Alex and Casey lived in a house beside a river next to a forest. One afternoon Alex was going shopping, and Casey asked Alex to pick up some sugar. The next day was Alex’s birthday, and Casey wanted to bake a surprise birthday cake. But Alex returned from shopping without the sugar, which had been forgotten. The next morning, Alex left for work, and Casey called in sick in order to bake the cake. Then Casey went to the river and paid the Ferryman the one-dollar fare to row across the river to the house of a neighbor, Jesse, who had just returned home from a job on the night shift. Jesse was happy to give Casey a cup of sugar, and then went straight to bed. Casey returned to the Ferryman, but had forgotten to bring a second dollar for the return trip. Casey asked the Ferryman for his trust; Casey would pay him back. He refused: A rule is a rule, he said.

If Casey walked north by the river there was a bridge that went across, but between the bridge and the house a Murderer lived in the forest and killed anybody who entered. So Casey returned to Jesse’s house to borrow a dollar, but the door was locked. Casey banged on it, and shouted as loud as possible, and even threw pebbles against Jesse’s bedroom window. Jesse awoke, hearing the noise, but was tired and did not want to get out of bed. “Neighbors!” Jesse thought. “Once you give in, they take advantage of you.” Jesse went back to sleep.