Chapter 0, Monday

Monday, 7:30am Sun filtered through the cheap plastic blinds, a beam of it managing to strike Tom directly in the eye. Two seconds later, his alarm clock rang. Not an app: a real, physical, mechanical clock with two real brass bell-thingies on top. He fumbled for it blindly and it fell off the dresser, landing in the carpet and continuing to ring. In the attached bathroom, the shower was running. He swung his legs off the bed, stepped on the clock—turning it off—reached for something on the nightstand, and came up empty. "Lousia," he called, having to shout a little over the sounds of the water, "Have you seen my glasses?" "Try the sock drawer, dear!" She called back. He opened the sock drawer and put on his glasses. Metal frames, not plastic, in a shade of silver his stubble was starting to match. He bent over, one hand on his back, and picked up the alarm clock, returning it to its place on the nightstand. Then he went to the bathroom and had a shave while trying not to sneeze from…