death by nickel and dime

i am well into my eighth decade

and so am beset by pill pushers

insisting that certain medications are vital

lest i die

..

blood pressure/cholesterol/glucose level/prostate

need atenolol/rosuvastatin/metformin/tamsulosin

and there go $240 a year

..

my phone plan is $55/mo

anti-virus a hundred a year or so

entertainment and news subscriptions $25/mo

website $104/year

restaurant tips in the hundreds per year

car washes eight dollars a pop

cardboard-sign-beggars’ donations–

today a man slumped sitting against a mcdonald’s wall asked me for a cigarette/i told him i didn’t smoke/he said something unintelligible/i said “what?”/he mumbled again/i came closer per his scheme and said “what?? I am hard of hearing”/he said “do you have a dollar?”/and i said “yes, but i am going to take it somewhere else” and walked away/for i had sized him up and concluded that my dollar would add to his death spiral

but later of course i schmeared a lady with a shopping cart with a fiber

so it goes in my microeconomic universe

and it may well be the death of me