Whoa! Didja get the numbers off that truck?!?

October 25, 2004 - 10:11 p.m.

I woke up flat on my back, looking up.

I was flanked by Son1 and Son2. They were looking down at me. This was not a vantage point I was used to. Normally I'm the one looking down.

They had concerned looks on their faces. Gradually the blanks began to fill in. Thirty seconds ago I was standing next to the couch. Thirty seconds before that I had decided to get up off that couch and go to bed. The last part of Philadelphia was winding down and I wasn't interested in the end. I was merely answering the call of my bed from upstairs. I was trying to relay the strange feeling that had come over me, as they watched with strange looks on their own faces.

Feelings returned to my arms and legs in that instant. I was winding back the time line in my head, trying to find the missing part. The part between standing and then waking up looking at the ceiling.

Son2 said my arms and legs were trembling, I didn't remember that part. Son1 had put a pillow under my head. I decided to just lay there awhile and collect my thoughts.

This was not like me. This stuff doesn't just happen. I couldn't figure out why. I'd felt fine all day, I was just supremely tired. Was that it?

After becoming bored with the scenery from this vantage point I decided to get up. Slowly. I was on my feet, feeling normal. Then everything started to fade again.

I was on the floor again, a little further along. Son2 had pulled the big leather chair away from where it had been, close to the wall. Apparently I had landed upon it, then rolled to the floor. I felt the convulsions this time in my head, but Son2 didn't notice any this time. Musta just been me.

I was quickly growing tired of this. I just wanted to go up the stairs, take out my lenses and go to sleep. At this point the stairs just seemed like another challenge. So be it. Up we go.

Sons one and two followed me cautiously up the stairs as I trudged into the bathroom and popped out the plastic discs. I joked about how the bathroom was the most dangerous places in the house to crash, all those unforgiving hard surfaces. Ha ha, they weren't laughing.

I gratefully fell back into my bed, pulled back the covers over me and considered my fate. For an instant I thought what a last night on earth would feel like.

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