Never look a gift horse in the mouth. Unless said horse mouth is foaming orange goo.
Phil didn’t really know the woman who had brought him the carrot soup, but he was not one to turn down a free meal. Besides, she had knocked on every door up and down the hallway and offered each person a portion of the steaming concoction. So unless she was trying to poison the entire building, he was sure it was edible.
He cooked himself up a grilled cheese to dunk. Tomato soup would have been better, but this was close enough. He thought. Until he took a bite.
He was suddenly so overwhelmed by the rancid flavor of hopelessness that he accidentally dropped the bowl. It hit the powder-coated steel frame of his Luis Zero Gravity Orbital Lounger and shattered, resulting in a treacherous pool of glass shards and orange regret all over the patio.
Thank goodness the sling of the lounger was made of a quick-drying, weather-proof mesh material. He was able to just dump a soapy bucket of water over the entire area and squeegee it all off the balcony. He thought he heard someone below yelling profanities shortly after, but there was a lot of that in the city, so he didn’t worry too much.
Once the clean up was complete, Phil was relaxing comfortably again, thanks to the lounger’s unique back support and zero-gravity design. He made a silent vow to never again take carrot soup from a semi-stranger. It was oddly specific, he admitted. But what if it had been pizza, or better yet, one of those frozen ice cream cakes with the Oreo cookie crumbles on top? He wasn’t going to shun a perfectly delicious, albeit random, ice cream cake offering. That would just be ridiculous. The vow as it stood was the way to go.
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