The borrower, coming home with his newfound money, at first rejoices. But quickly, “the money slips away,” interest accumulates, and his possessions are sold off. Basil grows poetic in describing the debtor’s plight. It’s as if time itself has become his enemy. Every day and night conspires against him, as they are the parents of interest. His life becomes a “sleepless daze of anxious uncertainty,” as he is humiliated in public; while at home, he is constantly hiding under the couch at every unexpected knock on the door and can barely sleep, startled awake by nightmare visions of his creditor
...more
