The Zip Line Behind the Hotel
After stopping for just a couple seconds, Ali ran toward the far end of the alley. When he reached a pile of trash that lay on the ground near the wall, he stopped, bent down, and began searching through the pile. “What are you doing?” demanded Kelly. “We’ve got to keep moving!” Ali pointed up and then kept searching through the trash pile. Kelly looked up and saw a wire strung between the back wall of the hotel and the back wall of a building that sat several hundred feet below the level of the Hotel Sand and about half a block away.
“What is that?” asked Kelly.
“Zip line,” answered Ali, still looking through the trash.
“A what? A what line?”
Ali didn’t answer. Instead, he pulled a brick-sized object out of the pile and dusted it off with his hand. He hurried over to a wheeled dumpster nearby. “Come here and help me push!” he called to Kelly and began to push the dumpster. She ran to his side and began to push, too. When the dumpster was right underneath the wire connecting the two buildings, Ali said, “Stop!” He placed the device on top of the dumpster and then climbed up onto the container. He picked up the device, reached up over his head, and attached it to the wire. “Give me your hand!” he instructed and Kelly reached up. Ali grabbed her hand and pulled her up. Kelly braced one of her feet against the side of the dumpster and pushed up. She rose two feet from the ground before her footing slipped and she fell back to the ground. Ali knelt down on the dumpster and grabbed the waist of Kelly’s jeans with his right hand while taking hold of her elbow with his left hand. “On the count of three!” he said. “One… Two… Three!” He pulled up on Kelly’s jeans and on her arm. She planted her right foot against the side of the dumpster as firmly as she could and this time it held. She put every ounce of strength she had into her right leg and before she knew it, she was standing beside Ali on top of the dumpster. He reached up and took hold of a small handle on the device. He looked at Kelly and ordered, “Hold onto me! Do it now!”
Kelly wrapped her arms around his chest and locked her fingers and her legs around his waist. “Oh, I don’t think I’m going to like this! I’ve never done this before!”