Entry Dated December 2005.
"It was May 4th, Steve's birthday, and grandma had given him a birthday card. Grandma never forgot a birthday, and with every birthday card she always included a dollar. I was young and foolish (around seven years old), and prone to the weaknesses of my youth. It was Steve's birthday, it was his dollar, but oh how I coveted his dollar. It is amazing what one will do under the influence of one's desires. Some will cheat, lie, steal, others will sale their soul and even more. For me, I sold my freedom, I became a slave, selling myself for a dollar. Steve and I struck a deal. We shared a bedroom and we took turns shutting the lights out before bed at the end of the night. I promised him that if he would give me his dollar I would shut off the bedroom lights each night for the rest of my life. At the time it seemed like a reasonable offer. To my naivety I believe I agreed that payment would be received only upon completion of the agreement. Having made the deal I gladly shut the lights off that night, and then the next, and the next, and the next. Forever turned out to be much longer than I had anticipated. Some nights I would tire of my obligation and I would pretend to be asleep, forcing Steven to shut the lights out in my stead. But on the whole I shut the lights out faithfully each night, until the time came that we were given our own bedrooms, which was well into my teenage years. I never was given the dollar, but then again the light remains."
