The Man and His Self

Connor Hughes woke up at 5:30 am. It was gray outside. He stood up, put on a pair of boxers, and went to the bathroom where he brushed his teeth. He looked in the mirror and saw his reflection, fair skinned with long blond hair and blue eyes. After brushing his teeth, he went to the kitchen and made tea and biscuits. He ate the biscuits and enjoyed them very much. The tea was somewhat mediocre today. After breakfast he went back to the bathroom and brushed his teeth again. He then pulled his boxers down and defecated in the toilet. Once he finished, he wiped a little with toilet paper, then moved over to the bidet, where the water sufficiently cleaned his posterior. He then took a warm shower, cleaning every part of his body. Once he was showered and dried off, he put on a new pair of underwear, which today he decided would be tighty whities, black dress pants, and a white dress shirt. He put on a red tie, as a blue tie would be too libertine and scandalous. Once he was dressed, he grabbed his phone, wallet, keys, and briefcase before heading out the door. He left his house and went to the driveway, where he got into a modest beige sedan. A bumper sticker said "Disney World Annual Passholder" which Connor wore as a badge of honor.

Connor left at 7:45 am. On his way to work he made sure to take private toll roads whenever possible. He arrived punctually at 8:55 am at his job at Wellington-Schmidt Bookseller Company where he worked as a supervisor for receiving book orders. When he walked inside he saw the receptionist a kind but slightly liberal woman named Rachel Birchwood.

"Hello Mr Hughes," she said. "The remaining packing slips are in your office."

"Thank you Rachel," Connor replied.

He walked over to his office which had little decoration besides 1 Funko Pop figure of Mr Toad. He sorted through packing slips and one by one called book publishers, requesting that they send invoices of the book orders to him via the company's Gmail account. He did this until 12:30 pm where he took his lunch break and ordered a turkey caprese wrap with extra tomatoes and a sweet green tea mixed with lemonade from the office cafe. He sat down and quietly ate his lunch when he noticed his boorish and unprofessional coworker Antonio Rodriguez talking loudly. Antonio was telling other coworkers about his 15 year old daughter Maria's quincenera which from Connor's understanding was a raucous and excessive party that went on for longer than 8:30 pm. Connor was annoyed that Antonio had a higher position than him and adamantly believed he was only promoted to meet a diversity quota. Once lunch was finished he sheepishly walked away ignoring Antonio's booming shrieks of "Good afternoon Connor how was your weekend?" and returned to his office.

Connor continued to request invoices until 3:30 pm when the office closed for the day because federal agents arrested the manager Frank Giordano for laundering money for the Traficante crime family but that's beside the point. Connor drove home early and decided to visit the gym from 4:00 to 5:00 pm where he got a good wworkout. He went home and prepared a meal of unseasoned chicken green beans and mashed potatoes with no gravy. Once he was finished, he watched "The Office" on Netflix then decided to switch and watch "Frozen" on Disney+ which he routinely paid for each month and eschewed the free trial. After his viewing session he showered again, brushed his teeth, and went to bed at 7:30 pm.

"Well Connor you've done it again," he thought to himself. "You're making the American Dream come true." He went to sleep, eager to start his routine again in the morning.