I was tired again, with moderate-to-severe hunch pains. Except for short-lived bursts of activity when my boss passed by with a scowl on his repugnant face, all I could do was sit at my desk and “pretend” all day. Even though I’d got some sleep, I was thrashed, body and soul.

When I got home I threw some wood shavings into an old aquarium and put the mouse in there. If it was in pain, I couldn’t tell. I gave it a little dish of water and some cornflakes. The thing was this: I couldn’t stand having an invisible invader prowling around in my house at will, but with the animal caged and me in full control, I could tolerate it. I mean the mouse was just trying to get by like the rest of us. I named him Al.

After a few days, Al’s foot turned black and fell off. He wouldn’t eat for a while. I think he had a fever. A close call with death. I put out some whole-wheat bread with peanut butter on it. He loved that. He was going to weather the crisis. He started to gain weight. I found a hamster wheel at a garage sale and the guy just gave it to me to get rid of it.

That’s when Al began his rehab therapy. Without his foot, he got by hobbling, but his whole left shoulder was weak. On the wheel, he struggled and became disoriented. To encourage him, I put his favorite treat, a Hershey’s chocolate square, in a little box in front of the wheel. Stick and carrot. Pretty soon Al was running his ass and lost all the weight from his peanut-butter days of convalescence. With treats to motivate him, he’d put in five hours a night on the wheel. One night, just as I was getting him his Hershey’s square, he hopped into my palm and let me hand-feed him. It was a momentous transition. Suddenly this little wild animal was on the road to domestication. He trusted me. I felt like I was in tune with the universe. But not for long.

The next day at work, the boss stuck his ugly face inches from my own. “You’re terminated, Anson. Clean out your desk! You have one hour.”

The heartless bastard. I’d known it was coming, but I was devastated just the same. He couldn’t wait until after Christmas. I immediately drove to the unemployment office. Filled out the forms. Stood around and waited. Geez, what a seedy stink-ass joint.

If you’re an engineer, a job in these times is the hardest thing in the world to find. There are thousands of engineers.

I put together a résumé and scanned the want ads. There was nothing. One of the no-jobs at the unemployment office told me that nobody hires during the Christmas season, so just chill out.