Background With Wendell Berry's "Faustian Economics"

On the eve of my second week at my new apartment, I walked down the now familiar hallway, as usual, my black heels clicking a steady rhythm on the tile floor, past the doors of the apartments of the neighbors I still hadn’t met. People in this building tended to keep to themselves. After I got past the door two doors from mine, I smelt the most unusual smell. It reminded me of being on a farm. I couldn’t figure out why. This made me curious. Putting my scarf over my face, I tiptoed closer and closer to the door. The smell got more overpowering. When I got about two feet away from the door, I noticed that it was slightly ajar. I could see a sliver of light hit my shoes. I pushed the door open, saying, “Hello? Is anyone home? Your door was open and I just thought you should know.” The smell was now so bad that my eyes were watering and I was gasping for air. I ventured further in the mysterious apartment and found, to my surprise and horror, a place that looked like the cave scene from Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves except, exchange treasure for stuff you'd find in your basement or garage. The room contained so many knick knacks that they were stacked on one another so high that they touched the 12 foot ceiling. A large man was laying down in the middle of the room, on top of two king sized beds, and parts of his body still hung off of the ends. The smell, I realized, was the food piled around him. There was a chocolate layer cake on his stomach and pork rinds sprinkled around it. That smell was familiar to me because it smelled exactly like the compost pile my neighbors used to have. The man started to snore. I was relieved he wasn’t dead, and decided to leave. I tiptoed back out of the strange world I had entered, accidentally stepping on pork rinds and necklaces. I wondered if I should've stayed in my old apartment.