Free-Fall Employment

Mary is a Toronto writer. Thirty-three years old, she is the author of several excellent magazine features and is currently working on a novel. She lives for the written word and is hilarious on the subject of money. A veteran of unpaid or low-paid media internships that eventually turned into short-term contracts before evaporating, she now teaches sessional courses at colleges around her city. She carries significant student debt from two degrees, is unmarried and has no house or children. Whether by luck, design or a mixture of both, she has been unable to find a permanent job.

Supposedly at the other end of the employment spectrum is Sarah, a lawyer. Also in her mid thirties, Sarah graduated from a top Canadian law school, capping an academic career in which she attended another top school, made the dean’s list, represented her peers as a student advocate, learned Spanish via work on development projects across Central America and consistently earned straight...