Table of Contents
Dramatis Personae

Please note that characters are added as they reveal themselves and become part of the story. 

The Melancholy Korean is a former derivatives trader living in New York.  He loves Dante, James Joyce and Flaubert.  He has studied French, German, Japanese, Sanskrit, and Hebrew, but of these languages, he remembers only, "avez-vous un cendrier?"  Yes, he smokes.  No, he doesn't know Korean.

Leon Badges is a painter, illustrator, draftsman, and cartoonist.

Felicity

Barbara, Felicity's Mother

Harry Best

Prune

Dr. Ken Coffin

Broker Bill and his wife Kate

Mumbai

Nicky, the Greek

Blue Stocking

Rev Hezekiah Bartholomew Smith

Kitty

Marco

The Critic

Sybil

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Monday
30Jun

Summer Blues

"Where's the floor in Citi, captain?"

"Jesus, Mell. Ugly, isn't it?"

"You can sure pick 'em."

(silence)

"Maybe I should go into farming, Mell. This business is killing..."

"You gonna top tick the wheat market, now? Congratulations. You just called the top in commodities."

"Maybe I'll drive a truck."

"Sitting on your ass and staring at a computer all day hardly qualifies you to drive a truck, captain. That's real work you're talking about."

"The market is starting to scare me, Mell. Have you heard of the Automatic Earth? Let me read this to you. It's frightening stuff. The guy says "I find it interesting to see people starting to understand that we are entering the mother of all deflations, and all the talk of inflation is not worth the paper it’s printed on. As US home prices plunge, homes become more expensive to buy. Think about that one."

(silence)

"I don't get it, captain. Of course, I studied ancient Greek in college. Something useful, unlike economics."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I had to ask Mumbai to explain how that would work."

"What'd he say?"

"Honestly, Mell, I didn't really understand. You know, trading isn't about any of that."

"That's for sure. As Mr. Black Swan says, frying an egg is harder than buying or selling stocks.  And captain, lemme tell you, I know that one from experience."