Infomercial Imagination

 "WOW WOW, This new nonstick pan is amazing! You can use these pans for practically anything and everything!”

    The 3am infomercials were starting to appear on Michael’s TV screen as he slept on the couch. 

 “Hey, you there, are you in need of health care?”

 “BUY NOW ONLY $19.99 WITH SHIPPING AND HANDLING” 

 “FOR ALL AGES, KIDS, ADULTS EVEN YOU GRANDMA” 

 “NON STICK”

 “INFO”

  It was a never ending madness of commercials. Michael woke up from his couch sleep and was fed up with the sound of the infomercials. As he went to turn the TV off one commercial caught his attention. 

   “For one cent a day, you can save a family, save a life, save hope”

  It was an infomercial for donations to the cancer research foundation. How could he turn the TV off now?! The commercial began to show interviews with children who were battling cancer. It showed them talking about their experience with the disease and then they showed the families of the children and how they cope with the stress of having a child with such a disadvantage in their life. 

    Michael sat on his couch and watched the commercial with such sadness in his eyes. He didn’t know how to react. He started thinking about the fact that there are so many children, adults, people in general who have to live with this agonizing pain of cancer. He began to be teary eyed. The thought of a person he knew having cancer killed him let alone the thought of his child having it. 

    Michael was a 30 year old man with 3 kids. 2 boys and a girl. His kids were his pride and joy. Delilah, Jonathan and Nathan, he loved them the entirety of his heart. Michael had the perfect life with his family, happily married for 10 years to his wife Joanna, he had everything he desired. 

  Watching the commercial hit him in a way that he’d never imagined. He didn’t know if it was because of the fact that it was 3am and that’s when you’re most vulnerable or if it was the fact that cancer was a disease that was on the rise. The thought of both terrified him. 

   He began to think about how the dynamic of his everyday would change if one of his children had this life taking disease. He began to think about if his wife ever got cancer, how it would affect him. He sat there as the infomercial played pondering the meaning of his existence and just how everything he knew would be completely different from everything he’s ever known. He began to cry. He couldn't handle these thoughts .  He said that if that were to ever happen, he’d lose hope in everything he's ever known and lived by. He thought about the fact that he would never love again if something like this ever happened to him. He’d never be able to feel another touch, wouldn’t be able to start another fire, he didn’t want to know another kiss, he didn’t want another name falling off his lips. He didn’t want to give his heart away to another stranger. Couldn’t let another day begins, he wouldn’t even let the sun light in. He’d never love again. Never again.  He’d try to break apart in two, to try and save a part of her. He thought about when they first met, how he thought he’d never fall, he thought about how he could never lie with her in his arms. He wanted to pretend that it wasn’t true, that his world would be turning and turning and he wouldn’t move on. All these thoughts just ran through his brain. 

   He continued watching the commercial, for some reason it was a 25 minute infomercial. 

   “Donating even the smallest amount makes the biggest difference in the life of one of these families and people. Please, take time to help the cause.” said the infomercial. 

  “Fuck you” cursed Michael at his TV set. 

 Michael was very aware of the fact that these types of infomercials were made to get you thinking not only about the product or the cause but to think about how it could potentially happen to you or someone you really care about. He knew that although this wasn’t a scam, it wasn’t the whole truth or that it was fair for big organizations to come to consumers in this style.  Especially consumers that had no control of their emotions. 

   Michael was a very sentimental. He cared too much about things that deserved attention but as well as things that didn’t require attention at all. All of these infomercials that were just created to get people interested in buying products they most likely didn’t need. 

  Michael just looked at the TV set and sat on his couch. He didn’t know what to do after having this huge mental moment. 

  He looked at the mirror in this living room. He looked at the TV set, he looked at his staircase, at his couch, the dining room, the restroom and at his dog. 

  Michael was going crazy, he kept looking around at his house. His empty house. 

 Michael lived alone. He was never married, didn’t have 3 kids, didn’t have anything that he had been dreaming about. Nothing of his imagination was real. That mental moment was just him sitting blankly at the TV and imagining a future that he wanted. The infomercial had convinced Michael of this life that he had and what could’ve happened if this awful disease struck his nonexistent family. 

  As it turns out, Michael actually lived alone and owned a toy barn shop. He never had a girlfriend, let alone any kids. He’d fallen asleep on the couch because he was drunk, he crashed at around 12:30 with the TV still on. These infomercials had been playing with his hungover brain. They almost convinced him to donate $1,000 because he didn’t want this to happen to his nonexistent family.