Dham Drathoy sat at the large wooden table in the center of his cooking den. He placed the dirty dishes from the morning's breakfast and placed them in the water tub to be cleaned later. Just now he had something else on his mind. He's in trouble. Today is the day he must decide what to do.
Drathoy walked into his upstairs bedroom. Above his clothing cabinet was a framed drawing of his dead wife, Syentha, Ghelfunn's mother. He carefully removed the drawing from the wall. He placed it on the small table near his wooden bed. Hiding behind the picture frame was a small metal door with a locked latching. Drathoy installed the small safespace after he purchased the house fifteen years earlier. He kept his important documents in it. At the bottom of a pile of papers Drathoy gripped a small square-shaped note:
Dham Drathoy, the noted began. Remember you owe me a great deal of Koines. Interest is getting higher by the day. You must pay your debt by the end of this week, or someone will suffer the consequences! I would hate to see your son pay for the sins of his father. Don't make me come see you in person. It won't be a friendly visit.
Drathoy folded the note and held it to his breast. What am I going to do? He closed the metal door to the safe, locked it, replaced the drawing of his wife, and stuffed the note in his vest pocket. He looked at the drawing of Syentha. Wife, he said, if this crook believes he's going to extort me, he's crazier than I give him credit for. Drathoy was being threatened by the district tax collector, to pay money he did not owe. He was not going to put up with it any longer.
