SUNGLASSES AND ROCKETS Part 1 : New Moon

TRAPEZE ARTISTS

"Pants?" my friend dared to ask.

"Quick!" the doctor urged.

A sharp pull was felt. I arranged myself so I could look downwards. The doctor had descended with everything and Darwin's pants: now his jeans were hanging around his ankles.

Meanwhile, the stairs came closer to us again. In a surprising act of gymnastic ability, the doctor locked a foot onto the steps. For a moment, thanks to the acrobat, we remained joined to the stairs as if we were a support bracket, and almost at the same time, I felt myself freed of some weight. The staircase began to move away, with the doctor fastened to it.

"Darwin!" the doctor yelled, "You're next!"

A moment after swinging away, we neared the stairs again. I could make out the doctor, stretching out an arm. Darwin did the same. All of a sudden, a dry, metallic noise could be heard. Darwin had been rescued.

His pants still hung around his ankles.

"It's your turn Vanessa!" Uncle Moses announced.

My beloved was rescued.

Then Felix took care of throwing down the backpacks, one by one. Darwin and the doctor caught them and fastened them to parts of the structure.

Once the equipment was secure, it was my turn to jump. I noticed that Vanessa was watching me from the edge of a platform, and Darwin was finishing going up the stairs. They were both safe. I felt distressed.

"It's your turn," Felix told me, "hold on to my ankles."

I lifted my head. I saw him use his pocket knife to cut the rope that fastened me to that of the harpoon. Before I could object to that method, I fell towards his boots. Just then we crashed against the wall —my head bounced off with a sound like a coconut. Felix gave a vigorous shove with his boots against the wall, and, in the blink of an eye, the stairs approached.

We got closer, but not enough.

"Let's go, Gordo! You can do it! Don't faint!" my beloved could be heard crying out; the tone of her voice, one of authentic affliction, encouraged me.

This time I joined Felix in shoving vigorously. I supported my feet against the wall and pushed with the energy of a gigantic frog. In a matter of seconds, the stairs came rushing to meet us at a dizzying speed. There was the doctor, reaching out his arm. The crucial moment was getting closer.

"Now!" shouted Felix.

I flung myself with the drive of a kamikaze pilot, and I went colliding into the doctor. I held on to wherever I could. I tore his shirt.

"You've made it," he said, putting his hand up to his cheek bone.

I almost knocked him out!

"Careful!" the doctor exclaimed, all of a sudden.

A knee hit my headviolently, like a cannon shot. Felix wassafe.