| |
Zack sat in the front passenger seat next to Sadie. They started the morning driving into the blaring sun as it rose, their route straight east for a while until they turned and continued south-easterly. The drive, thankfully not as long as yesterday, proved just as tedious until the landscape began to change as they neared Big Bend National Park. Chasing Sunset signs marked the way once they turned onto the scenic tour road.
“Since I won’t get another chance, I must tell you,” Truman said from the back seat, “you two don’t seem to hate each other. I’m not sure what happened to cause you guys to separate, and by now I know better than to ask, but you both seem like really nice people. I hope whatever happened you’ll be able to work through it.”
Sadie kept her eyes on the road. “Thank you.”
“Thanks, Truman.” Zack thought about the camera and microphones always being around. In a way, it’d made this adventure easier than it would’ve been. The buffer of the show between him and Sadie, and their refusal to discuss their issues, forced them to put everything aside.
Since this was the last day of filming, he had no idea what tomorrow meant. Students officially returned to school in three weeks and his two-a-day practices started in one. At the race’s end, he’d ask Sadie where they stood. When the cameras and microphones no longer hampered their communication, he had to know if anything had changed for her.
She took a hard right. A short distance down the road, they entered the parking lot of a visitor center and parked next to four white SUVs. The modest visitor’s center was set before an amazing expanse of hills and mountains. The building had an orange roof, floor-to-ceiling windows, and glass doors. The sparse landscaping encompassed a few trees, sprouts of green grass amidst dry dirt, and healthy cactus plants.
They rushed to one of the blackboards scattered around the rest area. A crossword puzzle was drawn in white on the front. They stepped around to see the other side listed thirty-five questions about the race to decipher the puzzle. They’d hopefully been paying attention at the right times for the right things.
He read the first question. “One across. Chapel Creek Ranch has the largest breeding facility for these horses in the U.S.”
“The answer is PRE, Pure Raza Espanola,” Sadie answered.
He glanced around. “We’ll have to keep our voices low so the other teams don’t hear us.”
“I’ll answer the ones I know and you do the same. We’ll see where that leaves us.” She grabbed a stick of chalk and scooted around the panel.
They kept a continual circle going around the blackboard, reading the questions and writing in the answers. By the end, they had only two clues neither of them could solve, but letters from the other answers on the crossword helped, and they completed it.
Once their official checked their work, she pointed toward the back of the building.
At the corner of the visitor center, SKYDIVER and HIKER signs greeted them.
“You’ll finally get a chance to skydive,” Sadie said.
His friend Kasey had invited him many times. Zack’s job always got in the way. Kasey often started his reality show by skydiving into different locales. “I thought you might want this challenge?” he teased.
A genuine smile lit her face before she took off.
He ran toward the waiting ATVs, each with an official behind the wheel and a cameraman in the backseat. He sat in the front and buckled up. They drove over rough terrain for twenty minutes before arriving at a spot where helicopters waited.
He’d ridden in one before. It’d been his grandmother’s graduation present to him. He and Cal went together and had a blast. Although Zack hadn’t met Cal’s mom until he was a teenager, he loved her like he’d known her his entire life. She was sweet, patient, and kind—all things grandmotherly.
One of the helicopter’s blades started rotating. Zack’s official and cameraman led the way, both hunched over because of the incredible wind from the blades. They entered first and pointed for him to sit up front. The pilot saluted him. Once Zack settled, seat belt on and headphones in place, the pilot revved the engine and lifted off.
Classical music played over the headphones when the pilot wasn’t talking to the tower.
Zack searched the ground, seeing no one. He wondered what Sadie might encounter on her hike. On the drive and at the visitor center, warnings of snakes and other creatures were posted everywhere. At least a camera operator and an official would be with her.
Within ten minutes, a small airport came into view. The pilot set the helicopter down two football fields behind one of the hangars and grinned. “Runways are for beauty queens.”
Zack laughed. “Thank you.” He raced into the massive hangar. Four contestants had already arrived. They sat on overturned buckets facing a huge monitor on the wall. An instruction video played. He wasn’t sure how much of it had already played, but no one else got up when the video ended and looped back to the beginning.
Once he’d watched the entire thing, he rose and approached the people by the door with Instructor written on their shirts. A guy, who looked Zack’s age and had a similar build, stepped forward. “I’m Lewis.”
“Zack.”
“Nice to meet you, Zack.” He walked out of the hangar and motioned toward a row of picnic tables. Some of the other contestants, along with other people, were jumping off the tables and landing on the ground.
Lewis said, “We ask everyone to jump from the tables to test their athletic ability.”
Someone let out a yelp. Zack glanced over to see a young girl, who didn’t look old enough to be out of high school, on the ground holding her ankle. Lewis murmured, “Many people arrive thinking they want to jump or have been dared into coming. When going through the training they rethink things. I have to wonder if there’s anything wrong with her foot.” He pointed to a free table. “Jump a few times.”
Zack climbed onto the indicated table and jumped off, repeatedly, while Lewis spoke.
“I’ll be teaching you tracking. It allows you to freefall horizontally. You’ll be putting your arms and legs out like you’re belly-flopping into a swimming pool. How to land is another skill. While it may not feel like it, once our parachute opens, we’ll still be traveling around thirty miles an hour. It’s a big change from one-hundred-twenty during the freefall, but faster than most people have ever experienced outside of a vehicle.”
He knew they would be going fast in the air and when they landed, yet that fast? He stopped before jumping again and inhaled a quick breath.
Lewis must have noticed. “Don’t worry. It won’t be any worse than sliding into home plate. It’s all in the right way to land. We are obligated to tell you everything that could happen and give you lots of warnings. Don’t let them stop you from enjoying the experience.”
Zack hopped to the ground again.
“We’ll be diving from around thirteen-thousand feet and our freefall time will be forty to fifty seconds,” Lewis explained. “I’ve been jumping since I was fifteen. My dad was an avid skydiver and couldn’t wait for me to try it. I’d never before, or since, felt the total freedom and adrenaline rush as when I’m in the air. I served on an aerobatic skydiving team for six years. We put on areal expeditions all over the world.”
“Were you one of the people on the video?” Zack asked. There had been a clip during the instructions where a group of divers, with cameras on their heads, jumped out of a plane, then hoovered together and linked hands before they started doing somersaults away from each other. Another shot showed someone going straight down, head first.
Lewis nodded. “When I first started diving, I couldn’t believe how positive everyone was. The community around the sport is amazing. And formation skydiving is tremendous. I’ll be friends with those guys I worked with until the day I die.”
Zack thought about his best friends and how they’d bonded while playing football during their first year of high school. Maybe all sports made teammates brothers.
“Different paths lead individuals to skydiving, but we’re all looking for the same thing. The thrill. The rush. The tandem skydiving we’ll be doing will allow you to enjoy the experience. This lesson won’t cover everything you need to master the skies. It will ensure you’re comfortable and confident. This is why tandem is a great first experience. If you do forget a step, I’m here to remind you. So make the most of this. We’ve also got the added bonus that Chasing Sunsets will have a camera person filming our descent. I made sure you could get a copy of the footage. Do you ever plan to dive after today?”
“I guess it depends on how today goes.”
“Indeed,” Lewis agreed.
“I have a buddy who skydives often and is always asking me to go.”
“At least this will give you an introduction. If you decide to go with your friend, I invite you to watch the video from today and see what steps you remember. If you go only once again or if you become an avid skydiver, it will be helpful to see where you can improve. Plus, if you become an expert, you’ll love watching that virgin descent.”
After Zack’s tenth jump off the table, Lewis led him to another smaller building and began explaining about parachutes. “Safety comes first. There are on average only ten deaths a year out of more than three and a half million jumps. It’s one of the safest extreme sports out there. Of course, if you don’t like heights, that’s another matter. My girlfriend won’t even consider it. She keeps telling me, ‘I’m grounded for life.’”
Zack grinned. “My wife would say the same thing.”
“Yeah, but neither of them would be the best partner for the owner of a skydiving facility.”
“You’re the owner?”
“I am. I’m just not sure for how long.” Lewis frowned. “The rising price of fuel and constant maintenance on the planes, not to mention the insurance premiums, is a bit more than I anticipated. I moved to Big Bend and opened this business to live my dream. I think sometimes dreams aren’t enough though.”
When was the last time Zack dreamed of the future? He couldn’t imagine one that didn’t include Sadie. Yes, he’d continued with life after she left, going through the motions on autopilot. He wasn’t steering though. He didn’t have control. He wasn’t directing his life. He simply wanted his wife back.
Sometimes dreams aren’t enough. Lewis’s words echoed and reverberated in his mind like the constant irritating hiss of a snake.
~
Confident and sure-footed, Sadie hurried along the dirt and rock trail set between areas of brown, dead grass with a few healthy green patches mixed in. The occasional shrub and tree were backdrops to the abundance of cacti. The hot sun in the clear blue sky had begun its descent, taking with it a bit of the heat. On her way up the winding footpath, she passed Jude and Lowell, who still had a slight limp from the day in the caves. Her chest felt a bit tight as she steadily inhaled and exhaled. Convinced there’d be a route downward somewhere, she forged ahead. Truman and an official documented her progress.
The terrain changed to large stones in a pattern that reminded her of an amphitheater. Step after steep step, her shins began to burn. How high were they expected to go?
Finally, she ascended to an expanse of flat land. A scenic view of the other hills and mountains surrounded her. Workers waited at different spots, each next to a tree bridge suspended with ropes and cables that crossed a canyon to another mountain.
She spun toward her official. “Is there another way?”
He shook his head. “You must cross here to complete the hiking task.”
Without giving herself time to think, she marched to the first empty spot. A woman helped her into a body harness while a young guy rigged up her safety equipment while giving instructions. She listened carefully and kept her attention on him instead of on how far the bridge extended.
“You’re ready.” The guy backed away.
I’ll be fine. Don’t look down.
Sadie boldly put one foot in front of the other and started across. The suspended bridge swayed underneath her. She kept a white-knuckled hold on to the rope rails, her gaze fixed straight ahead.
A loud screech startled her.
She bobbled and crouched low, still on her feet.
Everything in her wanted to turn around and run back the way she’d come.
Zack’s words from the second day of the competition ran through her mind. We can’t go back in life. We have to go forward.
The tree continued to shift.
The less time on this bridge the better.
Gripping the ropes tighter, she pulled herself up. As she straightened, the tree swayed worse. Her body tilted. In an attempt to regain her balance, she leaned toward the other side.
The movements started small, then became more exaggerated. Each time she went farther to the left and to the right. Left. Right. Like a tightrope walker off balance, her body spastically wobbled one way and then the other.
She couldn’t stop.
She went too far left. Her body extended over the railing, and she looked down.
A jagged rocky creek with shallow water yawned far below.
Look up. Look up. Look up.
No matter what she said to herself, she couldn’t take her eyes off the canyon bed. As she continued to jerk back and forth, the pointy, spikey, sharp stones shifted in her vision like a disjointed movie reel.
“I believe forgiveness is the best form of love in any relationship. It takes a strong person to say they're sorry and an even stronger person to forgive.” ~ Yolanda Hadid