Member-only story
Minds Writing Minds
Mervin was depressed. The down to the wire existence of his work life, the floundering bank account, and his disastrous love life, had all but pushed him over the edge. Though he hadn’t gone to the doctor, Mervin strongly suspected that his cough might be a sign of consumption.
His dream of being a famous writer had left him like a scorned lover two years before when everything in his life was going extremely well. The president of his company, then delightfully impressed with Mervin’s work, increased his salary to a comfortable seventy-five thousand per year. Catherina, his lovely and devoted wife, was lovely and devoted. With all this cash coming in and life being so amazingly marvellous, Mervin put aside the pen, er, word processor.
Then came the layoffs and the cutbacks. Mervin, now far too at ease in his position, laid off, and consequently was laid off. He took another job with their competitor for less than half of his accustomed salary. He became miserable, and drank a lot. Catherina left him because he was a constant downer. For her, it wasn’t the money. It was Mervin’s attitude.
Mervin retreated further into himself. Friends stopped seeing him–not that he had any more. Convinced that things could not get any worse, Mervin went home to discover that the bank was giving him two weeks to make a payment before they foreclosed.
