This started as a short story, but the setup grew ever more complex, so I decided to write it as short chapters. I'm guessing the final length will be less than 10K words, maybe a lot less. I hope, anyway.

The plan is for this to be a story about alienation, greed, and morality in a world where morals are absent. I don't plan for any supernatural, slipstream, or other elements, but who knows? It's already gone places I didn't expect. But I think a gritty realism is more appropriate for the story.

"Desie" is short for Monsieur Désespoir, a champion Abyssinian cat that plays a small part in the the story. The tile translates to "Desie's Paw," so that's meant to show the story is about a cat's paw--the idea being that this reveals the ultimate plot twist. Probably me being too subtle, like the name of the Concierge or that of the protagonist (named for not one but two of the brothers who sold Joseph into slavery).

Overall, this started as what might have been a simple take-off on an Alftred Hictchcock episode. I'll link to that later, although I've already given away much of the plot above, and the remainder should be pretty obvious after the Day 1 segment and the above hints.