A "Caiçara" in the Windy City

There wasn’t a piece of information that reached Adam’s ears that could pique his curiosity. He had lived the same routine for so long that he couldn’t even remember when it had begun.

He would wake up, shower, dress in his usual clothes, have a coffee — sometimes reheated from the day before, despite hearing his mother’s voice criticizing the habit — and head to work. He chose between biking and taking the bus since his workplace was near his home and had given up his car a few years back.

The irony was that Adam had a creative profession in technology, so niche that he had never managed to explain what he did to his family or childhood friends, who had chosen traditional paths like law or medicine. Adam had always wanted to be different.

He would arrive at work and follow his usual routine: pick up a small cake and a juice at the café. Today, he chose one made of bananas and green juice, respectively. He would then go up to his team’s floor, where some colleagues worked remotely while others showed up because they needed human warmth. The screens had already worn them out, especially since their work was precisely to design projects to keep other humans glued to them.

Together, they created and planned apps and solutions for the pixelated world. The day would end, and Adam would train at the gym. Later, he would meet friends or a new match he had connected with on a dating app, but no matter how great the date went, he already knew that that connection had an expiration date — even if both wanted it.

He would return home, take a quick shower, brush his teeth, and read a random book page until falling asleep. Adam didn’t realize that, despite his life seeming innovative and unique, which even made some friends jealous, it was just as stagnant and repetitive as anyone else’s.

He had entered such a deep comfort zone that he had become anesthetized. Nothing truly challenged him; nothing interested him anymore. The massive amount of information he received daily had left him in a state of stagnation. The excess had made everything shallow, if we can invent this word. Nothing had depth. The thought had become ethereal and fleeting.

Even his pursuit of some new technology had worn him out. Adam couldn’t even dream anymore. His sleep was sometimes restless, sometimes not, and he never remembered anything. He would wake up again and repeat his entire protocol.

Adam, in the end, was exhausted and exhausted of himself. Exhausted of everything. Despite living a supposedly “different” life, he was just as uniform as anyone else.

On his way to work that day, the early spring sun touched him lightly, and a fresh breeze and the luck of walking down tree-lined streets made him think of all this. That’s when he realized there was no real difference between him and his old friend, the one considered the squarest of the group. The setting changed, and a few details shifted, but the monotony remained the same.

At that moment, Adam understood that the new only exists when we don’t cling to any routine. The new only comes when we stop creating structures to protect ourselves from something we don’t even know. The new only exists when we stop cementing our paths and start watering the soil to let whatever may sprout grow — because we trust that fruit will eventually be born from that ground.

The new isn’t about what we do or how we live, but about what we question and transgress. Adam had stopped questioning himself. He was so sure of his truths that he had become a living dead without realizing it. Adam had died long ago while still alive, and no one had warned him.

Suddenly, a truck turned onto the street without signaling and nearly struck him. Nothing happened to Adam other than the fright. He stopped, took a deep breath, and moved on.

No one knows to this day whether Adam continued his train of thought or simply returned to his sameness — that sameness that appears new but isn’t. The genuinely new only comes if we allow it to come. And, in the end, we know that not everyone has this courage—not even Adam, not even us.

Contributed a short story to Tomorrow ANew, a 2023 anthology featuring a collection of works by multiple authors