Adam held the smoldering cigar between his fingers as the lawyer he had hired delivered the final news of the divorce settlement.
"I've sent another signed copy to your ex-wife's counsel as well," the lawyer stated, his voice brisk and professional.
"Thank you," Adam replied. "That will be all. You can show yourself out."
As the lawyer's footsteps faded, Katherine, his mother, entered the room and found her son inhaling deeply from the cigar.
"That thing is a slow poison, Adam. You ought to give it up," she warned, settling into a nearby armchair, holding the top of the polished cane.
Adam let out a plume of smoke. "Everything has been reduced to ashes, Mother. I lost the fight to keep my daughter. My second marriage is a wreck. And now my ex-wife resurfaces with God knows what new motives." He gestured vaguely around the room. "The joy of this house... it feels like it's been extinguished, doesn't it?"
