Strutting across the stage in fishnet
stockings, her long silky legs draw all the attention away from
me. She leans forward, extending the torch, which is now
accompanied by a tremendous whooshing sound of the wind-blown
flames. Almost in slow motion, I see the flame jump from the
torch to the diesel-soaked rope, quickly igniting it. Within
seconds the rope’s roaring like a blast furnace.
I unsuccessfully struggle to take a full
breath, coughing slightly after inhaling some of the diesel
smoke. “Concentrate. Try to relax,” I repeat
to myself in silence.
With a sudden jerk the crane kicks into high
gear and the cable hoists me upside down, by the ankles. Looking
downward, I see the ground pulling away rapidly, surprised at
how quickly I’m pulled higher and higher into the sky.
Twenty feet – I see the people in the
audience very clearly from this height. Some have their arms
crossed firmly, some applaud and cheer; others simply stare,
their mouths wide open. Beginning my struggle against the
straitjacket wrapped so tightly around me, I attempt to force my
arms away from my body – the attempt is in vain. The jacket
doesn’t give a millimeter.
Sixty feet, and still rising – my body
weight pulling down heavily on the hemp causes the rope to start
untwisting slightly. Spinning slowly in a circle, I become aware
of every motion, every slight twitch and pop of the burning
fibers.
“Get out of this,” I say to
myself. “You’ve got to get out!”
Wrenching sideways, I feel the rope make a sudden lurch down,
frightening me. Time is ticking by as I make my way skyward.
Eighty feet – losing my sensation of the
crowd, my concentration now turns to the wind. With each gust it
sways me slightly back and forth, creating red-hot flames and
billowing a continuous cloud of black smoke into the blue sky.
My eyes follow a small rainstorm of flaming diesel whipped away
from the rope by the blustering air. Falling toward the earth,
each droplet disappears, consumed by the flame long before
smashing into the pavement below, leaving only a tiny trail of
smoke as proof of its existence.
One-hundred feet – with all the blood
rushing into my head, I feel a kind of euphoria. Losing the
upside down sensation, I feel as though the world around me is
inverted. For a brief moment my mind begins to wander,
contemplating the vastness of the space around me and suddenly I
feel very alone.
