First Sight (25 page)

Our coworkers were cheering us on
by this point
, and I heard Kristen shout
ing
for us to hurry. 
Jeff jumped down from the top of the ramp onto the soft grass below. 
As
he
reached up to help me
d
own, I caught a glimpse of Travis on the sidelines, looking slightly forlorn as Jeff’s hands gripped me around the waist, helping me
jump safely to the
ground
.  There wasn’t time to
wonder about
Travis’s expression
now though, as we still had to finish the
course
. 
The last part was a simple potato sack race, probably just designed for fun after the hardest part of the challenge.  We each grabbed a bag and hopped our way to the finish.  Jason was standing there, stopwatch in hand, when we came across.  Jeff finished ahead of me, but I was close behind. “Three minutes and
seventeen
seconds!” Jason shouted.

“Wahoo!”
one of my female coworkers shouted
.

It turned out th
at
Jeff and I had the fastest time so far, but several other teams
still
had to go. 
He high-fived me, and
I collapsed onto the grass,
ready to sit back and watch the others now that my turn was over
.

Travis wandered over and sat down beside me.  “Not bad, Smith,” he
said
with a grin.

I laughed and raised my eyebrows. 
“Oh yeah?
  Think you can beat our time?”

“Probably not,” he admitted with a chuckle.  Travis had ended up with a middle-aged woman
named Margaret
fro
m our office.  She was nice but
didn’t really
seem like the type
who would
dive head first into
an obstacle course. 
She was slightly overweight and
more someone that you would pick to chit-chat with and have a fun conversation over coffee in the break room than to be your teammate for a physical competition. 
Luckily Travis was good natured enough that he’d probably still have fun even if
they had little
chance of winning.

We heard cheers
and looked up to see
the next team climbing up the ramp and over the wall.  I
t was Kristen and a
tall, lanky
guy from our office
named Dave that
I didn’t know very well.  They both jumped down from the wall and raced toward the last leg of the course.  I
laughed as I watch
ed
them struggling to quickly step into their potato sacks
and hop their way to the finish line.  Of course I realized that I had probably looked equally ridiculous doing the course.

“Well, looks like I’m up next,” Travis said,
jumping
to his feet.  “
Coming to
watch?” he asked, holding out his hand to help me up.

“You bet,” I said with a grin.  I reached out and
felt
his strong hand wrap around mine, and in one swift movement,
he quickly pulled me up
.
  We walked over to the start of the obstacle course, where
Travis’s partner Margaret
was waiting.

“
It looks like it’s our turn
,” she said to Travis.
  “Hopefully I won’t slow you down too much,” she said with a chuckle.

“Oh, I’m sure you’ll do fine,” he said warmly.

I stepped back with my other coworkers to watch the start of the race.  Travis was practically bouncing up and down full of energy and ready to go.

“Ready, set,
go
!” J
ason called out, starting the stopwatch.

Travis and Margaret raced through the tires
, starting off
at
a good pace.  Travis shimmied through the tunnel faster than her, but
Margaret
looked like she was having fun and trying. 
I was sure that climbing up the ramp was going to be her undoing, and as she attempted it and ended up sliding back down, I could see that I had been right.  Travis had already made it to the top when she held up her hands in defeat.  “I’m sorry, I just can’t do it!” she said with a little laugh.

“Keep going!” our instructor Jason called out.

Margaret laughed and walked
away
, calling out another apology to Travis.  I
t was evident that the race was indeed over.

Travis jumped down from the top of the ramp and came walking over to where a group of us stood.  The last two contestants were getting ready to
run the obstacle course
, but
most of my coworkers were already eyeing the zip
line in the distance.

“So much for that,” Travis said with a laugh as he walked up.

“You looked like you were making pretty good time, man,” Jeff said, clapping him on the back.

“Yeah, guess we’ll never find out for sure.  Scaling that ramp was pretty cool though.”

“You’re having way too much fun,” I
said
with a laugh.

“Maybe so,” he
agreed,
a twinkle in his eyes. 
“
I’m really looking forward to
the zip line
, though.
”

“Uh yeah, me too,” I joked, knowing he would never believe it.

“Oh
,
you’ll do great
Maddy
,” he said with a smile.
  My eyes locked with his for a moment, and I wondered how he knew that I was scared and to reassure me.

“
All right
,” our instructor Jason
interrupted
, “
The winners are…Kristen and Dave!  You’
v
e earned bragging rights with the rest of your coworkers.”

There was a little whooping and hollering going on
amongst the others
.  Jeff joking
ly
groaned and glanced over my way. “So close!” he said.

I smiled sympathetically. 
“So close, and yet so far.”

“Hey, at least you guys finished,” Travis said.  “Maybe after this zip line thing,
obstacle course,
you and me,” he said, grinning at Jeff.

“You’re on!”
Jeff answered
,
his
eyes lighting up.

Unbelievable
, I thought.  Most of us hadn’t even wanted to do
the course
, and these two were
already
dying to have at it again. 
I
looked back over to
Jason
, realizing that we were missing the beginning of his instructions regarding the zip line.  “
…s
o
each of you will need to wear a climbing harness
.” 
He started handing
them out
, and
as I looked at
mine,
I wondered exactly
how
to put it on and what we had missed while we were talking
.  A few minutes later Jason demonstrated
how they worked.  As
I slipped mine on
, h
e
came around and
checked to make sure everyone had theirs secured pr
operly
and then
led us over to the
zip line area
.

Jason walked up the ramp to
the wooden platform, which was
connected to the cable bridge.
“All right,”
Jason called out from atop the
platform, looking down at our team.  “
Once you get up here,
y
ou’ll cross the cable bridge to the start of the zip line.  I’ll be up there to secure you in
,
and then gravity will do the rest.
”
  He grinned again, and I glanced nervously at
Elizabeth
.
  I was somewhat relieved to see that she didn’t exactly look thrilled either at the idea of going down the zip line.

“How many of you have been zip
-
lin
ing
before?”

Travis raised his hand—of course.

“All right, you’re going to go first then.  I want you to help everyone unhook their harness from the ropes after they
reach the bottom
.”

“Sounds good to me,” he said with a grin.

“Does anyone have any questions before we be
gin
?” Jason asked.

“What kind of cable is that exactly?” one woman asked nervously.

“That is a steel cable 3/8” thick,” he
answered
matter-of-factly.

“
Has anyone ever gotten injured before
?”
Elizabeth
asked.

“On the zip line?
No.”

Elizabeth
and I looked
uneasily
at each other again.  What exactly had someone gotten injured on?  There was no time to find out now, because Jason had begun ushering people up the ramp to the cable bridge.

A few minutes later Trav
is was already
safely
on the ground, another man and woman from our office had
gone
down, and it was now my turn.
  Jason attached various hooks and ropes to my harness as I
mentally prepared myself to go
.

“Have you
been down a zip line before
?
” he asked as he made some adjustments and tested everything to make sure it was locked into place.

“Never,” I said nervously.

“
Don’t worry,
it’s really easy. 
As soon as you’re ready just step off the platform.  You’ll have a nice easy ride down and a great view of the forest on the way
.”

My hands started to sweat as I nervously walked over to the edge of the platform.  I knew Travis was down there
waiting at the end of the line, but I was too
scared
to even look for him
.  My heart started pounding in my chest
, and I wondered if it was too late to turn around and go back the way I’d come.  I could
probably just walk back across the bridge and then down the wooden ramp from the platform
.  How embarrassing would that be though if I was the only one who didn’t complete the task?

“Hold onto this tightly,”
Jason
said, gently tugging on the rope
that was attached to the pulley
and bringin
g my mind back to the present.

I nodded uncertainly and gulped, feeling shaky.  I vaguely wondered how I’d be able to hold onto the
pulley
and enjoy the ride
on the way down if my hands and legs were shaking. 
The fact that I would be tethered to the pulley did little to ease my mind.  The longer I stood here, however, the more the panic was starting to rise in me. 
I felt so high up in the air and vulnerable on this little platform, I was actually starting to want to get down as quickly as possible, even if it meant using the zip line.

“
Don’t look down, just hold on
tight
and step off
whenever you’re ready
,” Jas
on
said patiently.

I clutched the
handles on the pulley
as my heart pounded
,
and
holding my breath, I took a little jump off the platform.  The ground started moving beneath me and trees rushed by as I glided through the air
along the zip line
.
I shakily let out my breath and realized that i
t was actually kind of fun if I didn’t think about falling
and the fact that only a little rope or cable or something was securing me
to the zip line
.  I was so high up
in the air,
but there was no way to stop now
, so I tried to ignore that thought and instead just focus on the freedom of soaring through the trees.
I just had to hold on until I reached the other end of the line
, and then I would be done.

“You’re doing great
,
Maddy
!” Travis called out from below.
I watched as he got closer and closer, and I realized that I had actually done it. 
Before long I was
descending the last few
yards
and my feet shakily touched the ground.
I stumbled forward from the momentum I’d gathered, and
Travis grabbed onto my arm to steady me
.  M
y hands shook as I immediately reached for the
carabiner
to unhook the rope.