Mrs. Patel pulled out her phone. “I’m calling Jason to get out here.”

“He won’t answer,” I whimpered, staring at the dark living-room window of my own house. “Just call an ambulance. Please.”

She did. The paramedics arrived eight minutes later, gave me painkillers, stabilized my arm in a splint, and loaded me into the ambulance. As we pulled away, I looked back at the house.

I could see the faint blue glow of the television on Jason’s silhouette. He was watching a basketball game.

The emergency room was a blur of fluorescent light and the hum of X-ray machines. The attending physician, a kind man with tired eyes, came back with my scans and a grim expression.

“You’ve suffered a severe radius fracture, Elena,” he said, pointing to the jagged break on the film. “We’re putting you in a heavy fiberglass cast. Strict instructions: no heavy lifting, no driving, no strenuous domestic tasks.