Cost of Living

A suburban husband and father, surrounded by automated conveniences and extended life expectancy, becomes uneasy after a neighbor's suicide and must confront his vast installment debt when a corporate finance representative visits. Offered a contract that would assign his son's future earnings to satisfy purchases, he navigates pressure from salesmanship and the moral dilemma of mortgaging his family's future. The tale critiques rampant consumerism, the entanglement of technological comfort with financial bondage, and how commercial systems commodify longevity and kinship.