"Ready, set..." Go was supposed to be the next word, but I didn't hear it. All I heard was the rush of wind as we flung ourselves out the door of the twin-otter airplane. It's the sound you hear when you're falling 120 mph straight down.
" 'Go' to you means head back, hips forward. Then I'll give you the signal to pull your arms out." Lyle's instructions seemed a little simple to me on the ground. Too simple.
There's the signal. Arms out. This is amazing. It's hard to breathe. The
straps feel like they're about to cut me in half. My lungs have no room to
expand. Am I really falling? The ground seems so far away and I'm suspended
in space. Just hanging here.
(Wave to the camera. Hi mom... This is amazing.)
Sign here. Initial there. Yes, I agree to sign my life away. Sign here. I have no rights. Initial there. Yes, I acknowledge that Skydive Sebastian is in no way responsible for anything (initial), anytime (initial), anywhere. Sign there. No, I will not attempt to sue. Initial here. How can you sue if your dead? Print name, sign below.
A fist flies in my face. What was that? There it is again. Oh, yeah, time to pull. Look first. There it is. Just grab it and pull and...SWOOSH... JERK. Wow. Silence. This is amazing.
The parachute is out. I'm not going to die. Did I even think about that? No. Why not? Am I crazy?
"Do you like roller coasters?" Lyle put my hands in the toggles.
"Yeah." I just jumped out of an airplane two miles above the earth and he's asking if I like roller coasters?
"Pull hard right"
There's the right, pull hard. Here we go - instead of slowly drifting to the ground, let's spiral faster. Have I mentioned this is amazing?
The ground is coming fast now. Feet up. Will we hit hard? When do I put my feet down? Will we fall? Will we... oh, wait, we've landed. I'm okay. Yes!
"Congratulations!" A hug for Lyle.
"How did you like it?" A hug for Tony.
"It was great! I did it!" A hug for myself.
I came, I saw, I fell, I lived to tell about it-
Amazing isn't it?
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Copyright © 1995-1998 Carl P. E. dos Santos All rights reserved |
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