The avarice of mankind is insatiable. – Aristotle. Black Swan sat at his desk. It was probably the location where he spent most of his time when he was in the house. The study was his favourite room. He had never been afraid of hard work; in fact, the engagement of his brain had always been his antidote to the problems in his personal life. Sometimes, he would raise his head from his books, only to realise it was three o’clock in the morning. He got lost in facts and figures; they were his friends. All you could hear at that moment was the feverish scratching of pencil on paper. Black Swan hated pens. They were permanent. If you made a mistake with a pen, it was glaringly obvious for all to see. A mistake with a pencil was different. It could be discreetly and easily eliminated; like a lot of his competition. As usual, the blackout curtains were down, but the warm glow from the green banker’s lamp illuminated the pad full of figures that he was working on.
