As he toppled on the edge of the bed it seemed that he must fall head-first
to the floor. But consciousness fluttered up in him. He righted himself
and for a moment perilously balanced. Then he struck the floor on his
feet. On the instant his mother seized him by the shoulders and shook him.
Again his fists struck out, this time with more force and directness. At
the same time his eyes opened. She released him. He was awake.

"All right," he mumbled.

She caught up the lamp and hurried out, leaving him in darkness.

"You'll be docked," she warned back to him.

He did not mind the darkness. When he had got into his clothes, he went
out into the kitchen. His tread was very heavy for so thin and light a
boy. His legs dragged with their own weight, which seemed unreasonable
because they were such skinny legs. He drew a broken-bottomed chair to the
table.

"Johnny," his mother called sharply.

He arose as sharply from the chair, and, without a word, went to the sink.
It was a greasy, filthy sink. A smell came up from the outlet. He took no
notice of it. That a sink should smell was to him part of the natural
order, just as it was a part of the natural order that the soap should be
grimy with dish-water and hard to lather. Nor did he try very hard to make
it lather. Several splashes of the cold water from the running faucet
completed the function. He did not wash his teeth. For that matter he had
never seen a toothbrush, nor did he know that there existed beings in the