Saturday, January 31, 2009

Clear Starry Night

Slowly up the hill they went, using a modern pulley system that dragged a rubber circular device that they were seated in. It took a few minutes to reach the top, but with those minutes they could gaze to the stars and enjoy the chilly night air.

They reached the top, and waited with others for their turn to use the rubber, air-filled devices to descend the hill rapidly. When they had the chance to go down, they decided to go down together, by holding the handle that was attached to the device by a rope and an operator pushed them so they would be able to descend. With that little push, they descended at high speeds, with the air rushing past them.

They neared the bottom and kept going, with some shouts of surprise as they passed other managers of the slick decline. And with a crash they hit the the flimsy plastic barrier, causing one of the plastic poles holding it up to break, and flipping the longer end into the air to land a little more than twenty feet away.

They were promptly told off, as the managers assumed that the pair knew they were supposed to use their feet as brakes to slow their descent after the reached a marked point. Somehow that instruction was not heard beforehand.

Nevertheless the pair proceeded to the pulley system again, talking, laughing, flirting and staring into the eyes of the other, for only the female to giggle and look away shyly as the male wagged his eyebrows at the her. Almost completely oblivious to others, for the exception of the female's roommates.

At the top again, they decided to descend the steep incline separately in competition to see who could reach the bottom first, instead of going down together. Everything would have gone according to plan had the male not lost his footing and lost him a few seconds as he prepared himself to descend. Though the female would have reached the bottom many seconds before he did, he would not despair. He gained his footing and descended; enjoying the cool air on his face and the rapid speeds at which he descended. And this time he did remember to slow his speed by dragging his feet. Unfortunately the wind had blown his cap off his head, which was on the midpoint of the descent. Fortunately one of those who helped manage the steep incline was inclined to fetch the cap and return it by the time the male would descend again.

Once again at the top, the male and female decided to descend again, and though it took a minute longer than it should have, they descended quickly and rapidly. Though, due to their speed and acceleration, even with the applied force to slow them down, they did not slow enough and caused one portion of the plastic barrier to collapse, with the male ending up on his face.

Those who managed the hill weren't too pleased that the pair again had crashed in the barrier, and marked their attached pass a warning. But being courteous, they at least returned the male's hat.

By this time neither the male nor the female desired to descend the incline again; due to crashing a second time, but also that as the night was particularly cold, they both wished to warm up a tad in the warm building that was off to the side a bit of the way down.

In the building they partook of the foodstuffs that had been provided; a hot milk liquid with chocolate in it, and circular sugary treats with holes in the middle. While they partook of those, they rejoined the female's roommates and conversed about the oddest of things, the relating of which would only serve to scare the casual reader.

Nevertheless, the cold night air and the company they held was enjoyed and even the travel back held much laughter. The male and female were in each others' arms, enduring the ridicule of the roommates who were seated behind them.

Another amusement was a message that was sent from the males communication device to one of the female's roommate's communication device; the the feature that allowed the device to receive messages of a written nature was disabled, preventing her from normally receiving any message, but for some unknown reason, maybe the altitude, the communication device received the message.

Such are things in a clear starry night.

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