“A pulsating energy... It’s kind of making me sick to my stomach.”
“I don’t feel a thing.”
“Lucky you. Anyway, how do we get off this damned roof?”
“We go there,” I said, pointing to the roof of the building next door. There was a three-foot gap between the buildings, which wouldn’t have seemed like much if we were on the ground. Four stories in the air, though, three feet seemed a lot farther.
“There?” she asked, as the pounding on the door increased.
“You got a better idea?”
We ran over to the side of the building. “Jump. You can do it. It’s only three feet,” I said to Patience.
“My seventh-grade gym teacher told me one day I’d be glad she made me do the broad jump. I really hate that she was right.”
“You’re stalling,” I said. “I’ll go first.”
I summoned up my courage and jumped as far as I could, clearing the gap by at least a foot.
“No sweat,” I said. “You can do this. Now come on, I’ll catch you.”
Patience hesitated another moment, then took a deep breath and jumped. I grabbed her as she landed, and we ran for the roof door.
Locked.
“Dammit!”Patience said, examining the knob. “This one’s beyond bobby pin technology. Now what? Eventually we’re going to run out of roofs to jump onto.”
“We have to go down,” I said, running along the side of the building and looking over the ledge. “There. A fire escape. See it?”
“Are you kidding me? That’s at least five feet down!”
“Go over feetfirst. By the time you let go of the ledge, you’ll be almost at the fire escape.”
“You say that like you know what you’re talking about,” Patience said. “Do you do this regularly?”
“Justgo,” I urged her.
Patience sat on the ledge of the roof, rolled over on her stomach, and gradually lowered herself until she let go. A second later I heard a loudthud.
“Are you all right?” I said, peering over the side.
Patience was sprawled on the fire escape, glaring up at me. “I landed on my butt,” she said. “Ow.”
“But you looked graceful doing it,” I replied.
Patience snorted. “Your turn, Wonder Woman.”
I sat on the edge of the roof, rolled over onto my stomach, and slowly eased myself over.Props to Patience,I thought. It took a lot more courage to do this than I had realized.
“Let go,” Patience called out. I took a breath, released my grip, and landed lightly on my feet on the fire escape, thanks to Patience’s steadying hand.
“When this is all over, you’re buying me a drink,” Patience said. “Probably more than one.”
“Deal,” I replied.
“Now what?” Patience asked.
“Go inside, I think.” A large window faced the fire escape. We tried raising the window, but it was locked.
