City of Slow Shadows: It Took Mother's Death to Seal the Hole in His Heart

Hard hearts are common in the Sunless City. Commodities trader Edward Coleman tried to ignore the bag lady on the street when he'd go to the deli shop on his lunch break. But then he received a telegram from Kansas that his mom had died, and he realized he couldn't make arrangements to get back to the States to attend her funeral. What's one sandwich? He didn't feel like eating, anyway. Author's Note: I tried to make this resemble those Renaissance paintings of scenes from the New Testament. I'm not Christian, but the sense of humility, kindness, and love seemed appropriate here. For this piece, I combined three images and drew the diseases on the bag lady's face. Hope you all like it.