I tried to force myself to go to sleep, but there was morning light streaming in my window, and as tired as I was, I only felt more awake, lying there. Finally, I did something I hadn’t done in years. I bent my knees, pivoted my body, and planted my feet on the wall beside my bed. One foot at a time, I walked up the wall, with my arms braced under my back, until my feet were up near the ceiling and my back was arched. It felt strangely good to be upside down. It also felt like I was a little kid again. Sam and I had done this together, back when we still shared a room. It had been a contest, to see who would fall first. Almost always, Sam lost, but he was such a good sport about it. I remembered how it felt to be upside down, my face turning red. I remembered telling Sam jokes, so that he’d laugh and fall first.

I let my back go limp and flopped down hard on the bed. Thunk and rattle . . . I sat up and peered around my room. What was I going to do all day? No phone. No computer. No TV. Nobody to talk to. Until who knows when. What was I going to do all day? Lie there, going crazy?

I got out of bed and changed into a clean pair of shorts and a fresh shirt. Then I wandered around for a minute, looking out the window, staring at the furniture, trying to think of something to do. At last, I walked over to the bookshelf, to see if there was anything I wanted to reread, but nothing looked good. Half the books were super old. Ivy & Bean. Toys Go Out. Baby books. I should have gotten rid of them by now.

I sat on the floor in front of my bookshelves, and one by one, I started to pull the little-kid books down and stack them. For a while I stayed distracted like that, leafing through the books as I sorted them. When I was finished, I only had two shelves of books left that I wanted to keep. Around me, the floor was covered with old paperbacks.