Go Ahead and Jump

I am trying to get my muse back.  Every once in a while I catch a glimpse of her.  A shadow here or or flutter there, ever evading and hiding.  Then I went over to Theme Thursday and saw that this week's theme is Jump.  Well as luck has it...

Gladys stood on the precipice teetering using her arms for balance. She didn’t dare look down or she might lose her equilibrium and then she would find herself spiraling into the abyss.


She stood atop the rocks feeling as if she alone were queen of the world. She looked across the vast wasteland of the desert that stretched out beyond the rock wall and breathed deeply. She knew she shouldn’t do it but she couldn’t resist. She knew she could fly if she just tried.

She closed her eyes and pictured her arms spread and her neck stretched long in flight. She would fly out over the canyons and the cactus. She would soar above the Skyway Tram and down through the pass. She would glide over Thunderbird Mountain. She knew she could do it.

It didn’t matter that she had been found under a rock. It didn’t matter that she was only 5 years old. What mattered was she believed she could do it.

She took a deep breath. She spread her wings and she threw herself from the rocks with all her might. It all happened in slow motion. She felt the wind in her face. She smelled the heat coming off the hot sand. She positioned herself just as she had seen Superman positioned in flight.

She was doing it! She was flying. She had taken the jump and she was out there. Should she flap her arms? Should she move her feet as if swimming? She floundered. She wobbled. She spiraled.

The next thing she felt was the sharp burning pain and the hot sand on her face. The air was jarred from her lungs and she felt the sun burning down on her back. She had jumped. She had fallen and now she was hurt.

She heard footfalls behind her and felt the hands on her back and head. “GLADYS! What on earth were you doin? One minute you are standing on this lil’ ole rock ledge and the next thing I know you make like a baby bird and dive off of it.” Gladys rolled over to see her older sister sitting next to her in the dirt “I was tryin to fly. I know I can do it I just need to get back up there and try.” Matilda shook her head and reached out to help her little sister up “you silly goose. You can’t fly. You ain’t got no feathers.” Gladys grabbed her sister’s hand and said “Superman ain’t go no wings and he flies.”

“Yeah, but you ain’t Superman, heck you ain’t even Supergirl” Matilda replied dusting the dirt off her knees. “No, but I am Lightening Girl” Gladys retorted then stood. She screamed in agony and her sister grabbed her “WHAT’S WRONG?” Gladys grabbed her leg and said “I think I broke my leg.”

Matilda bent down to examine the offending limb and proclaimed “It ain’t broke! You can’t break your leg jumping off a rock curb.” Gladys tried again to put her weight on it and screamed again “I think it’s broke!” Matilda shook her head “it ain’t broke it’s sprained. We need to put some ice on it.” Gladys cocked her head to one side “but that was what I was doin. I was spraingin off the curb so that I could fly.”