August 5, 2009

• Truth, Dare, or Math

  There is a variant of Truth or Dare, a strange phenomenon which occurs only at math camps full of strange people. Regardless of the Math option, which, the protagonist can only presume to be the threat of solving a hard math problem, it is the Dare option that produces the most interesting results. Earlier this week, a fire alarm had been pulled, and rumor presumes that Truth, Dare, or Math is to blame. Then, today, it came to the philosophes’ attention that some stupid student had thrown a key onto a roof — the roof of a three-story building.

  A few days prior, the protagonist and Copernicus had gone on a mission to retrieve students’ objects from the roofs of the buildings. A rubber bouncy ball had wound up on the first-story structure that stood over the entrance of a dorm. A frisbee had stuck on the first-story roof above the dining hall. Copernicus is easily the more skilled climber of the two, so he was able to pull-up himself onto the structure and thrown down the bouncy ball, along with a squeezy stress-ball type thing. Then, the protagonist had stood on a newspaper-dispenser to pull herself onto a roof that connected to the roof where the frisbee was.

  This time, there was an outdoor staircase that stood right next to the edge of the third-story roof, with a high fence next to it. Copernicus had looked at the corner of the roof and wisely decided against making the climb, but the protagonist was foolhardy. She sought adventure to the point of lacking perception of danger. But she was scared all the same. Her legs were shaking as she stood on the wall, preparing to jump the fence. She could hear Copernicus muttering, “oh my god, be careful.” So she looked down at the corner of the roof that she was trying to attain, put her foot on it, and boosted herself over the fence.

  It is freakishly hard to see a lone key at night, even a key on a lanyard, and she didn’t know where on the roof it was. Too late, she realized that she should have found the location from the ground first. A roof is tiled with flat, loose tiles, except for a row of solid capping tiles in a line down the center and in four lines to the corners. The protagonist was deciding between crawling along the edge of the roof or along the top. It is easier to hide and harder to get caught along the edge, but also easier to fall. So she crept towards the top, scraping her knees in the process. Then, she moved carefully along the top of the roof with one leg on each side, so that she wouldn’t fall. Each time people passed nearby, she ducked down and held still and waited for them to pass. Halfway along the building, the roof joined onto another roof. She did not know where the key was. She asked Copernicus to go around and show her where the key should be.

  Finally, she reached the far edge of the roof. Copernicus directed her to the approximate location of the key, and she found it. She strung it around her neck by the lanyard and crept back, pausing and ducking whenever she heard footsteps. At the corner, she found that it was easier to climb the fence when its corner faces away from herself. Now that the corner was facing her, she could not get a good grip. Copernicus braced his arm against the fence and let her step on his hand, and she pulled herself over. She dropped to the stairs on the other side, trembling and excited after a successful mission.

  The protagonist’s logical mind tells her that she may be pushing the bounds of reasonable adventure, but life is truly exciting. Life is good.

  • 5:06 am
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