Prologue. ---- In which we learn of certain activities of the wrong kind, performed by a p ossible hero of this story.

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The correctional facility #4 had many patrons this summer. Certainly not all of them enjoyed their stay and unfortunately none of them coul d leave unless the "Big Brother" said so. But the days were warm and the nights had a fresh breeze carrying the salty scent of the sea through the corroded wind ow bars. Also the correctional facility #4 offered many attractions and wonderfu l ways to pass the time. Some were encouraged, some were frowned upon and some c ould potentially extend your stay. And extend your stay.. Well, you understand m e. And during these fantastic summer nights a young oriental gentleman was engage d in an activity of the wrong kind. See, Kim Young Hyuk (for that was his name) always took a particular fancy in ar cheology. And since the merciful boddhisatva Guan Yin blessed his days (or rathe r nights) with a sturdy stainless steel teaspoon, (that was carefully hidden dur ing the day in a place where... Let's say- "the sun don't shine".) and since his lodgings were the closest to the outer fence Mr. Hyuk was entirely devoted to his excavations. Mind you, some knew of Kim's hobby, some suspected and his neighbors were out right annoyed with this mischief. The constant noise kept them awake for quite a few hours at night. They happened to wish upon our hero "accidents" involving b roken fingers, quick departure or another kind of "quick departure", if you unde rstand what I mean. Snitching, however, was a sign of bad manners and tone and t hus the members of the staff, with their menacing black uniforms and even more m enacing batons, were quite convinced that the correctional facility #4 was, in f act, stricken by a plague of none other than... Mice. Chapter 1. ---- That, honestly, has nothing to do with our hero or his dishonest hobbies. A nd happened many years beforehand, by the way. Just thought you should know. Ok? ---This was the fourth or rather, fifth time that Marcus Aurelius Chen passed by the ice-cream shack's glass door. Shy and introverted by his nature, it definit ely didn't help his confidence having the weirdest name in the whole chinatown. But, I guess Marcus never had a chance to a better, more suitable name as his fa ther didn't choose his unhealthy obsession with ancient history and the glory of the Roman Empire. In fact, Marcus' father, Mr. Ling Chen, was stoically convinced that he's, in fact, a free Roman citizen and not even remotely... Chinese. However as long as Mr. Chen was busy perfecting the art of emptying the wine bottles and eating gr apes instead of practicing the art of the Gladiators on pedestrians and preachin g the doom of the Empire on a street corner, everyone in the family was convince d that it's safe enough to let him remain a free citizen of ... Canada. Well, at least for a while since accommodation in an appropriate institution would be a financial burden on the family.

But, pardon me, we're getting distracted here. Meanwhile Marcus stood outside the ice-cream shop, fishing change out of his pockets. The measly three dimes and a quater were not going to buy him anything. And he didn't even want any ice-cream, frankly. Marcus was in love. Yes, the butterflies, the follishness and the rest of this immature behaviour. His High Muse, and subject of his afternoon hours devotion was a girl in a dirty purple uniform and a ridiculous worn-out baseball hat with colourful rainbows and badly drawn waffel cones sticking out of it. The girl wa s too busy scrubbing steel containers and arguing with American tourists to noti ce Marcus. Regardless he was firmly convinced that one day he will have her hear t. There was no other way -Marcus was looking at his one and only love. Unfortunately, the future Mrs. Marcus Aurelius Chen had no idea what grandeou s plans Marcus has had for her. And.. there were few other misfortunes. The first one, for instance was that Marcus' future wife was Black. No, no.. Don't get me wrong - Marcus saw absolutely no problem with this what-so -ever. But his father, the free Roman Citizen Ling Chen, was adamantly convinced that even though since the times of Septimius Severus (that positively was a Ro man Emperor.. and was positively black) people of African descent gained a bett er social position, essentially they are still no match for a proud Roman like M arcus. However he was free to take the girl as his servant, if so he wished. Needless to mention that Mr. Chen also saw a big peril in living in Chinatown . Of course, he didn't realise that he wasn't in Rome. But was convinced that du e to his family's poor fortune they are forced to reside in the great Capital's outskirts -the slums, with the slaves and those.. "Oriental Demons", as he had f ancied calling those strange people. In fact, the last few years even Marcus sta rted resembling the "Yellow Ones". This notion was easily dismissed since Mr. Ch en wasn't young and his eye-sight was getting worse; and besides -how could an "Oriental Demon" have such a glorious name, as Marcus Aurelius. And the last and fatal blow to Marcus' marital aspirations was the main one in the eyes of the Province: Marcus was only 15.