Fear - A Big Lump of Cowardice

I'm in a bungee harness.

It seemed so easy to accept this invitation when I was standing on God's solid earth, surrounded by my friends, and especially that gorgeous girl I simply had to impress. A number of us are going to make a jump and we're jumping from a crane. We have to pay a bit of money to help with the hire of this monster, but it's well worth it. Isn't it?

No-one seemed to want to go first, so I bravely stepped forward. "Well, someone must start," I declare in a strong, confident voice.

They lace me up to the crane's huge hook and up I go. And up. And up. The people below, looking up at me with what I take to be a mixture of pity and 'the man's an idiot' look on their faces, are becoming smaller and smaller. Another group went before us, and I'm quite sure none of them reached this height - and yet I'm still rising. And rising.

Finally, with a bit of a lurch, the crane stops. I risk a look down. Dear God, those people are the size of ants. I've never been as close to God as I am now!

Come to think of it, when they were strapping me into my harness, they were chatting merrily away, not really paying any attention to what strap went where.

And the chap in charge. When he gave me my instructions, which were;

"I'm going to count to three. Then I'll yell GO!" Doing all this through a bullhorn.

But when he gave me those instructions, he grinned. More accurately, his lips pulled back from his teeth, giving him the appearance of someone predatory. A psychopath. He had all the symptoms.

Now my stomach is doing cartwheels and the sweat's pouring off me like a tap that's been turned on. So what if I'm called a coward for the rest of my days. All I want is down. I know I'm going to die. I know it. The other people who jumped were merely sprats to catch a mackerel. He wants me dead, for some reason. He...

"One, Two, Three, GO!"

My stomach changes places with my larynx. The speed is such, that the fear leaves me, or more probably is literally forced out of me. But the speed is incredible. My eyes are tight shut. All the internal organs in my body have changed places.

Then suddenly - I'm bouncing! Oh, Dear God, I'm alive. I'll never utter another swear word, I promise.

Bouncy, bouncy and then strong hands are helping me out of my harness.

"How was it, Mike?"

"Oh great, old boy. Yes. Very invigorating."

The fact that I'm an arrant coward can remain my secret.

Fear, though, is like water. It makes its own channel to descend. Your own imagination is the culprit for digging that channel down which the fear will flow. The point is that it creates a reason for you to feel fear.

Me and my imagination!