“What do you say when I sneeze?"Anton repeated. "Bless you," Kana replied. "Right, but why do you say it?" Kana shrugged. "Sometimes in life, we do things simply because we have always done them,' explained Anton. "Perhaps there were once reasons, but we have forgotten them. A very long time ago, people believed that whenever a person sneezed, their soul exploded out through their mouths and into the air. They also believed that the devil was always lurking about and might snatch up that soul. So they said bless you, to stall the devil until the soul could shoot back down into the person's body." "That's nonsense," said Marin, throwing her hands in the air. "You're probably right," said Anton. "But you still say bless you. And until a moment ago, you didn't even know why.” HabitsSayingsSneeze Book:Nightfall Source: Nightfall
“Most of us, myself included, have forgotten what real darkness is like. We live in a world where light is inescapable. It comes from street lamps, headlights, security floodlights, and even the faint glow of our alarm clocks. We take it for granted that we can see at all times of day and night.” WorldRealLightNightDarknessStreetsSecurityForgottenAll TimeGrantedClockLampsAlarmsDay And NightTime Of DayAlarm ClocksHeadlights Author:Jake Halpern
“My mother was being hounded by a debt collector over a debt that she didn't owe, and she eventually just paid it because she wanted the calls to stop. I was very surprised. It sounded so strange. I started poking around on the internet and found this was extremely common. There was this world where these debts were sold off by the banks for pennies on the dollar and bought and sold.” WorldWantedMotherFoundCommonThis WorldStrangeInternetPaidDollarsDebtPenniesCollectors Author:Jake Halpern
“That was my concept from the beginning - a crazy caper that's a parable for what happens in the absence of regulation.” HappensCrazyConceptsAbsenceRegulationParablesCapers Author:Jake Halpern
“I was interested in this relationship between the armed robber and the banker who were from different worlds but had similar goals. It was kind of a metaphor for this larger marriage of the banks selling off their debt and these street guys scrapping over it.” WorldKindDifferentGuyGoalStreetsMetaphorDebtSellingOver ItBankersDifferent WorldsRobbersThese Streets Author:Jake Halpern
“Imagine having "no chain of titles for cars, no VIN numbers, and no DMV. There'd be total chaos! But that's basically the system for debt.” NumbersImagineCarChaosDebtChainsTitles Author:Jake Halpern
