The
homely gas clerk loved donuts with Big Gulps and smoked 2 cigarettes
during each short break
She
had no
benefits but did get diabetes at 35, already 70 pounds overweight
She
was dismissed for missing shifts too often…to sit in line for hours
down at the local ER
The
Righteously Conservative Evangelical developed a hungry colon cancer
He
sold off his plumbing company and moved into a brand new Florida
condo
He
still talks to his Personal Savior and listens to The Fox there,
bedridden
on the third floor
The
Engineer worked as if it really meant something for way too many
years
He
is summarily dismissed early one hot and bright July morning
He
shuffles out with his treasured technical books and detailed, but
fantasy plans for retribution
Mother
nurtures her manchild who comes quite handsomely of age
That
son is then very suddenly conscripted
to join a war a world away
Mother
grows old in a hurry, just waiting for a word
The
Soldier trains diligently with his unit such that all will kill and
not be killed together
He
dies wincing in pain without ever seeing his enemy
His
comrades resolve that, no matter what their cause, he must not die
in vain
The
Farmer toils quietly in the Spring and throughout a long, hot Summer
The
army comes with guns and takes away his harvest
In a
late
December darkness, the farmer must sadly eat the seeds for next
year’s planting
The
Programmer worked under constant pressure, always behind on some
artificial deadline
He
off-shored mind still racing, he sits too quietly and alone in his
empty room
He
realizes shortly that, for all his feverish
work, he is left him less than nothing
The
old career Politician retires with all the due honor of his peers
He
goes back to the place he called home, where he hasn’t really lived
for 30 years
He
finds he has no more deals to cut, statements to make or favors to
repay
He
still shaves and dresses nattily with a new joke every morning
But
there will be no more responses to his numerous inquiries for
positions
That
senile Doctor made foolish errors that others had to cover up
The
medical society quiets the furor and drafts his retirement letter
Now
the people merely smile when he gruffly orders them around
The
Captain
of Industry is dismissed from his lofty penthouse suite following
a financial scandal
His
golden parachute floats him down into a wondrous sunset
Now,
he lies awake in his locked compound avenging the imagined slights of
former suck-ups
A
common day Laborer cannot keep up the grinding pace in the terrible
heat
He
is no longer chosen from the long line of illegales seeking work
His
dreams of returning home to buy a little hacienda must now be
forgotten
A
Lawyer grows disgusted with the person he has become
He
is sickened by his greed and the alcohol-laced emptiness of his work
Comically,
his mind seeks
a judicial remedy for the self-loathing that has filled him
The
former bomber Pilot flying cushily for the airlines faces a mandatory
retirement
He
looks forward to his well-earned, very generous pension and expensive
travel perqs
Villages
he bombed so long ago from far above without even seeing still remain
in the stone age
The
dissipated Real Estate Agent finally loses her last listing
She
no longer has any
glamour left with which to con them like she used to
Yet
she cannot forego her lifestyle and quickly falls hopelessly into
foolish credit card debt
A
once razor-sharp Professor has his class load reduced to nothing
His
agile mind was the envy of both faculty and students
Now
he quizzes his patient wife many times a day regarding what they’ll
have for dinner
The
one-time all-star Athlete hung on until he was unceremoniously
released
He
misses the adulation and has no other interests, skills or savings
So,
he
drinks and gambles and sells some autographs, until his liver
simply quits
He
is but the shrunken, almost comic, image of his once-imposing figure
Now
his children quarrel nastily over the estate and the income his name
still produces
Though
he was a Handsome Leading Man, now he is even denied a grandfather’s
bit part
His
loyal agent left him when he broke his hip and had to get a
wheelchair
His
young wife spends time with her gigolo as others manicure her tiny,
snow white poodle
A
Teacher for almost 40 years she still lectures anyone who happens by
She
is active
in the church and volunteers at election polling places
Occupied
by the young for so long, now she strives to comprehend new lessons
of her own
A
happy-to-grovel Middle Manager, he was despised by both his direct
reports and his bosses
They
downsized him cleanly off their crisp and tidy new Org Chart, without
a second thought
Those
at the top reaped bonuses and he did finally get a part-time Temp
job in Interior Lighting
The
Office Bitch who terrorized us for 20 years but worked her ass off
has finally gone to pasture
Her
aggressive honesty a spiny affront to the false
political correctness which we all hid behind
But,
as it finally turned out, she did have something better to do than to
simply irritate us
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