As I sit at my desk at work and stare at my computer screen at work, I struggle to find the right words to describe my daily presence in this internment camp for the working middle class. I can’t find them anywhere. When words fail us human beings, we tend to describe intense situations or experiences in our lives that leave us dumbstruck by comparing them to things that elicit the same reactions in us but from a different medium. For instance, the soft purr of a kitten can invoke maternal instincts and bonding in women. A rich, fabulous piece of chocolate or sumptuous treat is sometimes described as being orgasmic or sexual in how it slides across your tongue. Silk sheets can make you feel as if caressed by a lover. In fact being in love is often described as being on a never ending roller coaster of alternating pain and pleasure. For four months I have sought and searched through every experience I have ever had in my life to find the one that would adequately describe the feelings this place evokes in me. It was with great surprise that I finally realized, I had never experienced anything even remotely resembling my employment here. I would most certainly have to look elsewhere for inspiration so I turned to my most beloved hobby to guide me. I read books. Given my predilection for horror fantasy novels, you can surmise the sort of imagery I was subjecting myself to. But lo and behold, my taste in books provided me with the perfect means to express my appreciation for my current job.

Picture yourself hanging naked from a tree in the Amazon jungle. You are dangling from a vine that has little red flowers along its length that chatter and mimic human voices. It is crawling with stinging red ants and you are suspended over a murky brown bog bubbling with man eating piranhas. They jump greedily from the water and chew away bits of your flesh with every leap while the little flowers mimic your cries of pain and laugh at you. At the top of this vine sits a troll in a business suit with a grin like a shark wearing Jimmy Choos and an outdated designer outfit. Each time the fish eat away at you to the point where they can no longer reach you, you feel a tremendous sense of relief as the pain momentarily subsides. But then the troll turns a crank and you drop down another few inches. The fish begin to feast on you yet again and the troll chuckles and gurgles while you writhe in agony and flowers continue to mock your every scream. Once you have this image firmly visualized and can actually feel the despair and hopelessness that such an embodiment of evil can produce, you will understand exactly what it is like to walk through the front door of my office and hear that ominous click as the door locks behind you......

You may think I am being a bit melodramatic but the cocktail of high blood pressure pills and anti-depressants that my doctor has insisted I take before I have a stroke would indicate otherwise.