All That Counts

by Georg M. Oswald

"Thirty-something Thomas Schwarz is certain that he is soon to become department head of Liquidations and Foreclosures at the bank where he works. He proudly compares his job to that of an undertaker: "We aren't really bankers, we're grave diggers. We have to make the best of other people's demises." With ruthless wit, he takes us along on his loathed commute, his mornings spent playing "Virtual Corporation" on the computer to fuel his motivation, and his afternoons spent serving people warrants and seizing their property.". "Then he fumbles a particularly byzantine property case and his life begins to unravel. His female boss gleefully fires him and his wife Marianne, an advertising executive, walks out on him. Within moments, the bubble of his complacency is pierced and he becomes giddily acquainted with the thrill and anxiety of a life unmoored. Having noticed that the financial district in his city - as in most cities - is side by side with the nexus of the drug trade, Thomas falls