ADMIN: GotR challenge

[china_shop]

I came across Michael Chabon's new book Gentlemen of the Road in a bookstore on Thursday and was immediately captivated by the title of the first chapter: On discord arising from the excessive love of a hat. I mean, come on! Could it be more Due South?! When I read the other titles, they all seemed deliciously evocative too. So I present to you, the Gentlemen of the Road (GotR) challenge.

Write a flashfic inspired by one of the following chapter titles:

• On discord arising from the excessive love of a hat.
• On payment - and trouble, its inevitable gratuity.
• On the burdens and cruelties of the road.
• On the substitution of one angel, and one cause, for another.
• On the observance of the fourth commandment among horse thieves.
• On some peculiarities in the trading practices of northmen.
• On the seizing of a low moment.
• On a niceness of moral discernment uncommon among gentlemen of the road.
• On anxieties arising from the impermissibility, however unreasonable, of an elephant's rounding out a prayer quorum.
• On the belated repayment of a gift of a pear.
• On the unforeseen and annoying resemblance of a Bek's life to an ill-played game of Shatranj.
• On a consignment of flesh.
• On swimming to the library at the heart of the world.
• On the melancholy duty of soldiers to contend with the messes left by kings.
• On following the road to one's destiny, with the usual intrusions of violence and grace.

Many thanks to i_naiad for sending me the list.

It's May 23, CDT -- stories are due by midnight, June 6, Chicago time.