What to do with Joe

Samantha didn't mind that it was her birthday and she had to help her husband up the stairs to their one-bedroom apartment. She knows how hard it has been for him not working. Since he hurt his back a couple of years ago, it’s been difficult for him to keep a job for more than a few weeks. She considered leaving him in the first few months but since he had nowhere to go she didn't want to be the kind of wife that would abandon her husband in need.

“Baby. I need my pill before I go to sleep” Joseph kept his eyes closed as he spoke softly

“It is so late though, can't you wait until the morning? You're gonna not wanna wake up in the morning if you take it now”

He shut his eyes even harder so creases formed around the lids

“If I don't take it now then I'm gonna be in pain all day tomorrow, please just get it for me, I don't want to hurt all day” his breathing got heavier and voice louder

“Can I wait a minute, please? I don't want to get up yet”

“Fine! I'll get up!” he pushed his wife’s body off of his “My own wife won't help me in my time of need” he grabbed the small of his back as he began to stand

Samantha stayed quiet as she watched her husband loudly open the closet door and rummage through some things to get his pill bottle. She thought about how all she wanted was to stay home for her birthday but her husband insisted they go to the bar to celebrate. Times like this made her want to cut and run, but she couldn't bear to know Joseph would be on the streets.

The thoughts were cut off by the sound of the door opening. Her husband leaped toward the gun he kept on the dresser and ran out to the noise. It was less than a couple of seconds after he left when four gunshots rang.

Her husband's voice called out “I’m okay!”

She sat up on the bed and tried to comprehend the last thirty seconds. She could hear her husband talking to the police on the phone. She slowly got the courage to walk to the living room. When she arrived she could see one of the neighbor boys face down in their doorway with blood coming from his chest. Joseph sat on the arm of the couch holding his head in his hands

“You have to tell them you saw the other guys”

“Other guys?...”

“Yeah there were three of them and they ran off. You have to tell the cops you saw them okay? If you say you were in the room then it looks really bad on me. I love you, please just tell them.”

Her husband was crying, this was the first time in a long time she had seen that happen. The last being when he begged her to stay with him, promising to get a new job and hold it down. She couldn't form complete thoughts and refused to look at the boy.

“Okay”

The cops came about thirty minutes later and questioned Joseph first. She sat outside watching him, trying to read lips. Before the cops got to question her. She had one final thought “It’s better than him living on the streets”