A Fire in the Anbar

I set a fire in an alley of the Anbar last evening. Using palettes and crating appropriated from the other businesses in the neighborhood, I built a litter and set it ablaze. Other residents, proprietors and citizens came out into the alley to watch, making comments as it burned.
"Which one do you suppose it is?"
"I do not know. He has them all dressed in red now."
"Who cremates a whore?"
"The Magistrate is an odd one, he is."
"It is not Portia."
"Well, yes, that is obvious."
"Waste of good wood if you ask me."
"Be silent. He got Mascius to repay the debt he owes me."
"What does that have to do with wood?"
"It is going to be all smoky in the alley now."
"Do not complain. If it weren't for his whore house, I wouldn't have customers at my tavern in the afternoon."
"I do like his whores."
"Indeed."
"Still. That smoke is unpleasant."