Off-kilter

Not yet completely awake, but with a mini-essay fully formed in her head, Fiorella rose straight up and hurled herself out of bed--into the arms of total vertigo.

Momentum impelled her against a wall and she stayed there for a long time. If this didn't pass, she'd have to call to Husband, still sleeping, for help.

She should have known better. Usually she wakes slowly, staying in bed for as long as an hour to sample the morning. When she finally does rise, mindful of the day-long vertigo that ensued when she rose straight up from a doctor's examining table once, she always turns to the side and lifts slowly.

She's semi-okay now as she writes. Husband was allowed to continue sleeping. All will be well in Casa Fiorella--if she remembers to be careful about the way she rises from a recumbent position.