Chapter 1: How It Started

By Joy Wilkinson

The dishwasher hummed contentedly to itself while the washing machine sloshed its way through the bedsheets. Sally sipped her hot coffee and sighed. Everything was done: kitchen counter tops sparkling, floors swept, bathrooms smelling of bleach and air freshener.

She did love a clean and tidy house. Not like her ex, Phil. He could live in a rubbish dump surrounded by piles of old newspapers and dog shit and not notice. It felt as if she had spent all her time with him constantly tidying up the mess he left in his wake. Then he said he found her boring and uninteresting, walked out the door one day and moved back in with his mother. Good riddance she thought, it was so much easier anyway without him around, even though she had Alfie to look after. That had been hard work when he was young but now he had gone to uni, she felt like she had lost a friend.

And it wasn’t as if she had a lot of friends. Or any really, if she thought about it. She had work colleagues and they always went out for the obligatory birthday and Christmas celebrations but she didn’t think of them as friends. Her job was okay: it paid the bills. Not an interesting job as Phil would say, but she enjoyed book-keeping. Numbers always did what they were supposed to do, lining up in orderly rows and obeying all the rules.

She picked up the damp cloth folded over the edge of the sink and started wiping invisible dirt off the already clean worktops. With an empty house, the weekend spread ahead of her in some kind of time warp that made it look infinitely long. She wiped the ring left by her coffee mug and placed the mug into the sink. The cloth went back over the tap to dry.

Sally looked around, saw nothing amiss, and wandered into the living room. Or her library as Alfie called it, a room she had carefully furnished with floor to ceiling shelves along one wall. They were stacked with books, many she had bought in anticipation of all the time she would have to read one day, books like that Hilary Mantel Wolf Hall series which had looked amazing on TV. With Alfie gone, she finally had the time to read but all those titles that had looked enticing when she was busy with childcare now seemed boring and tedious. Who wanted to sit in a chair all weekend reading anyway?

What was happening? She loved reading! But now the thought of settling down with a book filled her with dread. She felt restless and jittery. Maybe she needed to do more exercise. Or any exercise at all, come to that. What exercise would she do? Join parkrun on Saturday mornings like some of her work colleagues? They couldn’t shut up about it. Or what about joining the local rambling group? It was probably full of old fogies though.

She spotted the free community newsletter on the coffee table. Maybe there was some exercise inspiration in there. Oh look, a club for the over 50s. With dominoes. And crochet. Embroidery. It all sounded so tedious. Table tennis. That was better. But what the hell was “Pickleball”? Something to do with pickling onions? But where do the balls come in? This is ridiculous. There must be something she could do. Something that involved other people, it was about time she put herself out there again. She needed to find something interesting to do, something interesting with other people.

But what?

Chapter 2 by Andrew Stock

Sally shifted uncomfortably in the chair. This had seemed like a good idea when she saw it advertised on the library notice board but now? She tugged again at the harness that seemed determined to force its way as far into her crotch as it could go and focused on the muscled boy in front of her.

‘So remember at all times clip on, un-clip then move.’ He smiled encouragingly at the small group ‘think of it like a seat belt. Never move off without strapping in, clip on clip off’

‘Clunk click every trip.’ Sally thought remembering an advert from her childhood. Wasn’t that Jimmy Saville? She shuddered at the very thought of the name and tried to zone in again on the conversation that had broken out.

‘But what if I slip.’  ‘Surely that can’t be safe.’  ‘Has anyone ever broken anything.’ God what had she got herself into? She thought again of her books at home, the comfortable armchair, the strong black coffee, the plate of biscuits. No! That was too easy. That was the old her, the Philip her, the mum her, the housewife and homemaker her. She pulled again at the harness wishing it wasn’t quite so tight.

‘Ok guys.’ God, had the instructor whose name was Wayne (but you can call me Tiger) really called them all guys? ‘If we head on outside, we will make a start. Hold on to those clips, don’t let them drag along, don’t want an accident before we start do we?’

‘Don’t want one at all.’ Mumbled a large man who with the tightness of his harness reminded Sally of a trussed turkey.

‘Ok guys stop here.’ Obviously, this instructor found the word guys appealing because his smile widened to the point of no return. ‘As you can see, we are at the base of the tower.’ He laughed and pointed a finger aloft. ‘Shall we make a start/’ He turned placing a foot on the metal strut, ‘and remember guys… clip on clip off.’ He clipped his own carabiner onto the structure and looked at Sally ‘OK young lady how do you fancy going first?’ If she had answered truthfully Sally would have said ‘I don’t, I don’t want to be here at all but somehow, she nodded mutely and stepped forward.

‘OK, clip on then start to climb.  When you reach the first clip reach up, clip the second clip on and climb to that.’ Sally breathed deeply, concentrating hard and definitely not looking down. Why she had thought that abseiling had been a good idea she didn’t know, not now, not whilst hung what seemed a thousand feet up in the air connected by no more than two clips. The notice at the library had said fun. She promised herself that when she got home, she would find the definition of fun in her dictionary and check if she had a right to compensation for false advertisement. Suddenly she was at the top staring down to earth so far away sweat beading her brow.

‘Good climb chaps. Now if we are ready who’s going first. You were first here young lady. You ready to be first?  Sally looked at the drop and swallowed.

‘I suppose so Wayne.’ She emphasised the name but allowed herself to be attached to a series of ropes.

‘OK, turn around and face me and step on the edge.’ Sally felt herself tense as she began to lean, her breath came is ragged blasts. Before she knew it she was at the point of no return, her back to the floor, her feet beginning the slow ponderous walk down the wall, her arms aching with the effort.

Above her the voice of Wayne called encouragingly, ‘Good work Sally. Nearly there. Concentrate on the journey.’ And then he said the words that made this whole experience all that it promised to be. ‘When you are at the bottom you can look up and see all that you have accomplished.’ As her feet touched the floor and a set of hands helped her free of her harness, Sally smiled up into the blue sky and felt the euphoria of her own power. She may have been at her lowest, but now for her the only direction was up. As she walked to the car park her head swimming with what could be she saw the notice board next to her parked car. A poster freshly pinned and colourfully designed said, Are you interested in…