9
Our salvation dangles above us. I’m unsure if it’s a stairway to heaven, or the snake in the garden of Eden. It is tempting. All we have to do is grab it.
The silhouetted head reappears over the canyon’s edge.
‘Are you coming or what?’
A female voice? I pull on the rope, the tension is taut.
‘What choice do we have?’ I say. I eye up Pip’s weedy upper body. ‘Will you be able to pull yourself up?’
‘Top of my gym class,’ he says. ‘Then I wokes up. I’ll be okay, ya, imminent death gives me motivationals.’
It’s good to have Pip back.
I pull myself onto the rock face. The start is easy with jagged rocks giving me places to grip my feet. Smooth sections have me sliding on the rock like I’m on an ice rink, but I use my upper body strength to pull myself to the next foothold. And to think
