The Dive

My guts were churning with anxiety, there was a weird taste in my mouth, a bit of acid a bit of sweet like putting the tounge on a 9 volt alkaline battery. The operator was giving me instructions while hooking up the body brace that was suppose to be the thin line between life and death for me.
Once hooked we will turn you over horizontally and slowly lift you to the top. When all is set we would count down and ask you to pull the rip cord.
I noded my head and asked Dont I get a helmet? The operator responded that my head was completly safe and nothing could happen to it. And with that the cord that was tied to my body brace slowly got tense and lifted me slightly of the ground holding me parallel to it. The hydraulic platform that I had been standing on was slowly lowered away with the operator in it. I suddenly felt tension flowing in the cord as it started to elevate me.
Millimeters became centimeters, that convereted to inches and feet. As I was being elevated I could see the marking on the metal arch besides me. 10 feet, 25 feet, 50 feet. The people become pets and ants with every few feets of elevation. Far away I could see highway 400 with saturday traffic speeding away on it. The 18 wheeler trucks appearing no bigger than a small model. As I saw the 70 feet mark, a certain fear of height took birth in my heart. The Toronto wind with all its chill was as much to blame for the goose bumps as the venture it self. By the 75 feet mark I could not keep my eyes open. While still being elevated further up I recited the Kalma in my heart and recited some duas that my grandmother would recite when id ask her to pray for me.
By now I had come to halt. My eyes were still shut tight, I had reached the 115 feet mark. The speakers on the tower came to life with my operators voice. 5,4,3,2,1 Tower One You Are Ready for Launch. A sense of fear came over me and I thought it was better to be on the ground than 115 feet above it. And with my eyes still closed, I said bismillah and tugged hard on the rip cord.
All I could hear was the voice of Jim Morrison singing this is the end my friend. I rapidly descended towards the ground; I thought life could pretty much be over. However, I didnt want it to be over with my eyes shut. I wanted to see the end head my way. I opened my eyes and realized that I was heading towards the ground at a speed that my body had never experienced before.
I screamed OOOOOOHHHHH FFFFFFAAAAAA ........ and I swooped over the ground like an eagle picking up a pray while still inflight. The scream of fear soon became a scream of pleasure and I was shouting my trademark "woo-hoos" as I swung like a pendulum, suspended to the 115 feet tall metallic truss whose summit I had been at only a few seconds ago.
I continued swinging around for another a few minutes, flapping my arms, singing I am like a bird, claiming I had met god, gleeing with the fact that I was alive and breathing. For a second I thought maybe thats what freedom feels like. I saw the operator again he was holding a rod. Grab the end he yelled. I grabbed it.It was a elastic retardation mechanism that brought me to a stop right over the hydraulic platform.
Another minute passed before the operator unbuckled me and as I walked out of the staging area a few people in the queue inquired how was it? Best thing I have ever done I responded. better than sex quipped another person almost better my friend, almost better I said. And with a huge grin on my face, I walked away from the sight of my first bungee jump.