The jumpsuit was a good fit, and once it was on, Sam kitted Ethan up with a helmet and then the harness. It was a very snug fit to say the least, and he was glad he wouldn’t be wearing it for too long.
Sam positioned Ethan up close and with his back to him and started to rehearse the jump. Ethan had seen people go through this numerous times. To be doing it himself felt amazing.
‘Basic body position and commands are simple,’ said Sam. ‘Head back, legs up, arms crossed. Got it?’
Ethan had a go.
‘And when we leave the plane, just arch yourself backwards with your legs between mine. Right?’
Ethan nodded.
‘When we’re clear and stable, I’ll release the drogue chute. That’s the one that will eventually pull out the main canopy. It also helps to stabilize the freefall. I’ll tap again and you pull your arms out like this, right?’
Ethan said, ‘Yes,’ as Sam got into a skydiving position in front of him, his legs slightly apart, his arms out in front and bent, as if he was holding something heavy above his head.
As they ran through it again, a message came through over the tannoy.
‘That’s us,’ said Sam. ‘Let’s go.’
Ethan followed, and with each step wondered just what the hell he was doing.
The minibus that transported people to the runway was the wrong side of knackered, so Ethan was relieved to see that the plane itself wasn’t in a similar state. Silently he followed Sam on board, sitting down between his legs. Everyone was wearing a helmet. It was loud inside, the engines mixing the air into a strangle of howls and revs and squeals. Ethan spotted Johnny opposite him. Johnny smiled and Ethan thought it made him look just a little unhinged. But he was glad his friend was on the plane.
Ethan felt Sam clip himself into his rig, clamping the two of them together, pulling in tight. A strap was then clipped to Sam. Ethan knew from what Johnny had told him that this was just like a seat belt, attaching him to the plane; it would be released at 1,000 feet. A few days ago Ethan had asked why it was released.
‘Well, if the plane’s shagged, you’re better off jumping than crashing with it’ had been Johnny’s simple, smiling answer.
The pilot said something over the speaker system that Ethan couldn’t understand, and the plane started to move.
He felt himself bumping off the floor as the plane gathered speed. Then his stomach disappeared and they lifted into the air.
Looking out through the window, Ethan watched as the ground fell away. He didn’t think it was a good time to mention that he’d never flown before.
After a few minutes Sam tugged on the harness again, tightening it even further. He flicked his wrist at Ethan, showing him the altimeter reading 10,000 feet. Ethan knew they jumped at 12,000.
It came around all too quickly. Ethan felt a tap on his shoulder and Sam gave a thumbs-up. Strapped in as he was, Ethan had little choice but to do as Sam did, so he soon found himself sitting with his feet hanging out of the open door of the plane.
He looked down between his feet at the ground below. Impossible to believe it was 12,000 feet away and that he was about to get back to it by falling.
Another tap.
Ethan turned to find Johnny grinning at him, and pointing at the camera on his helmet. He climbed out through the plane doorway and hung onto the edge. Ethan hadn’t asked to be filmed, but he mouthed ‘Cheers!’ to him.
Sam shouted the commands: ‘Head back, legs up, arms crossed.’
Ethan obeyed.
And they jumped into oblivion.
The world spun and flipped, flipped and spun. It was blue and green and green and blue. For a few seconds Ethan found it impossible to take in. And he couldn’t breathe. Every time he tried to take in air, it was whipped away. But despite the panic he was fighting, he was also smiling. He could feel it; he was grinning so hard it felt like his face would crack.
The view changed, became stable. Earth below, sky above. Ethan could see it now they were belly-to-earth. Two and a half miles below him, criss-cross roads and patchwork fields stretched away to nothing. It all looked so tiny and so beautiful. Ethan was amazed. And he knew – right then in that moment – that he wanted to do this again. Once would never be enough.
Sam tapped his shoulder and Ethan pulled his arms open.
He was skydiving!
‘Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit!’ he screamed. He knew it wasn’t the most inspired thing to say, but he couldn’t think of anything else; he’d just jumped out of a plane! Johnny came into view, and Ethan gave the camera a thumbs-up and said ‘Shit!’ again.
He felt his cheeks start to ache as the wind ripped past, dragging the breath from his lungs. Another tap on his shoulder. He crossed his arms and felt himself being almost ripped in half.
Ethan recognized the sound of the canopy opening and looked up as their descent was slowed to a gentle glide.
‘Want to steer?’ asked Sam.
Ethan was stunned by how clearly he could hear him, and he wasn’t even shouting. Everything was suddenly so quiet now that they were no longer plunging through the air. They were drifting with the wind now, so the roar that had echoed in his ears during the freefall was totally gone.
Before he could refuse, Ethan had his hands clamped to the yellow loops attached to the steering lines of the canopy. He found that the slightest tug with either hand could alter their course.
‘DZ’s over there.’ Sam pointed, and Ethan was able to make out the airfield. ‘I’ll take over when you get us close enough.’
‘You sure?’ Ethan asked, hardly daring to believe Sam would let him take control up here even for a moment.
‘Wouldn’t say it if I wasn’t, Ethan.’
Ethan felt himself grinning even harder and, with a faint tug left, brought them slowly round.
A few minutes later, Sam took over, and as the ground approached, he shouted, ‘Feet up, knees up!’
Ethan did exactly that and they glided in, landing with a brief slide onto their backsides.
Johnny was in front, filming the landing.
Sam unclipped Ethan and they stood up. It was all Ethan could do not to yell and scream and jump around like a loon. He felt amazing, on top of the world, completely and utterly alive.
Johnny walked over, still filming. ‘As I said, life’s too short not to,’ he said, a huge smile on his face.
Remembering that moment high above the earth, the sensation of falling from the plane, Ethan could think of only one thing to say.
He swung round to face Sam. ‘When can I do it again?’
Sam and Johnny looked at each other and grinned.
10
Ethan was sitting on the sofa with his mum and Jo, watching the DVD of his jump. It was a couple of hours since he’d done the tandem with Sam, but he was still buzzing. And Jo hadn’t stopped laughing.
‘Check out your face!’ she said. ‘You look hysterical!’ On the screen Ethan’s face was being buffeted by the wind, his cheeks rippling.
‘I was doing a hundred and twenty miles an hour,’ he told her. ‘It’s pretty difficult to keep a straight face!’
‘I can’t believe that’s you,’ said his mum. She was sitting on the edge of the sofa, her hands clasped together. ‘Weren’t you scared?’
‘Not really,’ said Ethan, and he wasn’t lying. ‘You don’t have time to be scared. Sam just gets on with it, takes you through the training, and before you know it you’re at the door of the plane! Then you’re out. It’s such a rush!’
‘No way am I ever doing that,’ said Jo, watching as Sam pulled the ripcord and the main canopy exploded behind them. ‘It’s insane.’
‘It’s amazing,’ said Ethan. ‘Best thing I’ve ever done.’
The screen flicked to Ethan and Sam coming in to land.
‘Sam looks very forbidding,’ said his mum. ‘Does he ever smile?’