Every day starts exactly the same. Each day he wakes, pulled from the warm darkness into the cold, harsh light. Each time it is a little harder to let go of the darkness, his body screaming against the pain of consciousness. Each day he feels as though his body is on fire, it is worse than when he had been a child and had gone out into the snow without his gloves and his mother had held his hands near the stove to warm them.
Each day he wakes surrounded by strangers, watching him as though he is one of the freaks in the travelling shows his parents used to take him to. Each day they ask him the exact same questions, in the exact same order, looking at each other proudly when he gives them the answers they want.
Each day he is poked and prodded. Each day they take vials of his blood and tell him to piss into little plastic pots.
Each day the team changes, people die and are replaced; apart from the American. He remains the same but his eyes get older, dimming. They used to be a vivid blue, so full of vitality, now they seem a bit more dull, hold a bit more pain and a bit more regret.
Every day the fashions change, it's hard for him to keep up with them and to be honest he doesn't really want to, although he hadn't minded some of the ladies fashions (girls going out wearing nothing bigger than belts to hide their modesty).
Even though the team he awakes to change, they remain the same. Always speaking to him as though they are just humouring him. They go through the motions of keeping him entertained, act as though they actually care, but he can tell they are just waiting for the moment they can put him back to sleep until the next day comes along. Until Toshiko.
Toshiko is different to the others, she is there with a smile when he wakes and sits with him through the endless tests and needles. She always seems nervous as though she's scared that he might reject her; as if he could!
She reminds him of the girls back home, sweet and shy. It seems wrong that she should be working in a place like this; she should be at home being taken care of by a man that loved her. His heart twists when he thinks of her with another man, but what can he offer her? One day out of 365? The knowledge that every day could be the day that he has to return home?
Although he has nothing to offer her he decides that he will court her, he will make her feel as special as she makes him feel. He knows this may well be the last time he gets the chance. Each day he wakes from his cold slumber his welcoming committee changes, none of them remaining longer than a week, their disappearances swept away without explanation. He may not have much to offer her but he can offer her his love for a few more days. Today he will kiss her; today he will tell her how he feels.