So did my family. Normally, I was up at first light, but that morning I slept until almost eight, then barreled into my parents' room to belly flop between them on the bed. Given my unusually late awakening, no one gave a thought to my sister's failure to appear at the breakfast table. It was past nine when my mother finally declared that the time had come to rouse her. The rest plays through my mind in a garish slide show.
Scenes shift with a jarring click and flash of dislocating light.
The air rent with my mother's ungodly scream. My father bolted from the kitchen and raced down the hall to Julie's room. His frantic words came like ax strikes. Call the ambulance. Wake up, Julie.