General Fiction posted March 12, 2023


Exceptional
This work has reached the exceptional level
a short story 350 words approx.

Jumping

by Bill Schott

Put on the parachute, buckle up the battery packs, connect seven auxiliary cables and clip them into the utility vest, cinch up the video camera straps, jump, and pray to survive. 

This was Goose’s routine as he videologged the skydiving team's record breaking marathon jumping day. Scheduled for twenty-four jumps in twenty-four hours, the mission was only half through when he realized he should have hired a second videographer. He was exhausted. 

Put on the parachute, buckle up the battery packs, connect seven auxiliary cables and clip them into the utility vest, cinch up the video camera straps, jump, and pray to survive. 

They began at midnight. Twelve jumpers would ascend to 10,000 feet and leap out essentially together. Once they reached the ground, they were quickly reassembled, returned to the landing strip, and sent back aloft. AItogether, it took about an hour for each evolution. 

Put on the parachute, buckle up the battery packs, connect seven auxiliary cables and clip them into the utility vest, cinch up the video camera straps, jump, and pray to survive. 

Goose would go through his dressing and undressing with the rest, who would change diving suits for different colors during each daytime jump. Rather than changing his suit, he spent his time disassembling his recording gear and putting it back together to ensure it was properly tightened.

Put on the parachute, buckle up the battery packs, connect seven auxiliary cables and clip them into the utility vest, cinch up the video camera straps, jump, and pray to survive. 

Amazingly, the team had made it through twenty-three jumps and only needed one more to achieve their goal. Everyone had changed into their final red colored suits, boarded the plane and soared upward.

As he stepped out for the final jump, Goose ran over his preparations as he had done his entire career and all day today: Put on the parachute, buckle up the battery packs, connect seven auxiliary cables and clip them into the utility vest, cinch up the video camera straps, jump, and pray to survive. 

Wait! Put on the parachute! Put on the parachute!






 



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Based on a news article I read twenty years ago.
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