25

It’s 3am in the morning
He puts his key in the door.

It’s 4am in the morning
He checks his email.

It’s 5am in the morning
He makes a cup of coffee, finds no milk in the fridge, pours his drink into the sink.

It’s 6am in the morning
He writes, reads, writes, writes, reads, writes.

It’s 7am in the morning
He turns on the radio, shuffles through stations, turns off the radio, leans back in his chair.

It’s 8am in the morning
He walks to the mailbox, brings the mail up to his office, shuffles through it, leaves one letter on his desk, takes the rest downstairs to the paper shredder, shreds it, carries the shreddings down the hall to a storage room, puts them in a plastic bag, carries the bag upstairs, puts it in a bin, walks back to his office, sits down on his chair.

It’s 9am in the morning
He reads the letter, stares at it, turns in over, sees nothing on the back, turns it back over, reads it, stares at it, turns it over, sees nothing on the back, turns it back over, reads it, stares at it, turns it over, sees nothing on the back, puts it down on his desk.

It’s 10am in the morning
He makes a phone call, he can’t understand what the person on the other end is saying, he thought they were supposed to organise a translator, he supposes they thought he was supposed to organise a translator, he hangs up, he looks at the clock, he realises it’s 6am in the morning in Beijing, he looks down at his notes, he was supposed to ring at 1pm in the afternoon.

It’s 11am in the morning
He walks to the doorstep, picks up the newspaper, brings it up to his office, turns through every page, picks up a pair of scissors, carefully cuts out three articles, leaves the articles on his desk, takes the rest downstairs to the paper shredder, shreds it, carries the shreddings down the hall to a storage room, puts them in a plastic bag, carries the bag upstairs, puts it in a bin, walks back to his office, sits down on his chair.

It’s 12pm noon
He opens his briefcase, takes out a plastic bag holding a tuna sandwich, a banana, and a small box of raisins, he lays it on his desk, opens it, takes out each item one by one, lays them side by side, he walks down to the kitchen, takes a glass from out of a cupboard, fills it with water from the tap, brings it up to his office, puts it down on his desk, picks it up and takes a sip, puts it down on his desk, unwraps the sandwich from its plastic, peels the banana, lays it on the sandwich’s plastic, opens the box of raisins, picks up the glass, takes a sip, puts it down on the desk, eats the sandwich, picks up the glass, takes a sip, puts it down on the desk, eats the banana, picks up the glass, takes a sip, puts it down on the desk, empties the box of raisins on the banana’s plastic, eats them one at a time, picks up the glass, takes a sip, puts it down on the desk, picks up the glass, finishes the water with a big gulp, puts it down on the desk.

It’s 1pm in the afternoon
He makes a phone call, he holds the receiver to his hear for one minute, no one picks up on the other end, he hangs up.

It’s 2pm in the afternoon
He is on the toilet.

It’s 3pm in the afternoon
He hears a knock at the door, he walks downstairs and opens the door, there's no one there, he looks up and down the street, there's no one there, he presses the doorbell, it rings, he looks up and down the street, there's no one there, he closes the door.

It's 4pm in the afternoon
He double clicks on a folder on the computer screen, it opens, it is full of folders, he double clicks the first folder on the left, it opens, it is full of folders, he double clicks the first folder on the left, it opens, it is full of folders, he double clicks the first folder on the left, it opens, it is full of folders, he double clicks the first folder on the left, it opens, it is full of folders, he double clicks the first folder on the left, it opens, it is full of folders, he double clicks the first folder on the left, it opens, it is full of folders, he clicks on the x at the top right, the folder closes, he double clicks on the first folder.

It's 5pm in the evening
He falls off his chair, one of the wheels has popped off, he tries to put it back on, he can't, he picks up the chair, takes it downstairs, takes it outside and leaves it by the mailbox, he walks back upstairs to his office, he picks up the wheel, takes it downstairs, takes it outside and leaves it next to the chair, he walks inside, he opens a door, inside is a room full of chairs stacked on top of each other, he picks up the closest one and puts it down beside him, he closes the room full of chairs, he picks up the chair and carries it upstairs to his office, he puts the chair down, he sits down.

It's 6pm in the evening
He stares at the computer screen, it is the only thing lighting the room, he blinks, he gets up and flicks the light switch, nothing happens, he flicks it again, nothing happens, he flicks it again, nothing happens, he flicks it again, nothing happens, he walks through all the rooms upstairs trying their light switches, none of them work, he walks through all the rooms downstairs trying their light switches only the one in the kitchen works, he walks upstairs and puts all his papers in his briefcase, he turns off the computer, he takes his briefcase downstairs and puts it on the kitchen bench, he sits down.

Its 7pm in the evening
He takes a ciggirette from his breast pocket, he puts it in his mouth, he takes it out of his mouth, he throws it at the rubbish bin, he misses, he stands up and goes and picks up the ciggirette, he drops it in the bin, he goes back to his chair and sits down.

It's 8pm at night
He glances at the coffee in the sink, he keeps working for a few seconds, he glances at the coffee in the sink, he keeps working for a few seconds, glances at the coffe in the sink, he stands up, he runs the cold tap untill all the coffee has been washed away, he turns off the tap, sits down, he hears a drip, he glances at the cold tap, it's dripping, he keeps on working for a few seconds, he glances at the cold tap, it's dripping, he keeps working.

It's 9pm at night
He takes a clearfile out of his briefcase, he opens it, he takes the sheet of paper out of the first pocket, he lays it on the bench, he takes the sheet of paper out of the second pocket, he lays it on the bench, he picks up the sheet of paper from the first pocket  and puts it in the second pocket, he picks up the sheet of paper from the second pocket and puts it in the first pocket, he closes the clearfile and puts it back in his briefcase.

It's 10pm at night
He feels his cellphone vibrate in his pocket, he takes it out to check the message, there is no message, he puts the phone back in his pocket, he takes the phone out of his pocket and navigates to his inbox, there are no unread messages, he puts the phone back in his pocket, he takes the phone out of his pocket.

It's 11pm at night
He glances at the cold tap, it's stopped dripping.

It's 12 pm at night
He checks the time on his watch, he checks the time on his cellphone, he checks the time on his watch, he checks the time on his cellphone, he checks the time on his watch, he changes the time on his cellphone to match the time on his watch.

It's 1am at night
He sees a spider crawling along the kitchen bench, he slaps his hand down on it, he looks at his palm, there is dead spider on it, he stands up, he goes to the sink and washes his hand, he dries his hand on his pants, he sits down and looks at the bench, there is dead spider on it, he stands up, he opens a drawer and takes out a cloth, he cleans the bench, he walks down the hall to the washing room and puts the cloth in the washing machine, he walks down the hall to the kitchen, he sits down.

It's 2am at night
He takes his wallet out of his briefcase, he opens the coin pocket, he empties the coin pocket onto the bench, he organises the coins into ten cent, twenty cent, fifty cent, one dollar, and two dollar piles, he organises the coins into piles each valuing one dollar, he counts the piles, he puts the coins back into the coin pocket, he puts his wallet back into his briefcase.

It's 3am at night
He yawns.