Burgers and Breakthroughs

“When life gives you lemons…I will promptly proceed to get lemon juice directly in my eye,” Adam muttered under his breath as he wiped a glob of ketchup off his right thigh. It left a curved stain.

He leaned over to inspect the damage, not paying attention to the burger in his hand. Drip, drop. Two dots of ketchup appeared on his left thigh.

“Both eyes,” he quietly sighed. His brain shot back, “Both thighs”. He giggled a bit. A person walking by his bench raised an eyebrow at him. Embarrassed, he wrapped his burger up and put it back in the bag before he had any more accidents. Or thought of any more “jokes”.

He went to work on the stains, trying to get them out as best he could. The napkins didn’t really work all that well and left some fuzz behind which he brushed off. He looked down at his pants.

Two side-by-side splotches on the left. A curve on the right. Adam put his knees together. A smiley face looked up, mocking him. “You could at least have the courtesy to match my mood,” he thought as he leaned back, slightly exasperated.

Adam looked up at the bright blue sky through the canopy of leaves, feeling the breeze and listening to the trees. He slid over to sit under a ray of sunlight and closed his eyes. “At least the weather’s nice,” he grumbled to himself, but couldn’t help relaxing under the warmth of the sun.

After a while he sat forward, reached for his burger, and unwrapped it again. “A crappy day deserves tasty food,” he thought as he savored a bite. He chewed, swallowed, took a deep breath, and dug back in.

He’d had a lot of burgers from a lot of places, but nothing hit the spot quite like this one. This shop used grass fed-grass finished beef from local farms; their walls were covered top to bottom with testimonials from their partners and pictures of cows.

They even ground their beef in-house. Throw in their secret spice blend and now you had something special. Turn up the grill, cook the hearty patty to order (Adam was a medium well kind of guy), top it with pepper jack, caramelized onions, and charred jalapeños, and put it on a toasted sesame seed potato bun. Adam knew he was hooked as soon as he tried it.

As he ate, he watched the people in the park passing by and took in their body language and facial expressions. He spied one guy, hunched over, walking sort of quickly, with a look of deep frustration. Now that’s something Adam could relate to.

“I hope he’s at least having a better day than mine,” Adam thought as he looked at the man hurrying along.

Yet again, Adam’s boss pinned the blame on him for something that wasn’t his fault. He had filled out the shipment form properly. He even had the email to prove that he sent it to his coworker, as per his boss’s instructions. Matt was the one who was supposed to do the final checks and send out the form.

He had shown his boss the evidence, the email, the timestamp, everything. It didn’t make any difference. His boss railed him in front of everyone. “You better start taking this seriously, the evaluations are coming soon!” he yelled as he stuck his finger in Adam’s face.

Adam had resisted biting his boss’s finger. Or pointing out that his boss couldn’t see too well when it came to his nephew.

He rubbed his left temple with his free hand, “Freakin' nepo babies, man.” Matt was a nice enough guy, but definitely not the type to own up to his mistakes, especially when he had a get-out-of-jail-free card handy. More like a get-out-of-jail-free attack dog, but same difference.

The guy Adam was watching let out a huge sigh as he rushed past him. Out of empathy, almost on reflex, Adam let out a sigh too. And choked on his burger.

He grabbed his raspberry lemonade and took full sips to force the piece of burger down. After a minute of coughing and sputtering and catching his breath, he took a few more sips of his drink, just for the taste.

Like with everything else, the shop made its own, with fresh raspberries, lemons, and just the right amount of sugar. Adam didn’t come across raspberry lemonade that often, but it was hands down his favorite flavor. Especially when it had the right balance, the yin and yang of tartness and sweetness. It’s an art and the people at this place were artists.

He set his drink down and coughed, still not fully recovered from choking. “The universe is really slapping me around today,” Adam muttered and resisted the urge to sigh again, still a bit traumatized from before. There was no need to tempt fate.

He heard some laughter to his right and turned to look. A little girl was playing with her dog, jumping side to side, getting the dog excited. She would run ahead and make the dog chase her, around and around in circles, zigzagging through trees. Once the dog caught up, she’d give the dog a whole bunch of pets and jump around some more, amping the dog up for another round.

Adam chuckled silently as he watched the unbridled joy between the two and felt the weight of his day lift just a little. He took a deep breath and brought the smell of the summer breeze and freshly mown grass into his lungs and held it there for a few beats. 1…2…3…and exhale. He smiled to himself and went back to his burger.

He kept enjoying his food. The strong heat of the jalapeños, the delicate sweetness of the caramelized onions, the tanginess of the ketchup, the mouthwatering beef. All of the elements kept coming together, bite after bite, into a flavorful harmony. Soon, he was staring at an empty wrapper. He was a bit disappointed to see it go, but deeply satisfied.

“Now this is what life’s about,” Adam said to himself quietly. He leaned back slightly and sunk a little deeper into the bench, feeling just the right amount of full.

Adam zoned out for a while as people kept walking by. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed an old man slowly moving with a walker. Every step seemed like it took all of the man’s effort. It looked exhausting.

The old man kept steadily making his way forward. He was almost right in front of Adam, when he lost control for a moment and stumbled. Adam’s body reacted and he leapt up to help. But the old man had already caught his walker and steadied himself. He saw Adam standing there and, realizing why, shook his head kindly and motioned him to sit back down.

“Are you all right, sir?” Adam said as he sat.

“Oh, I’m fine.” said the old man, “Old hip isn’t what it used to be, but I’m getting there.”

“What happened, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“Not at all, son. Not at all. I had a fall about a year ago and broke my right hip. Had to get it replaced. I’m finally back to walking on my own, but like you can see it’s slow going.”

For a moment, Adam wasn’t sure how to respond. “I’m sorry that happened to you.”

“Don’t be, it’s all right.” The old man paused. “Well more like it is what it is. I’m not happy about it, I mean who would be? But the only thing I got control over is what I do about it. And I want to walk like I used to. So that means I gotta do it. I gotta try.”

Adam sat with those words for a few moments, turning them over in his mind. He smiled and nodded at the old man in understanding. The old man smiled and nodded right back.

Then the old man gathered himself up and restarted his slow and steady journey. Adam watched him go, until he could no longer see him.

Adam sat and thought for a few more minutes, finishing his drink. “The only thing I got control over is what I do about it.” He let that piece of wisdom settle into his heart, so he could appreciate its weight fully.

“He’s right, he’s absolutely right.”

Right then and there, Adam chose to let his awful day go. “It’s time for me to start looking for another job. But for now, I’ll roll with the punches. That’s my choice.”

With a newfound mental clarity, he finished his drink and gathered up his trash. He glanced down at his pants and saw the smiley face staring at him. He smiled back.

On the way out of the park, Adam passed by a trash can and dropped his cup in. He crumpled the bag and wrapper into a ball, took a few steps back, and took his shot.

“For three…” He missed.

With a lighthearted laugh, he scooped up his trash and dropped it in. Then he kept on walking.