episode 20030128
LaKeysha narrates: "Again: ‘EVERY superhero "becomes" by way of some super-traumatic life-experience. Winston Roberts’ story is a scary and sad one. Hold-back your fear and tears, and let’s flashback once more."
The scene abruptly opens with a young business man running-scared through an urban maze of dark downtown alleys. Someone or something is chasing him, as he clumsily scurries and stumbles over trash and over his own feet. He pants and sweats profusely as he nervously looks back over his shoulders at the rapidly approaching menace.
Suddenly, the desperate man runs into a dead-end within the endless maze. Yes, like some scene in a corny horror-movie, the man has come to a literal brick-wall, with nowhere else to run. And literally, the graffiti on the wall reads big and bold: "DEAD END!"
With nowhere else to run, the man fearfully turns to face the approaching adversary, with his back pressed firmly against the wall. With a jittery hand, he nervously pulls out his mobile-phone (a device that had not even been invented yet) to call for help, only to discover that his service has been disconnected – obviously because he did not pay the bill. And just like in a corny horror-movie, the desperate, frustrated, and scared man hurls the useless mobile-phone (a device that had not even been invented yet) at the approaching enemy – as if it would somehow help. But, it didn’t help. The enemy continues its approach, undeterred. And now that the enemy has the young business-man cornered, he begins to desperately scream – just like in a corny horror-movie.
The view pans around to reveal an approaching street-gang of CREDIT-CARD-BILLS. Yes, bills of every sort and of every shape and of every size have finally caught-up to this young business-man. Aggressively they march toward him, as he continues to scream and beg for mercy – just like in a corny horror-movie.
Suddenly, the man snaps awake from his sleep – still screaming, and still with a frantic heart-beat. It was an action-packed nightmare that left him drenched in a cold sweat. As he tightly clinched the sheets, he sighs with relief. After all, it was only a dream – or was it?
Now wide-awake, the young business man hesitantly looks down at the bed sheets which he is clinching, and notices something horrible: It’s not bed-sheets he’s clinching; low-and-behold, it’s actually sheets of PAPER. Low-and-behold, he’s actually clinching a wad of CREDIT-CARD-BILLS. As he sits there in a literal "bed of bills," which are thoroughly covering and smothering his king-sized bed and his hardwood-floors, he comes to realize that he is actually living and drowning in a nightmare of debt. His lips begin to tremble, and he again unleashes a barrage of hysterical screams.
LaKeysha narrates: "Yes, he has indeed entered the 'Twilight Zone.' This young man was not actually a business man. Instead, he was a preppy college-kid with 'a dream' of becoming a 'business man.' And it was an ironic dream-come-true, as he turned-out to be ‘Winston Roberts’ – the Chief Financial Officer of The JoStrut Corporation (JoStrut.com). Read-on."
As Roberts’ mental break-down faded to a calm state, his screaming gradually ceased. As silence prevailed, he came to another realization: It was time to WAKE-UP and PAY-UP. It was time to pull himself together, and to turn his life around. From this point, forward, Roberts would cease to be a lazy college-bum and evolve into a responsible bill-paying adult.
LaKeysha narrates: "The young Winston Roberts was smart. But, like many college-students, he was literally buried in credit-card debt. And, ironic to all of this financial-disaster, Roberts was an Accounting and Finance major."
As the years passed, Roberts had successfully eliminated his debt and repaired his credit. Further, he had catapulted many of his clients to "new and improved" accounting systems, which everyone was talking about. Yet, despite his success, the "new and improved" Roberts was not truly happy; something was missing. So, one lonely evening, during a thunder-storm, he dwelt there lonely in his bachelor-pad apartment, and began counting thousands upon thousands of pennies he'd saved in jumbo water jugs. While such a task is redundant, tedious, and boring to the average person, the ecentric Roberts found the task of counting pennies to be fun, relaxing, and therapeutic. So, he counted on -- relishing the purely simple task of counting pennies -- one by one. It was this "simplicity" which was missing from his life. And this "simplicity" is what truly made him happy.
The fun and happiness didn’t last. As Roberts counted the very last penny, his sadness returned. So, he scurries around his apartment, searching everywhere, under the bed, between couch-cushions, and in every crack and crevasse, desperately seeking any loose pennies to count – but to no avail.
LaKeysha narrates: "Roberts did this on a regular basis: He’d search for and find pennies to count. And, at this point, there were simply no more pennies to be found. And now, he was feeling like a failure again."
Roberts sat depressed and emotionlessly staring into space. Suddenly, he is snapped out of his coma by the loud and abrupt ring of his telephone.
mysterious caller: "Greetings, Mr. Roberts. My name is Agent Ross. I am a recruiter for the The Xavier Strut Corporation. We’ve been watching you, and we’d like to negotiate your hire for a position we KNOW you’d be absolutely perfect for. I’m sending a limo filled with plenty of pennies to pick you up. Enjoy counting every cent."
LaKeysha narrates: "And from here, the 32-year-old Roberts begins his career with the Strut regime, eventually becoming the company’s Chief Financial Officer who would identify and count every single penny that the company spends and earns. It was a ‘golden age,’ well before JoStrut’s birth."