Life Span

All Jerry seemed to do was work and it was never enough. Jus’ ask his wife who constantly told him how worthless he was as a wage earner.

Further, he heard the same thing from his in-laws, who lived with him and their daughter, his wife. Neither thought him the proper husband for their only child.

It didn’t matter to them that he was the soul provider of the family. Nor did they mind the fact that they ate out nearly every night and often wouldn’t even bring him home a morsel from their meal.

One evening after a particularly hard day at the mill, Jerry came home late from work to find everyone asleep. So he decided to pour himself a shot of whiskey, sit on the couch and relax.

Before he knew it, he fell asleep. But sleeping provided him with no relief as he had a nightmare that he’d changed into a cockroach.

When he awoke, he discovered that his nightmare was real and that he had indeed turned into a cockroach. He tried to get off the couch, but fell to the floor and had to scurry away before he was stepped on or the cat caught him.

“Where is that worthless, husband of yours,” the father-in-law asked his daughter.

“Probably out screwing around,” the mother-in-law interrupted.

“Who cares,” his wife finally answered.

Staying close to the living room wall he hurried as fast as his six legs could carry him to the front door, slipped beneath it and onto the porch. The world looked very different to Jerry and he realized he was free.

It would be the best 160-days of his life.