I thought this was excellent as well. Good idea, nicely executed, correct length for the idea - just runs in, punches the clock and runs out. The opening reminded me a bit of Poe's "Facts In The Case Of M. Valdemar"
I like how the writer's control of language and diction, and the mention of the occasional historical event, let us know this is the past without hitting us over the head with it. The betrayal of the man's wife is nicely done as well, seeing as she's willing to assure her husband a lingering, painful death, and is obviously fixated on power over love. And the final image/line was a nice play on the earlier use of the title.
This may be too quiet for some, but I liked it a lot.
Thanks for listening.
“There’s no reason to live, but there’s no reason to die, either. The only way we can still show our contempt for life is to accept it. Life is not worth the bother of leaving it. Out of charity, one might spare a few individuals the trouble of living, but what about oneself? Despair, indifference, betrayal, fidelity, solitude, the family, freedom, weight, money, poverty, love, absence of love, syphilis, health, sleep, insomnia, desire, impotence, platitudes, art, honesty, dishonor, mediocrity, intelligence – nothing there to make a fuss about. We know only too well what those things are made of, no point in watching for them.”
Jacques Rigaut