It was lunch time before Ethan had a break. He sat down on a tired picnic bench and pulled a magazine he’d found in the FreeFall shop out of his pocket. The cover showed a skydiver upside down and smiling.
He flicked through, staring, between mouthfuls of bacon and bread, at the pictures. OK, so he didn’t really understand everything that was in the mag, but he was still fascinated by it. And with all the time he’d spent at FreeFall, he was beginning to wonder whether he could ever find the money to have a go himself.
‘I’ve still not made the front cover,’ came a voice from behind Ethan. He looked round to see Johnny pulling up a chair. He was in his skydiving suit and carrying what looked like a small surfboard.
‘Bit far from the sea, aren’t you?’ said Ethan.
‘I do freestyle,’ said Johnny. ‘And let me tell you, surfing through the air on this thing beats doing it on the sea.’
‘I’ll take your word for it.’
Behind Johnny, Ethan saw the minibus pull up, fill up and drive off, taking another group down to the plane that waited just out of sight on the runway.
‘I need to get some binoculars,’ he said as the minibus disappeared. ‘I want to see what it’s like when people actually leave the plane.’
‘Only way to really see that is to do it,’ said Johnny. ‘How’s the job?’
‘Busy,’ said Ethan, lifting a can of drink to his mouth and taking a swig. ‘But fun. This morning I had a vicar in to do a tandem. Nuts or what?’
Johnny reached over and ripped a chunk off Ethan’s sandwich. ‘Takes all sorts,’ he said, stuffing the sandwich into his mouth. ‘Speaking of which, what do you do when you’re not here – other than the joy that is school work and exam revision?’
‘Sod all,’ said Ethan. ‘You’ve seen where I live. Jumping off the roof seems like a good idea more often than you’d think.’
Johnny laughed. ‘That bad?’
‘Worse.’
Johnny didn’t press him, but Ethan continued – he couldn’t help himself. ‘Jo, my sister, she’s all right, and Mum’s your typical mum.’
Johnny raised an eyebrow.
‘You know… Can’t help feeding you or commenting on what you’re wearing.’
Johnny nodded a knowing smile.
‘But my dad’s a tosser.’ Ethan’s voice was angry. ‘The sooner I leave home the better, to be honest. Either that or I kill him.’
He fell silent for a moment. The last thing he wanted to do was talk about his dad; have him ruin what he was doing now, here, away from the flat. Wasn’t that part of the reason he had come to FreeFall anyway? To get away from his dad – to be somewhere he couldn’t be affected by him? So he focused on finishing what was left of his lunch – which wasn’t much, thanks to Johnny.
The sound of the plane taking off thrummed through the air. Ethan turned with Johnny to watch it go airborne.
Johnny leaned back in his chair. ‘Got any plans?’
‘How do you mean?’ said Ethan.
‘You know, travelling or uni or whatever.’
Ethan shook his head. ‘Finishing my A-levels will keep Mum happy, and after that, well, I’ve thought about the Royal Marines.’
‘Seriously?’
‘Yeah,’ said Ethan. ‘I just can’t stand the idea of an ordinary life in a shop or an office. And I don’t want to end up like my dad. He’s the best reason you could ever meet for mindless violence. Steals from Mum… never has a job for more than a few months… drinks.’
‘Nice,’ said Johnny.
‘What about you?’ asked Ethan. ‘You’re no longer at school now, so what next?’
‘I forget the plans and just get on with living. It’s more fun that way.’
Ethan shrugged. ‘Maybe for you. But I wouldn’t mind at least having some idea of where I’m going.’
Johnny laughed. ‘I figured there was another reason Sam hired you.’
‘Why’s that then?’
‘He just thinks people should have a purpose,’ said Johnny. ‘Or be given one.’
‘He’s quite a scary bloke,’ said Ethan, thinking back to his interview. ‘Seems nice enough, but he looks bloody hard.’
‘Ex forces,’ said Johnny. ‘And if you let on you’re thinking of joining up, he’ll have you doing push-ups and bleep tests before you know it!’
‘Really?’ said Ethan.
Johnny nodded, his face almost serious. ‘And he’s a world-class skydiver.’
‘Does he teach you?’
‘Me and a few others,’ said Johnny. ‘He wants us to be the best skydiving team there is. He works us hard, doesn’t stand for any messing around, but there’s no one better.’
Ethan looked up, trying to see if the plane was over the DZ yet.
‘Listen out for a drop in the sound of the plane’s engines,’ said Johnny, following Ethan’s line of sight. ‘That means it’s slowing down so people can jump.’
Immediately after he spoke, Ethan heard the change in the sound of the plane. A few seconds later, tiny dots dropped into the sky like erratic flies. Straining his eyes, he followed the dots as they grew larger. He soon realized that one of them was actually made up of a number of dots; a group doing a formation dive. The dot exploded. Parachutes burst into life and drifted down like confetti.
‘Check these guys out,’ said Johnny as the four skydivers from the formation came in above them. ‘They’re swooping.’
Ethan didn’t have a chance to ask what swooping was: in quick succession, the skydivers turned into the DZ at an impossible speed. He watched as they sped through the air, only inches from the ground, then pulled into a perfect landing.
As they touched down, he noticed their parachutes; they were the smallest he’d seen – more like power kites.
‘Cool, eh?’ said Johnny, grinning. ‘A swoop’s a high-speed landing. The control you need is amazing. It’s unbelievably difficult. Which is why I’m the best.’
Ethan ignored Johnny’s comment and said, ‘Those parachutes – they just don’t look big enough.’
‘They’re Raiders,’ said Johnny. ‘Small, fast and scary. And the word’s canopy, not parachute. If you’re gonna work here, you may as well sound like you know what you’re talking about.’
‘You tried one?’
Johnny shook his head. ‘Sam’s got some on order for us though – me and the rest of the team, that is. Want a go?’
Ethan saw the challenge on Johnny’s face. ‘Yeah, no worries,’ he said. ‘I reckon it’s easy. It’s just people like you want to make the rest of us think it’s difficult so you look cool.’
‘But anyone can skydive,’ said Johnny, and Ethan saw a wild spark in his eyes. ‘And it is easy. Just look around you!’
Ethan did just that. Like every other day he’d been at FreeFall, he was amazed at the variety of people who had all signed up to jump: pensioners, teenagers, mothers… even vicars.
‘Statistically it’s safer than driving or crossing a road,’ Johnny told him. ‘You’re more likely to get hit by a meteorite than be killed skydiving.’
Ethan rested his can on the table and looked directly at Johnny, who shrugged.
‘OK, so some of that may not be strictly true.’
‘That is a surprise.’
‘But you’ve just got to try it!’ said Johnny, and Ethan saw that wildness fire up again. ‘It’s the most awesome thing ever. It could make you almost as cool as me! It’s a life-changing thing!’
‘Yeah,’ said Ethan, getting up from the table to head back inside, ‘and so’s the money I’d need to do it.’
At the end of the day Ethan was just making for his bike when a voice called, ‘Ethan? Got a minute?’
He turned to find Sam striding towards him.
‘How’s your first week been?’
Ethan started to reply and found he couldn’t stop. All he could do was spill out everything he’d done that week – how much he’d enjoyed it, the people he’d met, how he was still amazed by the whole skydiving scene, loved watching people jumping, coming in to land, their faces carrying the biggest smiles. He couldn’t remember being so enthusiastic about anything in his life. It felt good.