• THE BED BY THE WINDOW •
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The three old men shared a room at the nursing home. Their room had only one window, but for them it was the only link to the real world. Merlon, who had been there the longest, had the bed next to the window. When Merlon passed away, the man in the next bed, E. Gadd, took his place; and the third man, Toadsworth, took Gadd's bed. Despite his illness, Gadd was a cheerful man who spent his days describing the sights he could see from his bed-- pretty girls, people walking, a traffic jam, children playing, a mall and other scenes of life outside.
Toadsworth loved to listen to E. Gadd. But the more E. Gadd talked about life outside, the more Toadsworth wanted to see it for himself. Yet he knew that only when E. Gadd passes away would he have his chance. He wanted to look out that window so badly that one day he decide to kill E. Gadd.
Toadsworth: "He is going to die soon, anyways, what's the difference would it make ?"
Toadsworth told himself. E. Gadd had a bad heart. If he had an attack during the night and a nurse could not get to him right away, he had pills he could take. He kept them in a bottle on top of the calves in between his bed and Toadsworth's. All Toadsworth had to do was knock the bottle to the floor where E. Gadd couldn't reach it. A few nights later E. Gadd passed away just as Toadsworth had planned he would. And the next morning Toadsworth was moved to the bed by the window. Now he would see for himself all the things outside that E. Gadd had described. After the nurses had left, Toadsworth turned to the window and looked out. But all Toadsworth could see was a blank brick wall.
Toadsworth: "It's not fair."
Toadsworth said to himself, as he's about break down in tears.
Toadsworth: "It's not fair... it's not fair... WHY ?!"
As Toadsworth lay crying on his bed, he realized that all his effort were for nothing, all he did is killed a man over a bed next to a window that only shows a brick wall.