“Let me guess. He’d gone to make a phone call.”

I nodded. “Two, actually.”

I told Trixie that when Paul reappeared at the top of the stairs, I opened my eyes all the way. Angie nearly screamed, and when she did, Paul almost slipped down the stairs himself. I pulled myself into a sitting position. Angie asked me what had happened, was I okay, and Paul was telling me not to move, an ambulance was on the way.

“An ambulance?” I said. “What the hell did you call an ambulance for?”

“I thought you were dead! Aren’t you hurt?”

I shook my head violently. “No no no! I’m fine. Can’t you see that I’m fine? I was just trying to teach you guys a lesson about leaving your goddamn backpacks at the top of the stairs. How many times have I told you not to do that?”

“I don’t know, Dad,” said Paul. “How many times have we told you not to pretend you’ve killed yourself?”

“I can’t believe you,” said Angie, who was pulling away from me. “You’re totally whacked.”

Paul was shaking his head slowly, then stopped suddenly. “Oh, shit.”

“What?” I said.

“I guess I better call back Mom.”

“You called your mother?”

“When I saw you lying there dead, yeah, I thought she might want to know.”

“Jesus Christ,” I said. Who knew that my son was going to act so responsibly, calling 911, getting in touch with Sarah. Kids can let you down in the strangest of ways. “You have to call her back,” I said. “Tell her I’m okay.” And then it hit me. “The ambulance! Call back the ambulance! Tell them not to come.”

Paul started to move, then stopped. He looked very pissed. “I’m not calling the ambulance.”

“What?”

“You call them. You explain it. I’ve had enough of this bullshit.” He came down the stairs, grabbed his backpack as he went by, stepped over my outstretched legs, and went downstairs to play video games.

“Way to go, Dad,” Angie said, getting up to go into the kitchen.

In the distance I could hear a siren. I jumped up, ran into the kitchen, and dialed Sarah’s number. I got one of the other editors on the desk.

“She just flew out of here,” he said. “Her husband was in an accident or something.”

“This is her husband.”

“It’s Zack, right? It’s Dan. We sat together at the Christmas party? Jeez, how are you? Are you okay? You at the hospital or something?”

“I’m fine. Do you think you could find Sarah, catch her in the parking lot before she heads home?”

“I don’t know, she left here a couple of minutes ago and she was really moving, you know?”