midnight
The neighbors were people he liked -- Anne and Farley Dennerman . He had known them all their lives . But they were odd and brooding , too , this night and he barely listened to Dennerman 's complaints about not being able to get good phone service or his wife 's comments on the disgusting variety of television commercials they had these days . Burckhardt was well on the way to setting an all-time record for continuous abstraction when , around midnight , with a suddenness that surprised him -- he was strangely _ aware _ of it happening -- he turned over in his bed and , quickly and completely , fell asleep . On the morning of June 15th , Burckhardt woke up screaming . -LSB- Illustration -RSB- It was more real than any dream he had ever had in his life . He could still hear the explosion , feel the blast that crushed him against a wall .