The Fire

Our house caught fire at 2am. I was the only one awake — I had gotten up for a glass of water, something I almost never do. I got my wife and three children out. The fire chief told me that if we had all been asleep another ten minutes, he did not believe we would have all made it. I have thought about that glass of water every day for four years. I did not decide to get up. Something woke me. I got up because something woke me and I am not able to describe it any other way.