Money Well Spent

Only in our dreams are we free. The rest of the time, we need wages. I read that somewhere, once upon a time. The blank walls stared at me as I contemplated the equally blank ceiling, my hands behind my head. Somewhere, a cell door slammed.

Well, I’d never had wages. I’d had money, sure, lots of other people’s money. Money for drugs when I wanted them. Money for sex. Money to burn. But not wages. No, never that. Working for someone else was never part of the game. But then, I wasn’t free either. Not really. Never had been. I’d always had to pay the piper in the end, same as everyone else. So what was I, then? Not free, not a wage-earner. Not anything, maybe.

A guard coughed in the hallway outside my cell, and I turned onto my side, shifting my gaze to stare at the sleeping form of my low-life cellmate. His name might have been Donnie. He was a wage-earner. McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, you name it. And now? I gave a mental shrug. Well, now he’s free, isn’t he? Over there sleeping like a baby while I tossed and turned. It didn’t matter what he’d done out there. As long as he was in here with me, he didn’t need to worry about wages.

In fact, he didn’t know it quite yet, but he wouldn’t ever have to worry about wages again. I’d made sure of that. Other people’s money well spent. I started to giggle when I heard the first explosion go off in the building next door, when my cellmate sat bolt upright and jumped out of bed, the stench of fear already strong beside me. The guards ran – who knows where they were going? – but it didn’t matter. I knew they wouldn’t make it far. Soon, we would all be free.

Author's Note: I wrote this story as a contest entry for the Ye Olde Dollar Challenge Malarkey (September/October 2024) contest. Part of the requirements of the contest was that it must include or be related to the Terry Pratchett quote: "Only in our dreams are we free. The rest of the time, we need wages."

Terry Pratchett happens to be a favorite author of mine and, although the subject matter and writing style used in this piece vary widely from that of anything written by Pratchett that I know of, I hope I did his quote justice in quality at least. I also hope you enjoyed the read. I'd love to hear what you think, so please feel free to leave a comment, click the heart, and subscribe!