Page 60 of Reinventing Cato
Cato stumbled to a halt when they entered the tent. “You have to be kidding me. The trapeze?”
He could almost feel himself trying to walk backwards.
“We need sweatpants not jeans.” Vigge tugged him to a corner behind some seating and unzipped the bag. “I brought something for you. I didn’t want to tell you what to wear in case you guessed and ran.”
Cato laughed. “I really don’t think I’d have guessed this. You know what? I’m not doing it unless I have a sparkly leotard.”
“I’ll ask.”
Cato grabbed his arm. “Bastard. Fine. Give me the sweatpants.”
He changed, trying not to look at where netting was suspended between two high metal towers. They’d get hoisted up, right? No need to climb that dangerous-looking ladder.
“Did you mishear when I was telling you about my brother being an adrenaline junkie, and thought I was talking about me?” Cato asked. “I’m the bookish nerd fascinated by stars we can’t see and the mating habits of the animal kingdom, the one who did everything he could to avoid being left with the ball when he was playing games, the one who forged letters to get out of anything physical.” The one who wasn’t too fond of heights after he’d almost fallen from the roof.Wasn’t too fondbeing an understatement.
They carried their things over to where a group of people were gathered and put them on a chair.
“Shoes and coats off,” someone shouted.
There were eight of them and three instructors, two men and a woman. Vigge and Cato joined the group and introductions were made. Kip, Alvo and Tess were the ones in proper gear. The others, like Cato and Vigge, were in ordinary clothing. Four were teenage girls.Who’d probably be brilliant.Anxiety was already nibbling at Cato’s stomach.
“Before we start,” Kip said. “I need to get you to sign this disclaimer.”
Clipboards were handed to each of them along with a pen.
“I get that we might end up with sprained muscles, bumps and bruises,” Cato whispered. “But I don’t like the linefalls from height and associated collision injuries.Oh God, they want an emergency contact number. Now I’m even more terrified. I’ll put yours. My mother would never believe I’d do this.”
“Do you not want to do it?”
No!Cato signed the form and forced a smile onto his face when the wordyeswouldn’t come out of his mouth.
“Right. Now we’re almost ready to fly,” Kip said. “First a safety briefing. Short and sweet. Do not walk under the net. You might be injured if someone falls on you. All you need to do is follow our instructions and have a good time.”
“We’re going to warm up,” Tess said. “Roll your shoulders.”
“I did it!” Cato whispered. “Twice!”
Vigge laughed.
The longer the warm up took, the happier Cato would be, but sadly, all good things clearly do come to an end, and after swinging arms around and bending knees, they were declared trapeze-ready.
One by one the group had to do a knee-hang on a bar set up at almost ground level, bringing their legs through their arms and hooking their knees over the bar, pointing their toes and releasing their hands. Practising on the low bar was all very well, but Cato kept gazing up to where the trapeze hung, forty feet above. There wasn’t one cell in his body that wanted to do this.
He made sure he was at the back of the line even to practise, though he wasn’t too worried about falling a foot or so onto a soft mat. He was slightly reassured that a few of the group needed a shove by Tess to get their legs through, but Vigge did it as if he’d been born swinging.
“You didn’t tell me you were half chimpanzee,” Cato said as Vigge returned to his side.
Vigge pushed him toward the bar. “Your turn.”
The moment Cato took hold of the metal, Tess shouted, “Thumbs under the bar.”
He was annoyed with himself. He might not want to do this, but he didn’t want to look a prat. Even so, he was surprised when he managed the manoeuvre without a heft from Tess, and came back to Vigge with a smile on his face.
“Easy peasy,” Cato said and winced as he said it. “Damn. Don’t tell me what pride comes before.”
Vigge chuckled. “You’re not going to fall and even if you did, the net would catch you.”
What if I bounce out of it? What if it breaks? What if I break?
