Monday, October 23, 2006

Rough Draft of a Short Story

"Hey, that building, the Space Needle, is really high and very thin, I really love skyscrapers," said Jamal, "I like vertigo." Seattle's most popular attraction, the Space Needle, was crowded of people, especially from a Colombian group of people who went to visit. Jamal, Andrea, and Carla were some of these Colombians, but they were special. They had come to a conference about cakes at the center of the city, they thought it was boring so they ran away and went to the thin but tall tower. They bought their tickets, and then waited in line to go in the elevator that took people to the main room. Andrea, who was always negative, thought that it was to dangerous to go so high, something bad could happen. Carla, who was her best friend tried to convince her to go up the building. Dinnng, the elevator rang, the Colombians went into the elevator.

"Nothing bad will happen, lets go up," said Carla.

"No, it is too scary," responded Andrea.

Then Jamal said, "Ok, let’s let her stay here."

Andrea, who did not want to stay alone, finally accepted to go to the highest part of the Space Needle, “OK, I’ll go.”The three of them went up on the elevator; it took them about two minutes and a half. The room they were in was colorful, well decorated, and had a lot of large screen plasma TVs. Carla and Jamal went to the balcony, and looked at the beautiful city of Seattle.

"What a beautiful city this is, don't you think so," asked Carla.

"Yes, much beautiful than that city in Colombia we visited last year," responded Jamal.

Andrea went to balcony with her friends, but she did not dare to look outside. "I'm not going further, it's too high," said Andrea frightened while looking at Jamal who was doing bad faces to her.

“Ha ha ha ha! The poor baby is too frightened, ha ha ha ha!" said Jamal.

"Stop it!" replied Andrea with an angry and frightened face. Jamal wanted to show Andrea that it was safe, so he did something that no one would do even with a harness, he took a strap, he hold it in his hands, and he was about to jump out of the building.

"I'm going to jump," said Jamal.

"No!" yelled Andrea who came running to stop him from jumping.

"Ha ha, you finally came over here, I was not going to jump, I did this to frighten y..." Suddenly Jamal tripped over a bag and fell out of the building. "Help!! Help me!" yelled Jamal who was holding from the strap he holds. Everyone who stood close to Jamal started to stand apart and to go away, nobody was close to save him.

"I told you something bad would happen, now Jamal will die!" yelled Andrea to Carla.

"Nothing bad will happen, calm down, and pray on your knees!" replied Carla.

Suddenly a poor resident of Seattle came to save Jamal. His name was John, he was a strong and intelligent, and he really wanted to save Jamal. John saw the strap that the poor Jamal hold for about six minutes. John realizes that if he takes the strap and takes Jamal the strap may break and he may die. After some minutes, the strap started to brake apart, and Jamal was about to let go, and he had the idea to tie himself to the strap, so he did not get tired. John called 911 and asked for the fire fighters, but all of them were saving a burning forest. The strap continues to brake apart, very slowly, but breaking, in any moment Jamal could fall.

"Help, the strap is about to brake!" said Jamal.

"The fire fighters are not in the city and if I take the strap it will break," said Andrea and John while looking at Jamal.

"Do you see that little balcony over there?" asked John. "You can try to jump over there and there is an opportunity to save yourself," said John.

"I'll jump," said Jamal. Then, he moves the strap back and forward, and he jumped to the little balcony. He did not stood in the little place, he was now holding it with his hands and he was about to fall. "I will only hold it for a minute or two, fast help me," said Jamal with his last forces. Jamal started trying to get on the balcony and he did what he wanted to. Now, someone had to save him, and John had gotten a harness and went in search of Jamal's life. John hold him in his hands, and when they were going up, the harness felt off John's body, so they had to hold the harness' string with their hands.

"Oh, no, who will help us?" yelled Jamal and John together.

"We will save you," said Andrea.

Everyone who was in the top part of the building gathered up and started pulling the string to save them. "Pull!" yelled everyone together, "pull, pull!" Everyone pulled the string for about forty-five seconds, until they finally saved Jamal.

"Finally, we're saved," said John

"Thank you a lot for what you did, you saved my life, what can I do for you?" replied Jamal.

John started thinking, and finally he said, "You could give me a burger."

"I'll buy all the burgers you want, but first I must go to the hospital because my toe hurts a lot, hope didn't break it." said Jamal with his last forces.

Andrea and Carla came back to Colombia after what happened in Seattle. John and Jamal became really good friends, so Jamal stayed living in Seattle, they worked together in the Space Needle, and their work was to make sure that no one fell, so that no one experienced what Jamal experienced.

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