Sunlight spilled across my face, waking me as it filtered through my eyelids. I opened my eyes in a daze, feeling a tickle on my cheek as though something were pressed against it.
Frowning, I cautiously rolled over and sat up, looking down to find Alice sprawled out right beside me. Her sleeping posture defied description—she was lying upside down with her head at the foot of the bed and her feet where her pillow should be. One of those feet had just been resting against my face, and even now, her little foot was twitching involuntarily. Encased in yellow sleeping socks, it looked remarkably like two wriggling bananas.
"A-li-ce!" I whipped the blanket off her and shook her awake from her dreams. Alice shook her head, sleepily wiping a trail of drool from the corner of her mouth, and blinked her big, watery eyes, utterly failing to grasp what was happening. It wasn't until she caught my expression—half-exasperated, half-amused—that she snapped out of it, offering a guilty, awkward smile. "Hehe... hey, Dad, you came to wake me up so early today..." As she spoke, she squirmed and wriggled, struggling a little defensively.
Chapter 30