Read Before I Wake for Free Online Page A

sure why. “That’s just…Simon’s got a different way…”
    â€œNo, it’s not that. You shouldn’t have had to find out…”
    â€œFind out?”
    â€œKaren,” he stumbled a little on my name. “I would have given it more time.” He sighed.
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œThere have been some developments.”
    â€œDevelopments?”
    â€œI didn’t have a chance to update Sherilyn’s file before your husband read it. Your daughter’s already started to exhibit the symptoms of pneumonia. We upped the antibiotics last night…”
    â€œThen?”
    I will not cry I will not cry I will not cry I will not cry…
    â€œListen, Karen, we’re going to take her for some tests this morning. CAT scans, MRI, neurological responsiveness, that sort of thing. We’re gonna be gone for a few hours. Why don’t you go home, get something to eat, try to get a little sleep. I know that you…that neither of you got any sleep last night.”
    More than anything the doctor recommended, I needed to talk to Simon.
    SIMON
    It was strange: coming home didn’t feel like coming home. Something was wrong. Different. The house itself was unchanged, almost everything the way it had been when I left for work the day before. There was a small pile of laundry in the middle of the living room, a basket of unmatched socks and underwear in front of the couch, a half-empty cup of coffee on the side table. A pair of Sherry’s shoes next to the laundry basket.
    Karen had done the breakfast dishes. The cloth hung sloppily over the neck of the faucet. A pool of water edged a chicken she had left to thaw on the counter. I picked it up and threw it into the garbage under the sink, washing my hands in hot water after, straightening the cloth over the faucet.
    The bathroom light was still on upstairs, a towel in a wet ball in the corner. I turned off the light.
    Sherry’s door was open, her floor littered with stuffed animals and brightly colored toys, a little undershirt on the unmade bed, another pair of shoes on the blue carpet nearby.
    It was only as I set my briefcase down on the floor of our bedroom that I realized what I had been feeling since coming through the front door. This wasn’t home anymore.
    This house was where I lived, where my family lived. This was where we had brought Sherry from the hospital, where we had planned and laughed and fought and cried and made love, struggling to conceive. This bed, these clothes, the office just off the bedroom, all of this was mine, ours. Or had been.
    My life had changed in a moment, a dividing line between before and after. The house was before: unfamiliar to me now in its strange silence, like a garment belonging to someone else. Fundamentally alien despite its near-perfect fit.
    Leaning over the bed, I pressed the Play button on the answering machine to stop the red light flashing.

    Â 
    â€œKaren honey, it’s Mom. I just got your message…oh my…it’s 1:30, Wednesday afternoon. I’m calling the airline right now. I’ll call you right back…I love you both…I’m praying for you.”
    Â 
    â€œKaren, it’s Jamie…from the paper. Todd just pulled something in on the scanner…is everything…listen, I’ll try later…I hope…I’ll see you soon.”
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    â€œMr. or Mrs. Barrett, it’s Kent Lutz calling from CFAX Radio, Victoria’s News Authority. I was wondering if I could speak to either of you, or both of you, about what happened this morning. You can reach me at…”
    Â 
    â€œKaren, it’s Todd Herbert from the Sentinel . I really hate to be calling at a time like this…”
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    â€œKaren, it’s Mom. I hope everything is okay…the earliest flight I can get is Friday morning…I’ll be flying Air Canada…I’ll take a cab from the airport into town. Call me,