He had earned the stamp of "loser" in his father-in-law's eyes. Worse, he was less a man to his wife Jean. When a possum tried to move in a few months after they purchased their little two-bedroom ... [+]
Translated by Hannah Charlton
Thomas had put on his best new school shoes, since it was the first day of the new year. This morning, when the alarm had gone off, Thomas had woken with a jump. But now that was already an hour ago and he was still staring, as though hypnotized, at the figures advancing on his radio alarm clock, minute after minute, wondering if a space-time glitch could swallow him up and transport him to another universe. Thomas felt nervous. Just a bit. Well, actually, he was scared stiff. The same thing happened at the start of each year. A mix of stage fright and fear took hold of him and turned his insi