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It usually took him less than three minutes to fall asleep, but his heart kept up a high, tympanic rhythm in his ears. He lay there concentrating on his heartbeat, the blood throbbing through his body. Finally he blanked his mind and in a few minutes sleep took him over. No more thoughts. And, please, no dreams. |
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At 3:48 he woke with a start. |
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At first he could not determine the disturbance or put together the sounds. Terry was in the same position on her side, still in a deep sleep. |
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From the hall, a strip of light under their bedroom door. Matty was in the bathroom. |
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There were muffled sounds, then the toilet flushing. The light was out and Matty was back in bed. The only sound was the quiet flow of water in the pipes refilling the tank. |
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But by now he was fairly sure that the sounds he had heard were Matty being sick, throwing up. |
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He thought about getting up and checking on Matty, but he just could not exert himself. Sleep had begun to reform around him like a cocoon. He nearly slipped away when another voice reminded him that he had drunk two glasses of water before he came up and that he might as well pee, since in a hour his bladder would wake him up. He jerked himself out of bed. |
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Terry rolled onto her back but remained asleep. Before turning into the hall bathroom, he stuck his head into Matty's bedroom. The room was black except for the phosphorescent glow of the plastic skull on Matty's nighttable. Calvin had bought it for him one Halloween. He could hear Matty's breathingit was louder and wet-sounding. The heaviness of the sound was startling. If he hadn't known his twelve-year-old son was in there, Calvin would have thought the bed was occupied by a grown man. Maybe he had picked up one of those twenty-four-hour flus. |
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Calvin shuffled into the bathroom. He flicked on the light and squinted into the mirror. He looked like hell. His face was pale and puffy. |
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He pulled himself out of his pants and lifted the lid of the toilet. |
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A thin gasp squeezed out of his throat. Like a plastic toy that defied flushing, something lay at the bottom of the bowl. |
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