4 THE FIRST DAYMichael awoke from the best night's sleep he'd had for months several minutes before the alarm he had set on his tablet buzzed. He had had a dream that he wanted to remember, so he reached for the notepad that he carried with his tablet and wrote it down. It was a habit that he had adopted as a teenager. He would have had quite a collection of them by now, if he had had somewhere safe to store them. His stepmother had thrown the first thirty-odd years' worth out a little while back and there was a bundle in Thailand, but they wouldn't last long.
He got up and went to the bathroom, but couldn't resist a glance out of the window while passing. He smiled at the thought that if he were in a film or a book, his character would pinch himself, but he had never heard of anyone doin
