Sublime

You had to pick your clients carefully. If they were crooked and didn’t pay, the whole year’s take was ruined. These guys, though, were too obviously greedy to be harmful. The people you need to be careful of are those who start talking about traditions and dharma and calling you beta and all that shit. They’re the ones you run from. I had bitter

So, I was dragged along the street, a cobblestone street, by the way: very bumpy. All those doing the dragging were men, though there were some female bystanders, gazing at me in wonderment—wasn’t I supposed to be the revered, trusted confidante of the rulers in this civilized, prosperous, vibrant, and tolerant queen city of the venerable Roman

Beggars, especially noble beggars, should never show themselves in the street; they should ask for alms through the newspapers.

Keep your guard up from now on. Even in this town, people aren’t as friendly as they used to be. Do you know why? Money. No matter where you go in the world, it’s always the same. The electric lights go on, money comes in and kindness vanishes. All the young guys from the North that I used to trade with have become pimps.”

In other words, he had finally worked his way up to the lowest spot on the totem pole.