by Peter Parken
Nate pulled his BMW up into the parking lot beside the small hangar building. He noticed several tents set up attended by a bunch of people—he guessed for registration. And inflatable jumpy houses for the kids—and there were lots of kids there already. Running around, jostling, laughing. And…much to his joy, there were several food tents. Hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza—a few of his favorite foods. They must have known he was coming!
He was wearing a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. Shelby had told him to dress light—he’d be donned in a ‘onesey’ jumpsuit, with a soft helmet called a “frap hat.” It had to be soft on tandem jumps because his head could snap backwards and injure Shelby who’d be strapped on behind him. And he wore sneakers—they used to make jumpers wear heavy boots, but not anymore. It was thought that the boots protected the jumpers’ feet upon landing, but history had proven that wrong. More injuries to ankles were caused by bad traction when hitting the ground, so sneakers worked best.
Nate walked inside the hangar and saw Shelby right away. She was standing in front of her locker already decked out in a yellow jumpsuit. She shrieked when she saw him, and ran over—throwing herself in the air, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his thighs.
“I was afraid you weren’t going to show! I’m so happy you’re here. You’re gonna just love this!”
Nate kissed her lips with his dry mouth. “Can I have a hamburger when this is over?”
She winked. “You can have more than that!” Nate’s mouth suddenly went even dryer.
She lowered herself to the floor and pulled him by the hand. “Come over here to my locker. I have a nice brown jumpsuit for you—I tried for pink, but they were all out!”
Nate laughed and snapped his fingers. “Oh, darn!”
While Nate slipped into his suit, Shelby deftly strapped the parachute sack to her back. Then she spun him around and fastened a harness to him, clipping it around his thighs, his chest and shoulders.
“What’s this for?”
“Silly boy—since I’m the only one with the parachute, you need to get attached to me. You’ll be attached to my chest—I’ll snap you on to me just before we exit the plane.”
“Oh, God!”
“Sounds ominous, I know—but it’s perfectly safe. You’ll love it. We’ll be jumping today from 15,000 feet. And you don’t have to worry about a thing—I’m a certified jumpmaster and instructor, with over 1,000 jumps under my belt. And you can easily see that I’m still alive!”
“Yes, I’ll give you that. You’re very much alive!”
“Just to give you some scope of what we’ll be doing, Nate—we’ll freefall for about sixty seconds at about 120 miles per hour. A tiny little chute will pop out as we exit the plane, called a ‘Drogue’ parachute.
“All that will do is just slow us down in freefall—otherwise we’d be falling at 150 miles per hour, which sometimes is too risky a speed to pull the main chute. So the Drogue will just give us a bit of drag, nothing more than that.
“We won’t be able to talk during freefall—too noisy with the wind rushing. But once the main chute opens we’ll be able to chat the rest of the way down, which will be about a six minute ride. When we approach the ground, I’ll tell you when to lift your legs up—then I’ll control the landing. Just keep your feet out of the way and let me take the landing.”
Nate was trying hard to find saliva to swallow with, but there seemed to be none available. “What if the main chute doesn’t open?”
“I’ll pull the main chute at around 5,500 feet from the ground.” Shelby held her wrist up. “See this on my wrist? This is an altimeter—tells me when to pull.
“But, as a safety precaution, in case something happens on the way down and I can’t pull the chute, the main chute is equipped with an AAD—Automatic Activation Device. It’s programmed to engage the main chute at an altitude of 2,000 feet just in case it hasn’t been pulled by then. And…if the main chute doesn’t open, I also have a reserve chute. It’s not as big or as safe, but it will provide some level of lift for us. So, you see? Nothing to worry about!”
Nate gulped. “Yeah, right. Can the parachute handle the weight of both of us?”
Shelby laughed. “Oh, easily. I have two different chutes that I use—one for when I jump solo, and another one for tandems. The tandem chutes are bigger and able to handle more weight. They’re rectangular and quite big—about 500 square feet when fully inflated.
“However, if we did have to use the reserve chute, we won’t slow down as much—so we’d hit the ground harder. I can tell you though, in all the jumps I’ve made, I’ve never yet had to pull my reserve chute.”
Shelby reached into her locker and pulled out a knife in a sheath, and two pairs of goggles. “Here, put your goggles on and adjust them so they’re comfy.”
Nate slipped the goggles over his eyes and adjusted the band. “What’s that knife for?”
“Just to shut you up in case you scream too much and annoy me!”
“Ha, ha…very funny. Seriously, what’s the vicious looking knife for?”
Shelby clipped it to the waist of her jumpsuit. “In case something unforeseen happens and I have to cut away the main chute.”
She suddenly yelled out to someone coming through the door. “Brenda, you made it!” She ran over and grabbed her by the hand, pulling her towards Nate. “This is the guy I’ve told you about—Nate Morrell. My hero—the one who saved my life! Nate, this is my skydiving buddy, Brenda Walgren.”
Nate held out his hand. “Pleased to meet you, Brenda. You going up today, too?”
Brenda smiled at him. “So nice to meet you, too—and thanks for saving my dear friend here. Yes, I’m going up in the same plane with you guys, as a matter of fact.” She looked down at a piece of paper in her hand. “I see that one other jumper is with us and we go in fifteen minutes.”
Nate gulped. “Oh, God…”
Brenda spun the dial of the combination lock and opened her locker. “Nate, I felt just like you on my first jump—but honestly, it’s just a wonderful safe feeling. Once you get that jumping out of the plane part out of the way, there’s nothing to it. You’ll be fine—and you’re jumping with one of our club’s finest.”
Nate put his arm around Shelby’s shoulders. “That makes me feel better. And…I’m not surprised that she’s one of the best.”
Shelby smiled and leaned up on her tiptoes, kissing Nate tenderly on the cheek.
“We’d better get out there. Brenda, see you in the plane!”
“Okay, I’ll just be a couple of minutes. Don’t leave without me! And…maybe a beer at the booze tent afterwards?”
Nate muttered. “I think scotch would work best.”
Both women laughed. And for one last time, as he walked outside and towards the ominous-looking plane, Nate cursed, “Oh, God,”
*****
Shelby knew they were almost at the point. It normally only took six minutes for these sleek little jump planes to reach 15,000 feet. She looked out through the little window beside them—a beautiful day for Nate’s first jump. Sunny, not too much wind. She leaned her head forward from where they were sitting on the floor near the back. The first jumper, a guy named Jake, was positioned right beside the doorless opening. He edged his ass forward and sat on the edge. Then the jumpmaster yelled, “Now!”
Jake leaned forward and did a somersault out of the plane. He was gone.
Brenda was next. Amidst the swirling noise of the wind rushing through the door opening, she managed to yell back, “See you on the ground! Good luck, Nate!”
She slithered forward on her bum and hung her feet over the edge. Then the command came and she was gone, too.
Shelby leaned forward and whispered into Nate’s ear. “Okay, darling. Our turn. Slither forward to the edge, lift your feet up in the air and lean back against me.”
Nate didn’t say a thing, but he did obey her. Once he was positioned with his legs hanging out of the plane, Shelby strapped his h
arness to hers in three spots down his body. “Okay, legs up in the air and let me do the rest. Just go with it.”
His legs lifted; Shelby eased them both gently over the edge and pushed Nate downwards, guiding them into a gentle somersault down and away from the plane.
They were airborne. She checked her altimeter—already at 14,000 feet. They would just enjoy the ride now for another forty-five seconds, then she would pull the main chute.
She stretched her arms out wide and motioned for Nate to do the same. Then, for aerodynamics, she used her feet to pull Nate’s legs up between hers. Then she just spread her legs wide and relished the experience.
She was hoping Nate was enjoying the ride of his life. And later, back at her house, she intended to give Nate the second ride of his life. Two in one day—what man could ask for more?
Shelby scanned the horizon and could see Brenda soaring in freefall slightly below them and behind. She checked her altimeter. Just a few seconds to go.
Then she saw something else. Something that made her heart stop.
Chapter 37
She was struggling. Brenda never ever allowed herself a full freefall for the full sixty seconds. She always pulled her main chute at around 10,000 feet; had never been confident enough to allow herself to fall to the 5,000 foot level. Shelby and Brenda had chatted about this many times—Shelby had encouraged her to give it a try so she could experience the full joy of freefall. But Brenda’s logic was that she wanted plenty of time to react if the main chute didn’t open. Wanted to be able to stay as calm as possible to get the reserve chute out and inflated.
Shelby gazed down in horror as Brenda twisted in the air. She was pulling frantically at the handle for her main chute—then doing the same thing with the reserve handle. Back and forth, alternating between each handle. Nothing was happening.
Shelby glanced at her altimeter—they were already at 7,500 feet. And Brenda was about a 1,000 feet lower. Brenda’s main chute should have opened up 3,500 feet ago.
Thoughts were racing frantically through Shelby’s brain—a rapid processing in mere milliseconds, her training and instincts coming through on auto-pilot. And she not only had Brenda and herself to worry about; she had Nate strapped to her chest, too.
The dreaded light-headedness started settling in again—she could feel it beginning to overcome her and her eyesight began to blur. No! Not now! Don’t do this to me!
She screamed as hard as she could—no one could hear her, of course, not even Nate at the speed they were falling accompanied by the deafening rush of wind.
She screamed once again and her head started to clear. Not wasting time, fearing that it would come back again, she reached down to her waist and ripped the knife out of its sheath. Then she reached up and cut the line to the little Drogue chute, the one that had deployed as they left the plane. The little contraption that was containing their freefall to 120 miles per hour.
Shelby needed to go faster than that, and she needed the maneuverability to be able to control her movements to precision, and the Drogue would interfere with that.
As soon as the Drogue was cut, their speed increased dramatically. She could tell Nate noticed, as he turned his head around and looked up at her. Shelby merely made a calming motion with one hand, then pointed down to where Brenda was. Then she made a swooping motion with her hand. He nodded. Shelby figured he understood, but it didn’t matter—she wasn’t asking permission.
She went to work. Instinct was in charge now, partnered by sheer terror for her friend. Shelby roughly pushed down on Nate’s head and shoulders, causing them to begin to assume a downward attitude. Then she lowered her own head straight down just above Nate’s and pushed his legs inward, squeezing them together with her own legs. Now their legs formed a sleek posture of no resistance. Next she grabbed his arms and extended them outward in front of him and joined them with her own.
Instantly, their speed went from relatively sublime to pulse-pounding. Shelby knew that the position they’d just assumed, particularly the ‘head down’ position, had the potential of increasing their air speed to almost 250 miles per hour. She looked ahead and slightly downward. They were approaching Brenda very quickly, and she had to make sure to apply the brakes before they slammed into her.
Shelby’s goggles were starting to fog up, and some light-headedness was coming back. As they continued to dive like eagles, she screamed with all her might. Her head cleared—she’d fought the fainting episode off once again. Even her goggles had de-fogged.
Shelby could see Brenda’s face clearly now—and she could tell that Brenda saw her, too. The look on her face was one of abject desperation and horror. She was still yanking away on the handles, hoping for some kind of miracle.
Shelby knew that she was Brenda’s only hope for a miracle. They were very close now—Shelby pulled back on Nate’s head just as she raised her own, spread their arms out wide and did the same with their legs. Nate seemed to instinctively know what she was doing and moved easily to her cues.
She then pulled back on his shoulders and arched her back to the farthest extent she could. They were perfectly parallel to the ground and their sideways movement had stopped. They were falling at the same pace as Brenda and only about twenty feet separated them.
Shelby made subtle movements with their conjoined bodies in order to close that distance quickly, being careful to avoid spinning into an accidental “head down” position again. If they raced downward, past Brenda, there’s no way they could come back up. There was absolutely no room for error.
They were close now, very close.
Shelby stretched outward with her right hand, and Brenda did the same with her left. Their fingers touched, then they both bent their fingers to get a clasping effect.
It worked! She yanked hard and Brenda slammed into their two heads. Shelby grabbed onto Brenda’s harness with her right hand, and then checked the altimeter on her left wrist. They were now at a heart-stopping 4,000 feet above the unforgiving ground. She would have normally pulled her chute at no lower than 5,000 feet, particularly when she was on a tandem jump. And now it had turned into a trio jump. Too much weight falling for one chute to handle safely, and not much altitude left for the canopy to slow them down sufficiently.
Shelby had one more precaution to take before pulling the ripcord of her parachute. She was worried that the faulty chutes that were strapped to Brenda’s back might still decide to open, and if both of those chutes opened at the same time as Shelby’s opened, or even afterward, they could have a serious problem of conflict between chutes. The tangled mess would be unable to inflate properly and all three of them would just continue their freefall at over 150 miles per hour, straight into the ground. And she was deathly afraid that the AAD on Brenda’s chute might also somehow trigger that troubled chute into opening at the programmed 2,000 foot level, which would just cause it to collide underneath Shelby’s canopy, rendering it useless.
She didn’t have time to tell her what she was going to do, and neither would Brenda even hear her with the overwhelming rush of wind noise. She had to simply act on instinct, and the 2,000 foot level was approaching fast—her chute would automatically open at that point and she had to dump Brenda’s before it possibly opened, too.
With her one hand holding onto Brenda’s harness, she reached down with the other one and dragged Nate’s left hand up and around Brenda’s waist—then pulled it in tight. Nate understood. He shot his right hand up and did the same thing. She was now wrapped up tight and on an angle that was below Nate. Shelby couldn’t reach the buckles of Brenda’s harness now because of Nate’s body being in the way, so she yanked her knife out of its sheath once again and with several quick swipes managed to cut the harness free. The wind grabbed the crippled contraption and swept it away.
Shelby looked down at Brenda and gave her the ‘thumbs up’ sign. Brenda just stared back at her, expressionless, while Nate held onto her for dear life.
She stole a glance at he
r altimeter—2,200 feet.
Then she felt the pull as her Automatic Actuation Device did its assigned work. It felt as if they were yanked upward, but that was just an illusion, as their rapid downward motion was slowed so dramatically it gave the impression of ‘lift.’
She glanced around—they were a long way from the ‘drop zone.’ She couldn’t even see the huge white triangle that would have been painted on the ground. In their attempts to just stay alive, they had drifted well out of range.
The ground was coming up fast—not as fast as it had been during freefall, but much faster than a normal parachute drift. This canopy wasn’t designed for three people, and neither was it designed to be pulled only 2,000 feet above the ground. Shelby knew they would have a hard and fast landing, which might prove to be just as fatal as a freefall into the ground.
She looked down at the landscape. They had drifted so far that they were on the outskirts of Alexandria now, and the ground that they were going to hit was solid concrete—not the soft gentle fields that the airstrip was surrounded by.
Shelby reached both hands up, grabbed onto the toggles, and began to steer them at different angles. She couldn’t allow them to hit a concrete road or building—there had to be something better. She spun them around with quick pulls on the toggles and gazed outward. She was hoping for a clump of tall trees that were growing close together—something that would soften their landing and catch them before hitting the ground. And she was worried about power lines—a skydiver’s worst enemy. As they were now close to Alexandria, they might be headed for some exposed lines which wouldn’t be easily visible at the height they were at.
Then she saw the best of the worst options.
Water!
It was a small lake or reservoir a short distance to the northeast. They would just make it.
Now that the parachute was open, all three of them were upright. They could talk, now that the rush of the wind had stopped.