Chapter Release: Sneak Preview!
THE EGG
My brother and I are poised on the second-floor window sill. We are supposed to be napping, but we've just seen the Bat Signal - we are needed. It's simple enough: we have to escape our confines by springing from the window, and rescue the girl. We're just having a brief discussion about whether Batman or Robin should go first.
It's at this fortuitous moment that Dad enters the room. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!? You were NOT planning to jump out that window! Get away from there!"
Robin pulls his leg back inside and we stand limply, feeling ridiculous that Batman and Robin can be so easily thwarted.
"Stay. Right. There", Dad says. "I'm going to be right back - do NOT move."
He nearly sprints from the room and returns a moment later carrying an egg. He steps over to the window. "I'm going to show you what would happen if you were to jump out that window."
He's got us curious. "Pretend this is your head" he says, holding up the egg.
Most definitely curious.
He leans slightly over the sill. We crowd closer and peer down. Immediately below, a row of peonies hugs the house, and next to them, a narrow concrete walkway. Dad looks at each of us and, satisfied that he has our attention, releases the egg.
We watch it fall. It strikes a peony, whose leaves cradle it with a gentle bounce before delicately depositing it on the sidewalk. It does not break. We all look at it expectantly for just a moment, then Craig and I turn our bemusement to our dad.
"Okay, but both of you are heavier than an egg and so…so…gravity would cause you to fall further from the house, and hit the sidewalk." he blusters, his ears pink. "Your heads would crack open and your brains would be all over the concrete and... and... and...I don't want to clean that up!"
We turn to watch him as he leaves the room. "Go outside and play."
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