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"I don't know," replied Charlie, resenting her uncle's anger. She felt this was not her fault.

"He was cleaning the gutters," volunteered Mrs. Jacobs. "I saw him up there, plain as day!"

"Who gave him that bright idea?" sneered Jerome, glaring at Charlie.

"I did," mumbled Vera. "I thought it would be good for him," she explained. "He needed something useful to do."

The doctor opened the door and Chuck came out, his head bandaged.

"He's going to be all right," announced the doctor, patting Chuck on the back. "Just a superficial wound. It looked worse than it really was. However, he did suffer some concussion, so I don't want him sleeping tonight. Someone needs to stay up with him and keep him awake."

"I'll do it," volunteered Charlie.

"No, I'll stay up with him," interposed Jerome.

"Tomorrow isn't a school day," reasoned Charlie.

"What I say, goes," commanded Jerome.

Charlie bit her lip. For her father's sake, she would remain quiet, and not make the situation more unpleasant for him than it already was.


For the sake of convenience, Jerome took Chuck to work that night, that is to say, he dragged Chuck to Mullen-Overholt. Jerome reasoned that the night shift could keep an eye on his younger brother while he got some sleep.

Carol Lentz, acting Assistant Director of Nursing who had the weekend shift, protested that her staff had enough work to do without the added load of taking care of someone whom they were not professionally responsible for. Realizing he wasn't going to receive free help after all, Jerome stayed up with Chuck, watching TV together in the small living quarters behind Jerome's office. It was such a peculiar break from Jerome's routine, that he didn't even notice Adam's absence or their usual chess game.


Sunday morning, on her way to church, Charlie stopped by Mullen-Overholt to see how her father had fared. She found him fast asleep on Jerome's couch, after having stayed awake the entire night.

At church, Charlie saw Adam sitting in his usual place, with his sister and the boys. Charlie tried not to stare, but Adam's eyes were half closed, as if fighting off sleep. His eyelids shut, his head jerked forward, and he would awaken. This happened so many times during the course of the service, that Charlie's heart went out to him.

After the church service, Charlie overheard Shirley scolding Adam as they filed out the door.

"If you tried harder to stay on a normal sleep schedule, this wouldn't happen!"

"Honestly, pastor," said Shirley, shaking hands with the minister, "I don't know what I'm going to do with him!"

"I thought he fought it valiantly," smiled the pastor, shaking hands with Adam.


Monday, when Charlie came to work, she found Adam's house in an unsettling disarray. Books littered the living room floor. "How to Learn Spanish" was open on the coffee table, as was "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" and "The World's Hardest Crossword Puzzles." In the kitchen, it looked as though no one had done the dishes for the past two days. Charlie went upstairs and found Adam's bed still unmade, the sheets twisted as though the occupant had had been tossing and turning, instead of sleeping.

Suddenly, the phone rang. Angrily, Charlie picked up the receiver to scold the caller for doing this to her friend. To Charlie's surprise, the caller was a young woman.

"Who is this?" demanded the young woman.

"I'm Charlie Overholt, and I think what you're doing to Adam is cruel!" said Charlie, indignantly.

"Where is Adam?" asked the caller.

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