-The Management
“Okay, breathe in real deep. Close your eyes and… Fly!” Jennifer felt strong hands on her back push hard. She felt like a cartoon character: Her chest shot off the edge of the cliff first, the rest of her body followed, snapping back into form like a rubber band.
Now
she was falling: Headfirst, arms at her side, face molded into a look of grim
determination. The waves were crashing at rocks at the bottom of the sheer
cliff she’d been pushed off of. She fell for a few more moments, the wind
rushing through her hair before she began to scream. The determined look
vanished, replaced by one of terror, her arms flew from her sides and her hands
covered her eyes.
And
then the rushing wind stopped. Jennifer’s long frazzled red hair fell over her
eyes.
Jennifer
looked up at the man who had caught her, he looked down at his little sister,
clearly annoyed, “Jen, are you even trying
anymore?” He asked, “Or have I become a personal bungee cord for you?” The pair
were floating lazily up the side of the cliff; Jennifer was cradled in the
young man’s arms, her left arm draped around his neck.
“Well,
I’m sorry!” Jennifer said, frustrated herself, “But you’re not really giving me
a lot to work with here. You’re shoving me off and just yelling ‘fly’” She made
a flapping motion with her hands as she said the last word, “I’m sort of new at
this and your ‘baby bird method’ isn’t really working too well, Desmond.” The
two reached the top of the cliff and Desmond pulled his arms from Jennifer and
let her fall in a heap to the grass-covered earth below.
“Oh,
yeah, and I’ve been at this, for what? Three hours now?” The night prior Desmond
had had one of those falling dreams; the ones where you wake up right before
you hit the ground, and he’d done just that, only when he woke, he’d found that
he’d rolled out of bed. Not particularly fascinating of its own accord, it
happened often, this time, however, instead of landing face first on his
carpet, he’d found that he’d simply floated above it. Upon further inspection
he’d found that he could float freely through the air simply by thinking about
it: He could fly! He hadn’t touched the ground all morning for fear he wouldn’t
be able to do it again. “S’not my fault I’m a prodigy,” he touted smugly. Jennifer
glared enviously at the empty air between his feet and the ground from her
position in the grass.
She
let a long burst of air escape her lips, “’Prodigy?’ You couldn’t even do it
again if you touched the ground. You don’t know how you did it.”
“That’s
exactly what I’m talking about, Jen.” Desmond ran a hand through his hair, “I
don’t know how I did it. How am I supposed
to teach you? Now, please, can we get out of here? We’ve been at this all day
and we won’t make any progress until I have some
idea how this works.”
Jennifer
stood up in front of him. She was just a
little shorter than him. She began brushing off her sun-dress. “Okay, fine.
Just let me try one more time. “
Desmond
hesitated, “One last time, then we’re out of here.”
“Oh,
and I don’t want you to catch me this time.”
“Are
you kidding? Out of the question,” Desmond said immediately, “If something happened
to you, I don’t know what—“
“You
don’t have a choice!” Jennifer lunged
at him, grabbing him by the shoulders and forcing him down onto his feet.
Desmond’s knees buckled. He hadn’t stood on his legs all day and it had taken
its toll, he reached out helplessly as the red-headed girl bolted past him and
dove off the cliff, smacking into his shoulder as she went and sending him into
a spiral that left him facing the opposite direction on the ground.
What
followed was the most deafening silence Desmond had ever experienced in his
life.
And
then a scream shattered it.
That
scream.
The one that meant she needed to be caught.
Desmond
began to well up. His legs were throbbing from their sudden exposure to his own
weight. He crawled over to the edge of the cliff and summoning all his courage
forced himself to look over the edge.
He
was rewarded for his efforts by a fist to his jaw.
Jennifer
had stuck her fist upward super-hero style as she’d flown past him, not
expecting him to stick his face out. The blow had knocked Desmond onto his
back. He found himself staring up at the girl floating above him. “Des, I did
it! Did you see!?”
Desmond
rubbed his jaw, “Yeah I saw you little brat!
Get back down here!” She stuck her tongue out at him. “I said get down here. We’ve got to get home!”
“I’m
just going to fly.” Jennifer jeered, “Why don’t you?”
Desmond
fumed, “I swear, if you come anywhere near me, I’m throwing your ass to the ground.”
On the way home, Jennifer made it a point to keep her distance from her
brother.
