I

I try to raise my gun but someone kills me before I can fire a single shot. I swear under my breath. This new computer game is hard. I’ve been playing for hours and I’ve only killed a couple of people. I’m going to have to practice. A lot. In a couple of weeks I will start winning. Soon everyone in the game will know my name.

My fake name anyway. I can’t tell anyone in the game my real name. They might google me and find the website for my law practice. I am not the type of person who can be seen playing computer games. I have a reputation to maintain. All my clients think I am serious, mature. In reality all I do when I’m at home is play on the PlayStation and eat fast food.

My parents wanted me to be a lawyer. I only agreed to do it to avoid arguments. I guess it is OK. I make good money. I am respected in the community. I cannot be honest with anyone, though. I cannot tell them that I don’t play golf. I cannot tell them that I don’t love whiskey. I cannot tell people that I would rather play Call of Duty than work on their case.

II

I tell him if we go to court we will surely lose. I show him the offer I have prepared. He says it is way too much money. I tell him if we go to court they will probably get more money.

He looks pissed off. I show him some statistics about what people normally pay in cases like his. He looks much more thrilled about my offer.

At lunch I sit around a table chatting to the other lawyers. Staff who aren’t lawyers have a separate staff room. The lawyer’s room has intricate modern art paintings on the walls. The other people’s room has posters of cats.

All day all I am thinking about is the new computer game I have waiting for me at home. It is a cowboy game. I am going to shoot people with old-fashioned guns. It is going to be the most fun.

III

I shoot him until he drops to the ground, dead. I am definitely going to win this match. I won the last two as well. A month ago I couldn’t kill anyone and now I am killing more people than anyone else in the game.

I did it all around work as well. I do not have infinite time to play computer games; all I have is a couple of hours at the end of the day. I use my time wisely, far wiser than I would like to have to use it. Sometimes I dream about living a life where I can play computer games all day and I feel great sadness inside of me when I wake up. That is not what mature people do, though. Mature people go to work. Mature people contribute. Mature people make money even though they do not have any time in their day where they could enjoy spending that money.