How Boys Think

Lesson #16: The Most Trifling Firefighters in the Entire Firefighting Force

Time froze for me and all I could think was No!

She was falling, falling, falling...and then she wasn't. Just like that.

At the exact same moment when Nani's hands slipped free, Caiden lunged forward and grabbed one of her arms, anchoring himself to one of the other bars that made up the giant machine's skeleton. And she stopped falling.

My breath caught in my chest: they were both dangling over open air now and there was no way Caiden would be able to support their combined weight. Something needed to be done. Now.

The firemen were on it. They extended the ladder as far as it would go with someone already at the top of it, ready to help the two down. Problem was, it wasn't quite tall enough. Nani and Caiden were dangling were too high up and not close enough to safely drop down. One of the firefighters had a blarehorn.

"EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OKAY. BUT IN ORDER FOR US TO GET YOU DOWN, YOU NEED TO CLIMB DOWN TO THE LADDER. CAN YOU DO THAT???"

CAIDEN

Climb down????  Was this guy for real?

I felt like I was being torn in two. Nani was dragging down my left arm and my right arm was reaching its limit trying to hold the both of us. Gravity was not in a good mood today and as my muscles screamed from the overexertion, I actually considered the idea that we both might die tonight.

Mina would be devastated. Her best friend would be gone forever. And Christian...sometimes we might hate each other and we may wish the other one was dead sometimes...but I could never really imagine living without him. He was a part of me, whether I liked it or not, and if something happened to him it would kill me. I didn't know if it was the same way for him, but I didn't want him to have to find out. I didn't want either of them to go through that, Mina or Chris. I had to save us.

I looked around desperately. Climb down, he said. Climb down. The bar I was holding on to jutted out at an angle. That was why we were over open ground. But the bar was a part of others that descended, at that same angle, toward the ladder, and then curved back up to form the giant wheel. If I could just get Nani closer....

"Nani!" I called out. She looked up at me, brown eyes wide with fear and I saw that she was sobbing. I pretty much felt the same way and was surprised I hadn't wet my pants yet. "Do you trust me?"

"No!" She called back, sounding choked.

I had to grin at that, even though the situation was far from funny. "Well, given that the alternative is early death by concrete, I don't think you have much of a choice!" I nodded at the bars with my chin. "You see those? If I swing you over enough, you think you could latch on enough to climb?"

She glanced over and I could see her fighting panic. "No! No I can't! Please Caiden! Don't drop me!"

"I'm trying not to!" I called back. "But I can't hold on for much longer. If we don't do something we're both going to die soon. Come on, Nani! You can do it! I promise!"

She swallowed and looked up at me, her eyes tearing up again. I was wondering what the hell I was going to do if this didn't work when I saw it. I saw her make the decision to trust me and the hand holding us both up almost slipped right then.

She nodded. "Okay! Do it!"

Gritting my teeth and attempting to ignore the tortured wails of my muscle tissues, I tightened both of my grips and started swinging her. "One...two...three!"

She attempted to reach for the bars, made contact, and then slipped. I almost let her go, having expected her to get the bar, but I readjusted my grip in time. She screamed and grabbed at my arm with her other hand, desperate tears sliding down her face.

"Caiden, I can't do it!!!" She wailed.

"Yes you can!" I called back. "Nani! You can!"

"I can't!!!"

"You can!"  We were running out of time and I could feel my own panic rising but I squashed it down. She needed reassurance. She couldn't see how terrified I was or she really would never be able to do this. "Nani, look at me," I said. "Do I look afraid?" I smiled down at her, hoping to God I didn't look like I was about to shit myself. "Nani...you can do it."

She took a breath and nodded. "I can do it."

"I'm going to swing you again. Are you ready?"

She looked like she was steeling herself. "Yes. Do it!"

I swung her again. "One...two...three!"

She latched onto the bar with her free hand and held on tightly. "I've got it!"

"Good! Now I'm going to let go of your other hand and when I do, grab on with that one two and find a bar for your feet. Can you do that??"

"Yeah!"

"Letting go in three...two...one!" I released her and I watched anxiously as she quickly latched on with her other hand and found purchase with her feet as well. I exhaled. Thank God. "You're doing great Nani. Now just climb down. Slowly and carefully. Down to the firefighters. It's not far, just put one foot down after the other."

I reached up with my other arm and grabbed the bar I was holding and swung myself so that my feet made contact with another bar below me and started climbing down as well.

We made our way down at an extremely slow pace, and by the time we made it to the ladder, my arms were shaking from exhaustion.

"It's okay, honey, we've got you now," One of the firefighters were saying to Nani as he helped her down from the ferris wheel. I was next. "Come on, son, we've got you."

Once we were on to the ladder, they retracted it, saving us the trouble of climbing down something else. When we were once again safe and sound on the ground and the crowd erupted into cheers and Mina and Christian engulfed us in hugs, Mina with and tear-streaked face and Christian looking more pale and terrified than I'd ever seen him before, I looked up at that goddamn death trap they called a ride and thought that those firefighters had to be the most trifling firefighters in the entire firefighting force. Why the hell couldn't they have brought a longer goddamn ladder????

A/N: My dearest readers...I am in extreme disgrace. Three long months and no update....I won't even attempt to apologize. But I do hope you enjoyed this one. Don't be afraid to let me have it in the comments. Pretty sure I deserve it...