-/* Has a timer tick occurred? */
-static volatile sig_atomic_t wall_tick;
-static volatile sig_atomic_t monotonic_tick;
+/* Has a timer tick occurred?
+ *
+ * We initialize these to true to force time_init() to get called on the first
+ * call to time_msec() or another function that queries the current time. */
+static volatile sig_atomic_t wall_tick = true;
+static volatile sig_atomic_t monotonic_tick = true;