"The little girl climbed to the top of the jump tower and looked down at the lake. She wasn't afraid..."
Her brother had been taking her up there, secretly, for the past two years, showing her how to conquer her fears and plunge into the waters below.
She recalled a conversation she had with him. She confided that although she wanted to do the dive from the jump tower, her mom wouldn't let her get anywhere near it. "But I don't understand," her eight-year-old voice squeaked out. "Does she want me to be afraid forever?"
"Sadie," her brother said. He, at the time, was 15 and had been diving off the tower for years. "It's not that she wants you to be afraid. She doesn't want you to get hurt."
"So, I'm never going to learn how to do it?" Exasperation tinged her words. She dropped her head. She wanted to cry.
"I never said that," he responded. He stepped close to her and put his hand on her shoulder. Her head popped up. Looking into her wet eyes, he said, "No. What's going to happen is I'm going to show you how. But it has to be a secret."
