Take my land
Malcolm Reynolds, age seventeen, is eating dinner with the ranch hands in the kitchen when the bell rings. "Mal," his mother says from the stove where she is busy with the next course, "please go see who that is."
Mal makes his way to the door and opens it just as the person out front rings the bell again. "Mr. Parker," he greets the short, bespectacled man on the porch. "To what do we owe the pleasure?" Then he sees the uniformed Alliance officer standing next to the banker.
"Ah, Malcolm," Parker greets him, sounding nervous. "Is your mother at home?" Mal nods, his spine stiffening. "May we speak with her?"
"Certainly," Mal finally agrees. "C'mon in." He directs them to the front sitting room and quickly retrieves Ma from the kitchen. He insists on staying with her, even though she tries to confine him to the kitchen.
Mr. Parker, whom the Reynolds have known for two decades, explains that his bank has been bought out by the Central Bank of the United Federation of Planets. The uniformed officer, introduced as Mr. Blu, is the new bank manager. "I have been looking through the bank's records," Mr. Blu explains, "and I noticed that you are now three months behind in your mortgage payments."
"It's been a rough season," Mal's mother explains. "We'll make the payments soon."
"Normally, I would say that you would," Blu says. "However, in looking through your history with the bank I noticed that there have been several times in the last three years where you have been late with your payments." He continues on in this vein for some time, and nothing Mal or his ma can say stops him. Eventually, he gets to the point: the Central Bank of the United Federation of Planets is foreclosing on their ranch. Mal and his mother are homeless.
