The Ties that Bind (excerpt)

The City was obsessed with neckties and always had been. That is, Neckties, with a capital N, like the name of a god or a holy day. They were that important, traditionally so, and the tradition went back as far as anyone could remember. There was today, there was tomorrow, there was an endless supply of yesterdays, through which the City had always exalted the Necktie.

And why not? A Necktie was what cinched a fashion statement. It was the focus, the fulcrum, the finger on the pulse. A tailored suit and shiny black shoes and bright white spats and all, yes, they were sharp, but they weren't at their sharpest until the whole statement was tied together by just the right Necktie.

There were whole industries whose health was predicated upon their relationship with this all-important accessory. (Accessory? Heresy! As though the Necktie were merely an add-on, an aider-and-abettor, the cherry on top of the sundae. No! It was not an afterthought but rather the final detail that gave all the rest meaning....)

...Thus today was followed by a tomorrow that dispatched its predecessor into the memory of a yesterday. The City and its citizens thrived, each carrying the other along on a river of time with neither source nor destination—until one day, a day otherwise like any other, when the City shook upon its very foundations and cracks shivered up the sky....