Jackson Free Press

Too Much Drama fo' Yo' Momma Street Corner Theatre Productions presents "Free Like Government Cheese," a one-man play by Filmo Jones.

I stand unemployed, waiting in line with a jobless and humbled humanity, which stretches outside the doors of this building and around the corner. I recall in flashbacks that dreaded day when I received the news that my position was terminated. I remember the quietness of my co-workers—already distancing themselves from me—in the corporate office. I asked, "The pink slip is a joke, right?"

Bart, the office comedian, replied: "Filmo, allow me to break it down like Donald Trump. You're fired!"

The ridicule and humiliation was too much. I stormed out of the corporate office to my apartment. While gathering items to pawn for cash, Grandma Pookie and the Ghetto Science Team stopped by to encourage me. Grandma said: "Caring corporations are gone! No gold watches. No retirement. Today, a company will kick yo' middle-clASS behind to the curb at the drop of a pink slip! Anyway, yo' high stress corporate job was like a 3,000-pound King Kong monkey on yo' back! And now you're free like gub-mint cheese!"

I dried my tears and said, "Very encouraging, Grandma." Then Grandma said, "Filmo, before you go to the unemployment office, I wanna buy that chandelier hangin' in yo' dining room. Lil' Ray-Ray wants to put it in his refurbished 1987 Cadillac El-Dorado."

As the long line advances, I return to my current reality.

Ken Stiggers is a television producer in Jackson and the co-host of The Lyric Lounge.