Dec 19th, Marco

Marco was distressed. The bills this month were more abusive than in the previous one, his job as a door-to-door salesman wasn’t going well, and his mother had found yet another boyfriend.
He was pissed. Walking on the street alone, the damp air leaving a heavy atmosphere. Oh man, he was really pissed. Moments before he had been sitting on a table in a cheap restaurant telling his own mother that she ought to behave her age. Well, she was dating a guy younger than him. It wasn’t good for her.
Marco felt tired. Looking at a shop window he regret getting so old in so little time. Ten years in five. He combed his hair with this fingers. He analysed his growing beard. His strained eyes. How much is there in my pockets?
He hopped onto the first bus to the suburbs. There, he entered a bar and drank to his hearts content. He didn’t have enough money to pay, so the bar owner told his thugs to give Marco a lesson. They beat him up, knocked him unconscious and threw him into the town’s lake. Marco was found later, smiling.