Cut to three months ago ...

Cameron had been sitting on the barely-beige couch he'd somehow held onto since college and watching his latest DVD from Netflix. It was "Key Largo," the one with Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. The mid-day sun was casting an annoying glare on his 13-inch television, causing him to occasionally drift into daydreams about what he would've done if he found himself holed up in a hotel with Bacall during a hurricane.

He'd told his girlfriend Sara that he'd be at the university today, using the computer lab during public access hours to update his resume and gather phone numbers for the job hunt. Instead, four hours after he'd intended to start and one hour after the lab closed, Cameron found himself lapsing in and out of consciousness while Bogie showed Edward G. Robinson just who was in charge. He couldn't really blame himself, though; I mean, seriously, when would he have time to watch a classic of film noir like this again?

Over the space of 10 minutes, during one of those long, playful dialogue exchanges, Cameron shifted himself from sitting up to leaning on one elbow, then laying with his arm under him, then on his back with his head to the TV, then, eventually, to asleep at 2:45 p.m.

After who knows how long, his eyes awoke from their stupor after hearing ...