My sister pushed me down the stairs at 8 months pregnant. “Apologize for making her angry,” mom demanded as I bled. “You know how stressed she is with her divorce.” I apologized. Then I made one phone call. They had no idea what I would do next…

at the bottom, she was on her side, one leg bent wrong beneath her, cheek pressed against the carpet runner where it met the hardwood floor of the entry hall. For a moment she could hear nothing except a high thin ringing inside her skull.

Then the house returned.

The television murmuring from the living room, where her father had been watching a college continue reading …