for movement, was a counter, on top of which used dishes were kept to be put inside the dishwasher later on. All the cooking essentials were stored away in the cabinets above the kitchen countertop. There was a refrigerator in the right corner of the room. The sink lay within the counter and next to it was the towel rack. Alan stomped down the stairs, plunked his backpack on the table and dropped into his chair. He finished his breakfast quickly, picked up his backpack, slung it on his shoulders, walked out the front door and out of the gate. He was on his way as he yelled,

'Bye mom! Love you! Big day at school!'

Alan witnessed many occurrences on his way to school – people walking their dogs, kids playing on their lawns, the familiar lake and its environs that Alan loved, characterized by families and couples having a good time by any of the zillion lakes that sprawled all across Minneapolis, and complete strangers who would smile at him as they walked by. Alan thought like a number of other Minnesotans likely did – tall buildings are the same everywhere.

He quickly reached the university entrance and as he stepped in, he saw above him a banner that said, 'Welcome to Graduation Day!'

Alan was twenty years of age and had just finished his doctorate in advanced Artificial Intelligence. Strangely enough, his girlfriend, Elaine, who was also the same age, had finished her doctorate as well, in the same subject. They were the youngest couple to have achieved such a feat in the university's history. Alan looked for a while at the sign above, took a deep breath and strode in through the main gates. The Minnesotan culture showed itself there as well, some were native to the place and others influenced by the famed Minnesotan friendliness from having stayed there too long. You could quite clearly see the distinction, but it was nice to see that everyone was trying to be nice. He made his way through the corridor when someone planted his face on its side along the wall and said,

'Congratulations nerd-o!'

Alan collected himself, took a deep huffy breath and swung around to confront the bully. It was his girlfriend, Elaine. Elaine was a thing of artistic beauty. She had fair spotless skin, hazel colored, almond shaped eyes, long, streaking, jet-black hair, a high forehead, full lips and an oval shaped face.

'Ooh kinky!' Alan said after gawking at her splendor, awkwardly, for a tad too long.

'Hehe. I can't believe this is the end of our student life,' Elaine said to Alan.