title: Falling Out of Bed in a Room with No Floor
author:  Terence Winch 
description: See my blog posts and essays on the Best American Poetry site:<br /> <br /> thebestamericanpoetry.typepad.com/the_best_american_poetry/terence_winch/
zlib_text: **She stepped off the bottom step and almost tripped over an uneven patch of
  floor.**
  
  She aimed the beam of light at where the window should be. What on earth? A
  bookcase blocked out her expected light source. Miles was the only one who
  could have done that, but why would he? The cold penetrated deeper, spurring
  Hope toward the furnace. Her foot caught on something soft but unyielding. She
  stumbled and ended up sitting on the _something_. Her hand recognized the
  contours of a mattress. A mattress that should have been stuffed in a corner,
  not lying out in the open. Once again, she sent the light spiraling over the
  basement, but nothing else seemed out of place. She brought the beam back to
  shine on the mattress and _a body_.
  
  Her heart beat triple time before she recognized the body resting on its side,
  a scant two feet from her hand. Miles! Why was he sleeping in the basement and
  not upstairs? Her hand reached out toward his arm.
  
  Should she wake him or let him sleep? Common sense wo