Three things are expensive in this city: downtown rent, parking, and having enemies.

Everybody else is improvising.

We have men being beaten nearly beyond recognition in residential neighborhoods. Gunfire erupting around abandoned industrial buildings. Women arriving at shelters under mysterious circumstances. A downtown club turning itself into airborne masonry.

Yet somehow the people responsible for anything are increasingly difficult to locate.

Maybe disappearing is simply the smartest financial move left in New Concordia.

Think about the savings.

No rent.

No parking tickets.

No jury summons.

No awkward conversations with police detectives.

Your enemies stop looking for you because everybody says you are dead.

Frankly, the city should add it to the benefits package.

“Welcome to New Concordia. Your municipal services include garbage collection every Thursday, seasonal leaf pickup and one complimentary presumed death per household.”

The dead have one tremendous advantage over the living here.

Nobody sends them a bill.