But no, Dirk had other things in mind for those tokens. Luxury would have to wait a while longer.
He sighed and stepped into the dirty building – literally made of dirt, for the most part. The lighting was poor, although that was the case for almost everywhere in New Melbourne. After all, there was no sunlight, so everything ran on artificial lighting.
Dirk held the token he’d earned after complimenting the impressive commercial office design in the Melbourne area. As he strolled into the living room, Dirk used his magic to psychically lift a painting on the wall, moving it onto the floor. This revealed a safe behind where the painting had been.
Entering the safe’s code, 6481, Dirk rubbed the token tight as he prepared to part ways with it for a time. He pulled open the safe, seeing the large pile of platinum tokens inside – 107 of them, if he hadn’t lost count – and added his latest to the hoard.
So many commercial fitouts around Melbourne complimented by Dirk Thatcher. People loved it so much when he complimented their offices, that they were willing to reward him for it. He supposed that was almost enough to put his plans into motion. Perhaps half a dozen more tokens and he could go for it. Because once he got started, there was no going back.
Sometimes, Dirk wondered if it was the right thing to do. Well, of course, it was the right thing, but was it the best thing for him? Surely there would be another who would come along – someone with the courage to do what needed to be done. But when he really thought about it, he knew it had to be him. Dirk couldn’t let this go on any longer.