“Let’sgo!” J said and started walking along the edge of the gorge. “Just be careful,everyone,” he said but looked at me.
Itonly took us a few passes to reach the tree where the rope cable was attachedon this side of the river.
“Arewe sure it works?” asked Peter.
“Yeah,I checked it,” said Patrick. “Fynn and I did a perimeter check two weeks ago.Tried it out. Runs smoothly.”
“So,who’s going first?” asked J, looking around.
“I’lldo it,” said Patrick, stepping to the large tree a few IPs away from the edge. Thethick metal cable was attached to a small mechanism on the tree, and itstretched over the river to the tree on the other side. On our side, the cable couldbe positioned higher or lower on the mechanism, making the attachment siteeither higher or lower than the cable attachment on the other side of theriver.
Patrickpulled few small ropes on the mechanism to raise the cable higher. Then hereached down to his bag and took out a leather harness with a metal wheel and multiplebelts. He hooked the wheel of the harness on the cable and sat in the leather slingwhile J checked all the bindings.
“Peter,could you please have a look too?” said J and stepped back.
Rick,standing close to me, explained, “They always do double or triple checks with thingslike that.”
Inodded, not looking at Rick, my eyes fixed on the cable system. This just seems life-threatening.
“Goodto go,” said Peter.
Patrickswung away from the edge. There was a high zipping sound as he slid down therope, shouting over the noise of the river rushing through the gorge.
“Whyis he shouting?” I asked out loud.
“It’sfun!” answered J and smiled. Once we could see Patrick on the other side, J pulledthe ropes of the mechanism to bring the cable attachment to the lowest position.
“Youwant to go next?” he asked me.
Ishook my head.
Jtilted his head, looking at me. “Dora, why don’t you? If you stay here and keeplooking at people sliding down, you’ll get more and more nervous. Come, I’llhelp you in.”
“Inwhere? There’s no seat!”
“Thereis now.” He smiled as the leather sling slid back along the cable. He kneltdown with one knee and held the sling open for me. I came closer.
“Youneed to put both feet here…” He looked up at me. “I’ll hold the sling.”
Ilifted one foot and aimed for the gap in the leather seat, but I lost mybalance and stood again on both feet.
“Holdonto my shoulder,” he said.
Iblinked at him twice. He wants me totouch him?
Istood still.
“What?”he asked.
“TheIP, mate,” said Peter.
“Ah,the IP…” He nodded to Peter and then looked back at me. “Okay, can you just tryand forget about the IP distance for a moment… or two, or three?”
Hegave me an encouraging smile.
“Okay,”I said in a low voice, as he positioned the sling again.
Isqueezed my jaw and very slowly put my palm on his shoulder. His shirt was thin,and I could feel his skin stretching over his shoulder muscles.
Hiseyes then moved away from the sling and shifted up my body until he was lookingat me in the eyes.
Iswallowed. My heat started racing; I could feel it in the veins of my neck. Mylegs all of a sudden became very weak, and once again, I felt this yearning somewheredeep inside me.
What was that?
Imoved my hips slightly and voluntarily squeezed my pelvic muscles to release thepressure. He tensed his jaw muscles and swallowed, then lowered his gaze to thesling he held open for me. I put one foot in and then the other. J stood up,not looking me in the eyes. My hand was still on his shoulder. I somehow… forgotto move it away. He arranged the harness so it reached my hips and tightened theband at the front. As he did that, he also pulled me closer to him, and then—helooked at me and I looked at him. For a moment, time stood still, our eyes gluedto each other’s.
Myheart was beating wildly from him being so close, from feeling his skin undermy palm through his thin shirt. I had the feeling that my stomach was filledwith a thousand bubbles, hundreds of them bursting at the same time. Littleblack dots started appearing at the edges of my vision, and I was afraid I wouldsoon lose consciousness if we stayed close like this.
“Guys,you’re all cute, but we don’t have all day!” said Simon.
Weboth dropped our gaze. J took a deep breath, and then he moved behind me tofasten one more strap. I looked down at my hand that had touched him, still dazzledby this tactile experience.
How can the body have such aninfluence on the mind?
Ilifted my head, closed my eyes, and relaxed the tense muscles in my body.
Jmoved around to my front again.
“You’reset,” he said in a low voice. “Peter,” he turned and called with a strongervoice, “could you please check the straps?”
Iopened my eyes just as J stepped back to give Peter space.
Petercircled around me, touching and pulling a few straps to check the hold. “Aye,good to go,” he said and moved away.
Jcame closer and gave me the smile. The one I’d seen him do in my Visions, theone no one else did quite like him.
Iwanted to sigh, but I refrained.
“Areyou ready?” he asked.
Inodded. “I think so.”
“Youdon’t need to hold on, the straps work fine. But you can hold them if it givesyou comfort.”
Igrabbed both straps attached to the cable and nodded.
“Itstarts slow, but then picks up speed halfway down,” he explained. “Don’t worryabout it; it will slow down again before you reach the other end.”
Inodded again and looked down the cliff one more time.
“And—youneed to jump to get going.”
“Jump?”I repeated, disbelieving.
“Yeah,jump. Would you like me to help you?”
“Help?Me?”
“Yes—wouldyou like me to give you a little push?”
“No!Thank you. I will manage,” I said as I looked down to the rushing water.
“Andit doesn’t help if you look down. Just look straight to the other side.”
“Yes,”I said, half automatically. “Just straight.”
“You’llbe fine,” he said and smiled again. “See you on the other side.”
Iattempted a smile, probably failing
