Читать книгу Down to Earth - Melanie Rose - Страница 6

April 2002

Blood pounded in my head and I thought I might be sick at any minute. The parachute felt surprisingly heavy on my back as I followed Ingrid through the hangar doors and out into the bright, spring sunshine. Ingrid, who had been making little quips and jokes during the six-hour training session, had fallen ominously silent as we followed the jumpmaster towards a light aircraft, which was parked a short way away on the grassy field.

‘Maybe we should have waited until more of the group could make it.’ I swallowed nervously, wishing I was anywhere but here right now. ‘The whole office signed up for this and now there’s only the four of us.’

One of my mum’s favourite sayings flickered into my mind; be careful what you wish for, sometimes the cosmos is listening.

Shaking the thought away with a tremor of unease, I glanced over my shoulder, pausing in mid-stride to let Graham, the red faced, rather rotund chief administrator catch up to us. I wondered briefly if he’d lied on his ‘declaration of fitness’ form. If not, he must have only just squeezed within the 15 stone limit for a solo static line jump. In Graham’s wake dithered the angular Kevin, the youngest and newest member of our group. He’d only joined Wayfarers insurance company a few weeks ago as an IT support technician and had been keen to sign up to what the boss had billed as a ‘team-building charity parachute jump’. Looking at his pale face now, I wondered if he was questioning his decision.

Kevin definitely looked as sick as I felt, but before I could commiserate I realised his eyes were fixed miserably on the back of Ingrid’s flaxen head. My best friend, in true Ingrid-fashion was sticking close to the jumpmaster and as she turned and tossed her silky hair, I could see her blue eyes dancing animatedly on his.

‘She’s nervous, that’s all,’ I managed a weak smile as Kevin lowered his eyes to the ground as if unable to watch his office crush flirt a moment longer.

‘Yeah, right,’ he mumbled under his breath.

Matt, our instructor and jumpmaster was helping Ingrid into the plane. As she disappeared inside the small white hull, he turned his grey eyes on me and held out his hand. My pulse quickened a little further as I placed my hand in his. He reminded me a little of the French footballer David Ginola, but younger, somewhere in his early to mid-twenties, around my own age, I guessed. He had been kind but thoroughly professional all morning as he’d put us through our paces. He gave my hand a light squeeze.

‘Don’t look so worried, Michaela, you’ll be fine. The first time is scary, but I promise you’ll love it.’

Yeah, right, sprang to mind again but as I looked into his eyes I found that I believed him.

‘Just remember the briefing video and your roll technique for landing. And do everything I tell you, when I tell you. You have to trust yourself to me, OK?’

He fished a scruffy piece of paper from his pocket and tucked it into the breast pocket of my jumpsuit. ‘My phone number,’ he whispered conspiratorially. ‘Maybe you’d like to have a drink with me sometime.’

I thought fleetingly of my boyfriend Calum, the love of my life, waiting at home, but I nodded anyway; there was no harm in a friendly drink. ‘Maybe – if I survive.’ I stepped up through the hatch, catching the side of my hand on something sharp as I clambered into the plane and squeezed myself into the seat next to Ingrid who was fastening her helmet in place.

She grinned at me nervously. ‘Cute isn’t he?’

Gripping my hands in my lap to stop them from shaking I nodded again, realising as I did so that a thin line of blood was seeping from a small cut on the side of my palm. ‘I suppose he is.’

Graham and Kevin were scrambling up in front of us and almost as soon as we were all seated the pilot revved the plane into life.

‘What the hell was I thinking?’ I said louder than I intended, shutting my eyes as the plane jolted and bucked over the short grass. ‘I can’t believe I’m doing this.’

‘You’ll be fine,’ Matt yelled over the roar of the engine. ‘It’ll be the experience of a lifetime!’

Tentatively opening one eye to peer out of the open hatch, I glimpsed blue sky streaked with wispy, white clouds. The aircraft engine roared noisily in my ears and I wasn’t sure whether my body was trembling because of the aircraft’s vibrations or because of my heart, which was thumping wildly in my chest.

The pilot called out to Matt. The ground staff had just reported that the wind and our position were exactly right. We were over the drop zone; it was time to jump.

Graham, I noticed, despite his earlier bravado seemed to be praying silently and under the circumstances I decided that praying wasn’t such a bad idea. Scrunching my eyes shut I put aside the fact that I hadn’t thought of God for a very long time and entreated the Almighty to forgive me for this folly, praying that I would survive the jump intact.

Whether his silent entreaties to God had given him strength or because he was ever the valiant leader, Graham inched towards the exit with a jaunty thumbs-up, and on the count of three from Matt, jumped blithely out into space.

I watched the wind buffet his jumpsuit as he leapt, catching a fleeting glimpse of his arms and legs spread wide as we’d been taught, before he disappeared from view. But before I had time to register anything else, Matt was guiding Ingrid to the doorway, where she lingered, fingers tightly gripping the edge of the hatch, her body rigid with fear.

‘Three, two, one, now!’ Matt shouted, and Ingrid leapt out after Graham with a screech of terror that resounded in my ears and rolled around my stomach like an express train.

Matt was beckoning me over but I shook my head. ‘No, no way.’

‘I’ll go,’ Kevin slid past me, balanced himself in the gaping doorway, and in a moment he too was gone.

Matt was looking at me.

‘I can’t do it,’ I quaked. ‘I really can’t.’

‘The pilot is coming in for another pass,’ Matt called over the howling wind and the drone of the turning plane. ‘You’ve done all the practice drills, you know what to do …’ He reached out and lightly touched my arm. ‘If you don’t want to do it you don’t have to, but I can guarantee you’ll be disappointed with yourself later if you don’t.’

Every instinct told me to grab his comforting hand and hang on to it for dear life, but I knew he was right. If I didn’t jump I’d be letting my sponsors down. Not to mention the heart foundation who were expecting my contribution.

My colleagues would be on the ground by now, their jumps completed. ‘Please, if there is a God,’ I mumbled as I scrambled towards the doorway, ‘don’t let me die.’

‘Now!’ Matt yelled.

And, with a great gulp of breath, I tumbled outwards into the void.