Waking Against the Grain

The day is April 17th, 1899, and Murphy Allard has decided he is going to kill himself. He has given up on ever finding happiness or success in life. He wakes early on the morning of his thirtieth birthday to hang himself in the living room of his apartment. Just before Murphy is able to commit the act, however, he is stopped by a peculiar old man furiously banging upon his window. The old man refuses to leave and swears to Murphy that he will break the window and cut him down if he attempts to kill himself. Murphy, infuriated by the interruption, begs the man to go away.

The old man begins a strange form of negotiation with Murphy. He promises to walk away and pretend he saw nothing, but under one condition. Murphy must allow the man to come inside and have one conversation with him. Just one debate. The old man offers a deal. If he is not able to convince Murphy by the end of their conversation that life is worth living, then he will leave and let Murphy return to the noose.

He asks Murphy to put forward all of the reasons he has come to believe it is better for one to take their own life than to continue living it. He insists, quite confidently, that he will be able to easily debate any point Murphy can come up with and change his mind on the so-called meaninglessness of life.

Murphy, utterly bewildered by such an odd fellow, finds himself agreeing to the deal. What follows is a conversation that lasts an entire night. The two men engage in a life-or-death debate, covering such subjects as Love, God, Death, Failure, War, and Loneliness. One mysterious old man has one chance to save a life.