Part XVII:
Todd was no doubt softened by the easy living he had been accustomed too. Although America is founded on equality among men and women, it seems strikingly uncommon that a man stay home with no job while the wife works her fingers to the bone 60 hours a week to make ends meet. It is hard to call Lydia the breadwinner, because she really did not make enough money to support the whole family. This fact, however, did not encourage Todd to go out earn his keep.
At first, he stayed home to save on day care costs. Then, he was just waiting for the right opportunity. Really, it was just one excuse after another. As he sat on the plain white porcelain toilet in his cell that day, he thought of the very words his mother would say to him, “If you don’t make something of yourself, you are just going to end up behind bars!”
True, he didn’t see it all unfolding this way, but that changed absolutely nothing. The cell he found himself confined to for 20 hours of each day was feeling like a prison cell should, cold and lonely. From having spent countless hours looking around, he could pinpoint each little crack and bubble in the ugly green paint. There was little he could do to fight off the depression that was beginning to cover his thoughts like a large, gray storm cloud.
To be continued…
