The cockroach died at 3:17 a.m. It lay on its back near the base of the typewriter, six legs pointed toward the cracked ceiling like a tiny, overturned throne. Henry Chinaski, or whatever was left of him, watched it for a full hour. He didn’t kill it. It just ran out of reasons to keep going.
The whiskey was gone. The gin was gone. There was half a bottle of cooking sherry under the sink, the kind with the pink label and a price tag that still had a cent sign. He considered it. Then he considered the window. Fourth floor. The alley below was a black trench full of broken glass and the silence of things that had been thrown away. The cockroach died at 3:17 a
He turned off the lamp. The room went dark. The cockroach remained where it was. And for the first time in years, Henry Chinaski closed his eyes without hoping for anything. Not the knock. Not the ring. Not the woman. Not the drink. He didn’t kill it