Page 5 of Something Like Forever
Crap! The trip was adisaster! If they had gone to Paris, they would probably be ridingin a horse-drawn carriage while feeding macaroons to each otherbetween sips of champagne. Tim looked around and spotted aconvenience store ahead. He could already hear the rumble of anoverworked air conditioner. The interior seemed nice anddark.
“Follow me!” he said,picking up the pace.
Twenty minutes later, thesituation was much improved. Everyone had a cold drink, Jason hadsmeared half a bottle of newly purchased sunscreen on William, anda taxi had just pulled up to carry them the rest of theway.
“This is really nice,”William said once they were all crammed inside.
“Hard to imagine how itcould get any better,” Tim said, leaning forward to check on hishusband. Not that he was in the front seat. Jason had calledshotgun. The rest of them were in the back. William insisted onbeing in the middle, which didn’t make sense because Ben was thesmallest and would have fit better there. And that would haveallowed Tim to snuggle with him a little. Instead, William wasgrinning while glancing back and forth between them. He tended toget a little excited when around them both. Tim thought it wassweet. “You okay, babe?”
William opened his mouthlike he was about to answer, then turned even redder and leanedback so Tim could see across the seat. Ben smiled, appearing morerelaxed. “This is nice. Can we have him drive around for the nexthalf hour?”
Tim was sure it was ajoke, but after checking his watch, he saw that they still hadplenty of time. He asked the driver to take the most scenic routepossible. They drove through crowded commercial areas andneighborhoods with narrow winding streets, the day-to-day stressoutside the car not touching them inside their bubble. By the timethey reached the destination and climbed out of the taxi, they wereall eager to stretch their legs. Just a short walk brought them tothe cliffs, a breeze cooling them along the way.
Most tourists watched thespectacle from the patio of a nearby restaurant, but Tim guided hisfamily to a platform lower down. From there they had a better viewand a finer appreciation for the height of the cliffs, whichstretched craggy and unforgiving toward the sky. The rocky walldirectly ahead of them sloped outward the further down it went,ending in a pool of frothy churning water, azure waves rushing infrom the Pacific. Five dark-haired heads could be seen floatingbelow. The performers. Tim made sure that everyone was pressedagainst the rail for the best view, then pointed as the five bodiesbelow swam for the cliffs and began climbing.
“They’re barefoot!” Bengasped.
“They should be usingclimbing gear,” William said with concern. “Harnesses, helmets,gloves…”
“Take it easy, CoastGuard,” Tim said, beaming at the display. “They know what they’redoing.”
“They’re pretty hot!”Jason added.
They definitely were.Brown muscles glistened and strained as each person continued toclimb. Two stopped at a lower outcrop, walked to the very end ofthe ledge, and looked down. Even there, they were well above eyelevel.
“They’re not going tojump!” Ben cried. “They’ll hit the rocks!”
“Only if they get thetiming wrong,” Tim said. “They have to wait until a wave comes inor the water below isn’t deep enough.”
“I’m calling the MexicanCoast Guard,” William said. “What’s their number?”
“Just watch,” Tim said,nodding as one of the performers raised his hands above his head ina classic dive position. Then he jumped, managed a flip, andplummeted toward certain doom. A wave rushed in to catch him at thelast second, but was the water deep enough? The audience breathedout in shared relief when the diver surfaced again unharmed. Thiswas repeated by the second performer, then all attention went tothe very top of the cliff, which was twice as high.
Ben grabbed Tim’s arm,clutching him close. Tim allowed himself a satisfied smirk.Acapulco was pretty damn cool! All three performers at the top ofthe cliff jumped at once, tumbling through the air like they hadbeen cast out of Heaven. One flipped twice, the other two seemedintent on belly flops, but as the water neared, they straightenedand entered like a syringe plunging into skin.
“That’s beautiful,”William breathed. “It scared the hell out of me, but it’sbeautiful.”
“You’ve jumped from higherthan that,” Jason said. “Right?”
“No way!” William said,looking wide-eyed as the performers started climbing again. “Whatis that? A hundred feet? More?”
“Yeah, but you jump from ahelicopter.” Jason said.
William shook his head.“Only after it descends as close to the water aspossible!”
“It’s still cooler,” Jasonsaid, unwilling to admit that William was anything less thanamazing. His eyes were shining, even as the show went on, but thesmile faded when he looked instead at Ben and then athim.
Tim offered a reassuringsmile, trying to show that it was okay. Jason returned the gesture,but without as much certainty. Tim led by example and turned hisattention back to the show. They experienced vicarious jolts ofpanic and spikes of adrenaline while watching, and when thedemonstration finally ceased, they all felt like they had narrowlyescaped death, despite having only been in the audience. Tim madesure they stuck around long enough afterwards to tip the divers,and to translate, because William had a slew of questions for them.Despite his initial concerns, it was clear that his futureson-in-law had enjoyed himself. Tim hoped that Ben hadtoo.
“What did you think?” heasked as they were walking away.
“I lovedit!” Ben admitted. “But if youevertry anything like that, I’llkill you. I don’t care if that makes sense or not.”
Tim laughed. “Fair enough. What now? It’s alittle early, but we could grab dinner.”
This resulted in a chorus ofnot-hungrys.
“I wouldn’t mind goingback to the hotel,” Ben said. “We can rest, refresh, and then goout.”
