Luc Delprado and the Martian Marvels

Luc stared at the clock. It was 7:25am and he was still in bed. Every morning it was the same thing, every single day without fail.

He watched as the second hand dragged its way around the clock face. One tick...Another...Another....And another....He counted them all, one by one, as they went round and round. He counted each one until there were sixty-five ticks since the last time he'd looked at the clock. Then he counted them again. And again. And again. And Again.

Eventually, he got out of bed and headed for the shower. Five minutes later he emerged with a towel wrapped around his waist and headed back to his bedroom to get dressed. He opened his wardrobe door and reached inside for a fresh set of clothes which had been folded by Leila in the evening before she went home from work. He looked at her name on the top of the pile over and over trying to commit it to memory for another hour or so before he allowed himself to forget it once more.

As he dressed, Luc wondered where Leila was now, what she was doing? Was she sitting at her desk writing up reports on how many people had been killed that day? Had her boss called her into his office yet again to tell her how well she'd done in keeping the death toll low? Was she going home tonight or would she stay late to check through some more data? Or would she go home early just like yesterday when she'd called him on his mobile phone to tell him that she couldn't see him any more? Luc didn't know the answers to these questions but he knew that whatever Leila's day held, it wouldn't be good enough for her boss or for herself either if Luc got much of a chance to speak with her about it.

Luc shook his head hard once, twice, three times trying to push away these thoughts as he took off his dressing gown and put on a pair of black slacks and a white shirt with red tie then slipped into his suit jacket before walking down to the kitchen and making himself a cup of coffee with an extra shot of whiskey in it then stood watching the sun rise through his kitchen window as he waited for that first life-giving sip to take hold deep inside him.

"That's better," Luc said aloud as he walked back upstairs and got ready for work then headed out of his house locking the door behind him then walked around to his car parked on the street outside and started up its engine before driving off into town towards work with a smile on his face though nobody saw it because nobody was there to see it except for one person who happened to be driving past just then who smiled back at him because they did see it though they didn't know why they were smiling because they couldn't really remember why they were smiling except that they thought they knew Luc but they didn't remember who Luc was or what their relationship was but they knew that they trusted Luc and wanted him to be happy so when Luc saw them smile at him from their car window as they drove past him on their way somewhere else in town, he smiled back at them because there was something about that smile that made him feel happy inside even though deep down he knew there was nothing whatsoever about what that person is doing right now that could possibly make anyone happy ever again but still, somehow, it made Luc feel good just knowing that someone cared enough about him right now as this moment in time is happening right here right now while it happens that way no matter how bad things are going down below because there is always hope and happiness even if you can't see it and don't realize that you can experience it even when you think everything has fallen apart and gone wrong forever which sometimes is true but not always so don't give up hope because there may not be anything more important than hope in this world we live in today."