Like every routine morning, Tom, absent- mindedly, retrieved his

toothbrush and toothpaste and brushed his teeth. He then used his mint blue

mouthwash which made him flinch due to the stinging of his bottom lip. As a

result of the dreadfully, arctic whether of New York, his chapped lips had received

two cuts. One morning, Tom Jerry awoke from a restless night in his old, rundown

apartment. He grudgingly rolled out of bed and dragged himself into his dingy,

dark blue bathroom which didn’t always have running water. This bathroom

ironically resembled Tom Jerry’s life.



“Great,” he said under his breath sarcastically. “That’s wonderful.”



He grabbed his comb and started brushing his thick, brown hair. As he

was doing this, he sighed and gazed at his reflection in his rusted mirror. He

noticed some lines and dark circles under his eyes due to his sleepless night.

Feeling disgust, he closed his eyes and took a deep breath in. He re- opened his

eyes and said to himself,



“Today is going to be a great day despite my sleepless night.”



This comment was very unlike Tom Jerry. But once it was said, Tom

looked away from the mirror and went right back to his normal routine. He ate his

ordinary breakfast, put on his coat and rubber boots and headed down the

elevator. As Tom Jerry stepped out of his apartment building, he was

immediately greeted with a gust of freezing cold air and snow. His nose was already frozen and felt as if it were going to fall right from his face. He brought his

coat to his face and stepped onto the loud, busy streets of New York City making

his way to his little cubicle at his job on the 18th floor.



On his way he bought a large, hot, decaf coffee, no cream and a little red

straw to go with it (his usual). He took a sip and realized, to his disadvantage,

that the coffee was already cold. Tom Jerry sighed with annoyance, shook his

head and kept walking.



As he crossed onto the next street, Tom noticed a man running after

a dog that seemed to have escaped his leash. Tom watched as the dog ran right

past him and was surprised when the man in the red jacket bumped into him

making his cold coffee now apart of his wardrobe. Tom had coffee all over

himself. He sighed, took a deep breath and said,



“Today will be a great day despite the coffee.”



He then threw away the cup that once held his coffee and continued his

walk to his job.



As he was walking, he looked above him noticing that the frigid whether

had left icicles on all the buildings. This got him thinking about his past and how

he used to treat icicles as popsicles as a child. Then all of a sudden, Tom’s heart

jumped as a large icicle from above shattered at his boots. Not only did this icicle

almost smash onto Tom Jerry’s head but also made him slip on a shard of ice.

On the floor, Tom shook his head and slowly got up taking a few minutes to

regain stability. He shook off the snow and ice that had gotten on the back of his

pants. Tom closed his eyes, took a deep breath and said to himself,



“No matter what, today is going to be a great day.”



He continued his walk.



He arrived at a curb waiting for the “okay” to walk across the street. He

shifted from one foot to the other glancing at his watch every now and then when

suddenly, Tom was hit right smack in the face by a freezing, icy puddle splashed

by a bus. Tom Jerry just stood there with his eyes wide open and his jaw to the

ground. He shut his eyes and his face was in a grimace when he brought his

hands up and angrily wiped the freezing water and ice from his face and clothes.

There was really no use in doing this due to the fact that he was already soaked

to the bone in extremely cold whether. He covered his face with his hand asking

himself why all these bad things were happening to him. When he brought his

hand back down he noticed blood on it. That is when he felt a sharp pain on his

cheek. A piece of ice had swiftly cut Tom’s left cheek when he was splashed by

the puddle.



Tom Jerry was dumbfounded with his eyes wide open and his lips shut

tight. He felt the anger running up through his veins. He clutched his hands

together and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and in a provoked voice

said,



“This day is going to be a great day no matter what!”



He then shook his head as if to shake the anger away and crossed the

street to where his work building was. Tom Jerry arrived at his job shivering from

head to toe, his teeth chattering as if they were about to fall out of his head. He

stepped into the building relived for the heaters and that he had finally arrived. As

he started taking off his soggy coat he thought to himself as to how this day could

not get any worse. He draped his coat over his arm and made his way to the

elevators to finally conclude his journey to the 18th floor. When he went to push

the elevator button, he was stopped by the concierge.



“Sir, the elevators are out of service for today. The stairs are the only way up.”



Mind you, these stairs were not just ordinary stairs. They were senile

and dreadful to anyone who encountered them. Especially to those trying to get to

the 18th floor.



Tom Jerry slowly looked at the concierge, held his breath and clutched

his hands into two fists. The concierges’ eyes widened at the site of Tom’s

contorted look on his face.



Without saying a word, Tom stiffly walked back outside and went into an

alley secluded from any human beings. He then forcefully let out his breath

and at the top of his lungs, screamed,



“TODAY IS THE WORST DAY EVER!!!”



His face was beet red and he started punching the air and kicking

garbage cans all around him. Rats scattered away while Tom was stomping his

feet in a rage.



Suddenly, a violent gust of frigid air whacked a small piece of paper right

into Tom Jerry’s face.



Tom Jerry froze and abruptly snatched the paper from his face. His

immediate reaction was to tear it to shreds until he caught a glimpse of what the

paper was. He stopped in his tracks and took a closer look at this little piece of paper. He examined it as if it were a prehistoric bone.



Tom’s jaw dropped to the floor as he realized what it was. This little piece

of paper was a check. A check of $20,000. He checked to see whom it was

signed for and it read:



“To whom is in need of a great day.”



Tom Jerry stared at the check as if he were trying to read something in

another language. He couldn’t comprehend what was going on. Tom walked out

of the alley to see if anyone was aware of what he had just found. But as he

looked around, he only saw people walking, talking on their cell phones, waiting

to cross the street, and giving their change to the bus driver. No one was even

conscious of Tom Jerry’s presence.



Tom thought that this was, for sure, some sort of sick joke. He looked

around for some sort of answer to this seemingly miracle. He stood around for

twenty minutes waiting for someone to come up to him or say something

that would explain this whole thing but there was nothing, no one!



After ten more minutes, still no one had come up to him. Tom was in an

incomprehensible shock and didn’t really no what to do. He stood there for a few

more minutes seeking out anyone who showed any sign of knowing what was

going on. But still, there was no one.



Tom Jerry sat himself on a bench and sunk all the way down. He put his

hand to his face and gazed out onto the streets of New York. He looked down at

the check for what it seemed the millionth time and let out a puff of air. Everyone

around him took no notice in Tom and he couldn’t fully understand this situation.

But, he took a deep breath and, in a whisper, said,



“Today is the greatest day ever.”