I could lie in bed as long as I wanted. It was the toilet flushing that woke me. Of course, as soon as my brain registered the sound, I drifted back to sleep, and the next time I surfaced, everything was quiet again. The thing that brought me back to consciousness permanently was the front door. Slam! My body jerked and my eyes flew open. I squinted at the clock. It was 10:40. I had at least another good hour of sleep left in me. Then the bedroom door burst open and the room started to vibrate. “Get up, you lazy slug,” Dad boomed. The words and volume were familiar, but the voice was way too cheerful. I cracked open an eye to make sure it was really my dad. I was still pretty groggy, but I could have sworn he was smiling. I rolled over and put the pillow over my head. Dad pulled it away. “Come on,” he said again, jostling the bed with his knee. “Get up. I need you to help me.” “With what?” I mumbled into my mattress, making a last-ditch effort to hang onto sleep. He ripped back the blankets.
