From: mar@physics.su.OZ.AU (David Mar)
Subject: Re: 3-Word Story Game (11/18/92)
Organization: School of Physics, University of Sydney, Australia
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 14:08:22 GMT


George strapped himself into his harness, stopped for a final check of the
wind, and launched himself off the edge of the cliff. He dropped a few
tens of metres before the wings caught the air and the rising current off
the sheer wall of sandstone pushed him upwards again.

The salty breeze slapped the kevlar span of the wings, causing the
trailing edges to rustle loudly. It was the only sound beside the rushing
of the air and the faint pounding of the surf far below. George reveled
in the noise, in the sharp bite of the wind on his face.

He banked and turned, now well above his take-off point. His fellow
gliders were standing by the cliff edge, watching him keenly, but George
hardly noticed them. His eyes cast themselves to the horizon, taking in
the full expanse of the scrubland and forests stretching into the west.
And for the first time in as long as he could remember, he didn't feel
the pressure.

His doctor had told him, "George, it's a dangerous business you're in. In
this day and age, nobody can afford to make mistakes, least of all people
who handle billions of dollars of other people's money."

"Or merely other people's lives," George had remarked, a faint grin on his
face.

"Now come on, George. We've known each other for years now. And haven't I
always treated you right? Well, this time you're going to have to do some
of the work for me. You're under too much pressure, George. You have all
the classic symptoms of work-related stress. That heart of yours has a
lot of years left in it - if you let it have the chance. You're going to
have to siphon off a bit of that worry and nervous energy that you devote
to your work and use it on your health."

So George had decided to take up a hobby. He'd chosen something he'd
always wanted to do when he was younger. To fly like a bird, free from
constraints of power or bulky apparatus. To use the barest minimum of
equipment to soar into the sky like an eagle. To float free, to be rid of
the constraining ground, to swoop and dive and laugh in the face of
gravity.

Now, after some training flights with an instructor (and considerable
expenditure - not that George was worried about how much it cost, not
now), he was finally flying solo.

The pressure was gone. He was free! He could do anything he liked,
anything he wanted to do. On a whim, he circled swiftly, heading for a
granite outcrop over which he knew there would be rising thermals ready
to work for him and lift him higher.

When Julie had gone to see their doctor in his capacity as close family
friend, she had expressed her concern. "I'm afraid George will injure
himself. Hang-gliding is terribly dangerous."

"Not as dangerous as leaving himself vulnerable to heart problems," the
doctor had smiled. "Seriously, gliding is quite safe these days. And it's
doing him a world of good, getting out there, away from the office."

"But that's part of the problem," Julie had pouted, "He's become terribly
obsessed with it. You know how he is, can't take anything non-seriously.
He gets so rapt up in his work that he forgets who or where he is for
hours on end. I think in some ways he thinks of himself as a financial
computer at work, only remembering about me and our house when someone
tells him to quit for the day and come home."

"Nonsense," the doctor had replied, "those instructional flights he's
had have already done him a world of good. His blood pressure's down to
almost normal. This hobby can only be good for him."

Gliding out of the thermal, George headed slightly inland, toward the
grassy hill behind which was his expensive house. His keen eyes spotted
the swiftly moving brown shape of a rabbit, darting across the sloping
field.

Folding his wings back, George tipped his head down and dived.

*****

David Mar.                                      mar@physics.su.OZ.AU
Astrophysics Department, University of Sydney  NSW  2006, Australia.