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One day, after it had rained heavily, the steps of the outside stairs
were covered with puddles. Not wanting to get his feet wet, TM hit upon the
idea of walking down on the wide, stone handrail. The idea frightened
him the moment he thought of it, so he determined to do it. It was very
scary, walking down the handrail with a small drop into puddles on one side
and a stepp drop towards the ground and the trees and another flight of stairs
on the other side, but TM found himself reveling in it.
As he walked slowly down, he began to think of how stupid he'd look if
he fell, and how much the fall to the right might hurt and how deadly the
fall to the left was certain to be. He reached the bottom and hopped to
the ground safely; the sense of having conquered his fear and escaped death
was exhilerating.
TM's been using the handrail instead of the steops almost every time
since then. He's walked up and down it with his backpack on, with books
under his arms, and, one time, carrying a full bag of groceries. TM knows
that, if he keeps doing this foolish thing, one day he will become just a
little too careless, or the handrail will be slippery, and he will fall. He
can already hear the people saying, "Why was he doing something so stupid?"
and "Didn't he realize that he was bound to fall one day if he kept it up?"
But TM isn't particularly worried by these thoughts; he is still young and
thinks himself invincible, and the feeling of having survived the act
another day is exhilerating.
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