Lifetime

Part 1

It was another ordinary day at college for me. I woke up in my single bedroom apartment, took a shower, put my clothes on, and got ready for classes. Before I left I got on my computer and checked my email. The usual set of new emails were on screen, a daily newsletter from the school, an invitation to join greek life that a promptly ignored, and an email from my psychology professor reminding me for the 5th time this week of the paper that is due in two months. Why he feels the need to constantly remind of us about a 200 word paper that's not due anytime soon is beyond me. There was however one email that stuck out among the usual dreg. It was an email informing me of an essay contest. Every participating student has to write an essay about their favorite kind of food and why. The word requirement was only 200 words. The prize was kept a surprise according to the email. I contemplated this and thought about whether I should do it or not. I decided to do so mainly because I only had one class that day and the paper was only 200 words.

After returning home from my class, I got on the computer and wrote an essay for the contest. I personally didn't care about the contest. How could I have cared? I didn't even know what I was entering for. My essay was about my favorite food, cookies. I enjoyed cookies of every kind and every flavor. In the essay I went into details into some of my favorite cookies; sugar, snickerdoodle, biscochito, etc. Surprisingly, I had a lot to say and what was supposed to be a 200 word essay became a 2000 word scholarly article. Sadly, that was the most time or effort I had put into any kind of essay during my time in college. After finishing the essay I submitted it and went to bed.

The next morning I checked my email again and received a response from the people who organized the contest. They loved my essay very much and declared me the winner of the contest. I was informed to meet them in the science building ASAP to receive my prize. This worked out for me as my first class for the day was in the science building. I went there and some people dressed in lab coats came up to me and introduced themselves as representatives of the F.O.L. organization. They did not tell me what F.O.L. meant but I didn't really care. I was just curious as to what this special prize was. "You are a very lucky young man."-one of the scientists said. "Why is that?"-I asked in the response." Another of the scientists answered- "As the winner of the contest, you have been chosen to participate in our F.O.L. at home program. You will no longer need to worry about school, food, paying your bills, or anything like that. We will take care of all of it." "Is this a joke? Did someone put you up to this so I miss class or something?"- I asked hesitantly. "Hardly. We are deadly serious. We will take care of your every need. We can even move you into a new home if you want. All we need you to do is sign here and tell us where you want to live or tell us your current address."- Another scientist responded. I felt like this was a dream. All my desires fulfilled just like that. All from writing about cookies. I immediately signed the contract and asked them to put me in the biggest house on the coast of Pebble Beach, California.

The next day I was flown out to California and brought to my new home. It was a beautiful oceanfront property with three separate houses and I owned all of them. The main house had three bedroom suites, a formal living and dining room, a bar overlooking the ocean, a private movie theater and an expansive kitchen. There was a beach house that also had three bedrooms, a wine bar, a card room, and a full length indoor bocce ball court. Like the first house, it has a beautiful view of the ocean. The third house had three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a combined living and dining area, and a two-car garage. All the houses were connected together via a paved path on the property.

After being given the keys to the house, I was told about the modifications that the scientists made to the house for my convenience. A special phone was installed in every room to allow me to contact them if I needed anything. There were now mini fridges in every bedroom. I was also informed that the fridges and pantries will be restocked with food if any part of it was empty. Given that there were collectively 3 main fridges and pantries throughout the property, I doubted that it would ever really come up.

I decided to celebrate my new life with a party. I invited all manner of people to the party, my friends, my neighbors, and even some celebrities. But since my college friends were so wild at parties, I actually held two parties in two different houses. I spent the first half of the night having fancy food and wine with my neighbors and the celebrities. Then I spent the second half of the night binge eating and drinking with my friends, making out with college girls, and generally raising hell in my beach house. The food that was provided by F.O.L. was excellent and irresistable. By the end of the evening, I was totally stuffed and tired. Everyone went home with smiles on their faces and happy full bellies. I then went to bed, looking forward to the next day.