Feb. 27: Taxes
Lady tells me she smokes, has been smoking for 25 years, gets her
cigarettes from the black market. "That way I don't have to pay taxes,"
she says. Smiling. Her teeth are yellow. Money she saves pays for her
cable TV.
Cigarettes are awful but these contraband smokes are beyond that. Light it up and stick it in your mouth and you're inhaling death.
Lady coughs. Might need a lung transplant someday. Yeah, that'll cost the taxpayers something. Not you though, doll. Not you Miss Smells-So-Sweet. Yeah you'll save a few bucks on illegal smokes but that money's not going back to our socialized healthcare system - the same one that's going to pay for that lung transplant after the ones God gave you are turned black by tar and nicotine and garbage.
That's right. You just sit there and smile and blow your second hand smoke into the air. Happy you didn't ask me if I minded if you smoked. Would have died of shock.
-
She's talking about the system, that it's not fair. Says she got fired from her job because she was late. "I can't help it if my alarm clock didn't work," she says. I ask if she was late often. She glares at me. What's that got to do with anything?
-
Does she drive? Yes. Car's downstairs in the lot. Not insured. Can't afford it. Drives it anyway. "What am I supposed to do? Sit around all day and not go out?"
What about the bus? I'm not going to take the bus. Why not? Because. Because why? Because I won't.
Yes, but what happens if you're in an accident? I'm a good driver. What happens if you get hit by someone else who doesn't have insurance? I'll sue them. What if someone sues you? Sues me for what? See a disconnect here? What's that?
Says she doesn't feel bad about bilking the system because the system is corrupt. It deserves to get bilked. "No one cares about me," she says. "Why should I care about them?"
Don't we have social health because, at some point, someone in the government cared? Someone decided that being healthy and staying alive should not be tied to one's economic worth.
And what about roads? Let's talk about roads - the roads you drive your car on. Do you think they build themselves? And what do you do with your garbage? Do you take it to the dump yourself or do some nice people from the city come by early on a Wednesday morning when you are still sleepy-sleepy and take it away?
Oh shut up!
-
The boyfriend wakes up. Wanders into the room wearing only a pair of pajama pants. Into the bathroom for a big explosive pee and a ten-second fart. Into the kitchen for a beer and a package of chocolate donuts. Then back into the living room and plop down on the couch and on comes the XBox and it's Grand Theft Auto time.
Day off?
Don't work.
Laid off?
Disability.
From what?
Helping a buddy move. Threw out my back.
I don't believe him.
Can I get a smoke? he asks the girlfriend.
Sure.
You gonna make a run to the beer store later?
We got no money til Tuesday.
What? Where'd it all go?
Crap, I don't know. Pizza. Burgers. Jerry came over the other day and we had to pay him off.
They fight. He says he has a friend across town who owes him twenty bucks. Gonna go see him.
Yeah, you just be sure you go see him and don't you stop at that slut's house again.
You're crazy.
And can you stop at the store? We need milk and I need tampons.
If I got change.
Slam goes the door.
He really hurt his back? I ask.
She says nothing. Looks at the TV. Grand Theft Auto avatar is standing in a liquor store, holding a gun. Outside, AI people are swearing.
That's all he does, she says. Sits here and plays games all day.
What do you do?
Shrugs. Nothing.
Yeah, I think. And I pay you to do it.
She lights up another cigarette. Coughs.
I sigh.
It's Sunday afternoon.
Tomorrow I have to go to work.
Cigarettes are awful but these contraband smokes are beyond that. Light it up and stick it in your mouth and you're inhaling death.
Lady coughs. Might need a lung transplant someday. Yeah, that'll cost the taxpayers something. Not you though, doll. Not you Miss Smells-So-Sweet. Yeah you'll save a few bucks on illegal smokes but that money's not going back to our socialized healthcare system - the same one that's going to pay for that lung transplant after the ones God gave you are turned black by tar and nicotine and garbage.
That's right. You just sit there and smile and blow your second hand smoke into the air. Happy you didn't ask me if I minded if you smoked. Would have died of shock.
-
She's talking about the system, that it's not fair. Says she got fired from her job because she was late. "I can't help it if my alarm clock didn't work," she says. I ask if she was late often. She glares at me. What's that got to do with anything?
-
Does she drive? Yes. Car's downstairs in the lot. Not insured. Can't afford it. Drives it anyway. "What am I supposed to do? Sit around all day and not go out?"
What about the bus? I'm not going to take the bus. Why not? Because. Because why? Because I won't.
Yes, but what happens if you're in an accident? I'm a good driver. What happens if you get hit by someone else who doesn't have insurance? I'll sue them. What if someone sues you? Sues me for what? See a disconnect here? What's that?
Says she doesn't feel bad about bilking the system because the system is corrupt. It deserves to get bilked. "No one cares about me," she says. "Why should I care about them?"
Don't we have social health because, at some point, someone in the government cared? Someone decided that being healthy and staying alive should not be tied to one's economic worth.
And what about roads? Let's talk about roads - the roads you drive your car on. Do you think they build themselves? And what do you do with your garbage? Do you take it to the dump yourself or do some nice people from the city come by early on a Wednesday morning when you are still sleepy-sleepy and take it away?
Oh shut up!
-
The boyfriend wakes up. Wanders into the room wearing only a pair of pajama pants. Into the bathroom for a big explosive pee and a ten-second fart. Into the kitchen for a beer and a package of chocolate donuts. Then back into the living room and plop down on the couch and on comes the XBox and it's Grand Theft Auto time.
Day off?
Don't work.
Laid off?
Disability.
From what?
Helping a buddy move. Threw out my back.
I don't believe him.
Can I get a smoke? he asks the girlfriend.
Sure.
You gonna make a run to the beer store later?
We got no money til Tuesday.
What? Where'd it all go?
Crap, I don't know. Pizza. Burgers. Jerry came over the other day and we had to pay him off.
They fight. He says he has a friend across town who owes him twenty bucks. Gonna go see him.
Yeah, you just be sure you go see him and don't you stop at that slut's house again.
You're crazy.
And can you stop at the store? We need milk and I need tampons.
If I got change.
Slam goes the door.
He really hurt his back? I ask.
She says nothing. Looks at the TV. Grand Theft Auto avatar is standing in a liquor store, holding a gun. Outside, AI people are swearing.
That's all he does, she says. Sits here and plays games all day.
What do you do?
Shrugs. Nothing.
Yeah, I think. And I pay you to do it.
She lights up another cigarette. Coughs.
I sigh.
It's Sunday afternoon.
Tomorrow I have to go to work.
Comments
Post a Comment