Seymour stretched out his arms as he got out of bed the next day, as he always did. However, he did not greet the day with joy; he greeted it with dread as he knew the strict rules and regulations at the Skid Row Home for Boys made it impossible to enjoy life there. One rule that he especially hated was that his bed sheets had to be straight with absolutely no creases or lines in it whatsoever. If they were not, Mr. Harrison tore the sheets off the bed and made the boy remake it to his satisfaction. With Seymour, that happened almost every day, and he was extremely lucky on the few days that it did not happen.
Seymour and Jerry nervously held their breaths as Mr. Harrison very closely examined their bed sheets, giving the boys evil glares every few seconds. Finally he looked at both of them and grumbled "Allright, good enough for me. Now get into the cafeteria for breakfast."
The boys slowly made their way to the main cafeteria for their usual breakfast of unsweetened oatmeal. Not exactly the tastiest breakfast in the world, but they knew it was better than no food at all. After everyone ate, Mr. Harrison filed the 15 boys who lived in the home outside to the play yard, where he kept a very close eye on them to make sure no one tried to run away or pull any crazy stunts. Seymour sat on a bench next to the chain link fence surrounding the play yard, drawing circles in the sand with his shoe. Jerry and another boy named Alan came by and sat next to him.
"Hey Seymour, what do ya wanna do today?" Alan asked him.
Seymour looked up at him from drawing in the sand and said "Anything but sit here.", disappointed that the only swing set and seesaw in the play yard were occupied at the moment.
"Well, wanna walk around and talk about how horrible this place is like we always do?" Jerry asked him.
Seymour gave a weak smile and said "Sure, why not?" And so all three boys walked around the play yard, talking about how much they hated living here and what they would plan to do in their new lives outside of the group home.
They must have been talking longer than they thought they were, because suddenly the loud, obnoxious voice of Mr. Harrison was screaming at the boys to line up to come back inside the building for quiet time in their rooms. The rest of the day was pretty routine: quiet time in their rooms, lunch, more playtime outside, more quiet time, dinner, cleaning up the cafeteria, and being herded into their bedrooms for bedtime.
As soon as the bedroom lights went out, Seymour curled up underneath his blanket and squeezed his pillow for comfort, ready to dream about his new life outside of Skid Row Home for Boys. Little did he know his life would change, and it would change quicker that he had ever expected.