Governments did not dispatch their most elite units, men who are truly not replaceable, unless the situation warranted a razor-sharp slice and not a wide-handed slap.

It was flood-tide along Fifth Avenue; motor, brougham, and victoria swept by on the glittering current; pretty women glanced out from limousine and tonneau; young men of his own type, silk-hatted, frock-coated, the crooks of their walking sticks tucked up under their left arms, passed on the Park side.

It was over now. Over and done with. Done and over with. I could put it any way I want but I was still scared shitless.

Women had entered the rice and moori (puffed rice) business and set up shops for the first time, enabled by loans from the SHGs.