Paying in advance was what he liked the most about his situation. The feeling the people owed him, not the other way around. Because owing people is terrible, he thought; one never wants to be in a position where one has to pay someone back. It's a dreadful feeling, and he did his best to avoid it at all costs.

This time it was something he knew was coming, something he would not be able to dodge. This was a tornado in Kansas in the heart of the tornado season, and it was coming right for him. He knew there was no way out or around - it would make a beeline in his direction no matter which way he tried to dodge.

He had never realised how many things in his life were black. Literally - as he looked around the room, more and more black objects kept poking their heads out, as if to say, here I am, I'm black! It was something he had never noticed before, and he wondered why it was. It didn't seem to be anything he could measure or control, it was just a fact and now he was being faced with it, too late to do anything about it, unless his next plan was to burn his house down and start over... and maybe it was his plan, maybe.