“Today is August 4, 2026”

In the living room the voice-clock sang, Tick-tock, seven o’clock, time to get up, time to get up, sever o'clock! as if it were afraid that nobody would. The morning house lay empty. The clock ticked on, repeating and repeating its sounds into the emptiness. Seven-nine, breakfast time, seven-nine! In the kitchen the breakfast stove gave a hissing sigh and ejected from its warm interior eight…