The Benevolent Lords of Sometimes Island by Scott Semegran

Author:Scott Semegran [Semegran, Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scott Semegran
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

PART III.

Boat Wreck on Sometimes Island

16.

When Randy, Miguel, Brian, and I were in the sixth grade, we used to ride our bikes outside of the neighborhood to find buildings with access to their roofs. It didn’t matter what kind of buildings: schools, convenience stores, car dealerships, whatever. We had this thing for getting up high and surveying the area. Being on top of buildings made us feel powerful, free, and even a little naughty. The business owners hated it—some of them even called the cops—but we couldn’t get enough of it.

One time, we noticed a strip mall with an unsecured ladder on the back of an auto insurance business. It was a building we hadn’t been on top of before. We decided to ditch our bikes in an overgrown grassy field behind the strip mall and climb up. Randy, Brian, and Miguel went up first and I stayed on the ground, on the lookout for angry business owners or malicious security guards. Randy was the last one up and, once he was on the top, he leaned over and told me to come up the rear. As I scaled the squeaky, rusty ladder, Randy spotted a curious security guard walking around the side of the building. He probably saw us on a security monitor or something like that and decided to investigate, or at least smoke a cigarette. I scurried up, but my feet slipped. I fell one rung and my quick descent stopped cold when my crotch hit the rung. The pain launched fireworks into my eyes and I felt like I was going to pass out, but I was able to cling to the ladder and not fall to the ground and crack my head open. The security guard noticed my predicament and ran over. Randy watched the entire episode from the roof, and felt helpless. He cried out for me to come up the ladder to escape. He leaned over the roof edge, extending his hand. But I was only halfway up. I didn’t see the security guard coming, but I knew he was there because of Randy’s pleading. I wanted to climb, but I was petrified from pain and shock. I vividly remember looking up at Randy and seeing the fear in his eyes. He was extending his hand as far as he could to me, almost as if he was about to fall down the ladder, too. He kept pleading, over and over.

“Reach my hand! I’ll help you up! Come on!”

I thought about this time when I clung to the strip mall roof access ladder while I swam from my rock to the rock my friends were on, just after the motor boat sank in the angry waters of Canyon Lake. The water was considerably choppier around the island and the wind howled ruthlessly. Randy reached down to help me up on their rock, which was just as slippery as the other one. I wouldn’t have been able to climb on it without his help.

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