Mary and Halley (sequel to When Mary Met Halley)

twenty six

"Auntie Mary, I climbed up here to see what it was like and now I just can't get down," Jasper said in a much smaller-than-usual voice, hugging his knees where he sat five feet from where the extension ladder was still leaning. "And I'm cold now. And I want my mama."

"Oh my God," I said, flooding with adrenaline. "Jasper. Do not move, whatever you do. Okay? Just stay there, I'll get you. Do not move! At all! I mean it!" My hands were shaking. I'd left my phone on the bed and there was no time to get anyone to help me. If I left him alone he could fall off. I banged my fist on the outside of the house, though no rooms were on the other side. "I'm coming," I said determinedly to my nephew.

The ladder was cold under my bare hand, and shifted as I put my weight on the third step. My fuzzy slipper shifted too, and I tightened my hold even though I was only a few feet off the ground. I kicked off both slippers and tried to get my oh-so-smart bird to do another trick. "Poe, go get Halley. Or Leif. Poe!" I snapped when he didn't look at me, and he turned to eye me. "Get Halley," I urged him.

He croaked at me and stepped a little closer to the four year old, as if he could somehow protect him.

"Dammit, bird," I said in exasperation. My hands were freezing and I was only halfway up. I made the mistake of looking down and my head swam a little. "Do not move, Jasper." I repeated.

"Caw," the large black bird admonished him sternly, tilting his head. 

"I want my mama," the little voice reiterated, and I could tell he was crying. "I'm cold and I want to get down!"

I was going to kill Leif for leaving the ladder out, though we should have known better than to trust his faulty memory. I'd meant to check before we went to bed and had forgotten too. "I'm coming," I said again, forcing myself upward. Holy shit the roof was high, thanks to our good-for-nothing attic space that didn't even have a floor. It was just rafters and insulation and the occasional black widow. "Fuck," I said under my breath as I got to the rim of the roof finally. 

Two feet of ladder extended past it, and the entire thing wobbled a little underneath me as I reached out to grab the metal gutter. We'd replaced them all winter before and it was sturdy in my grip. The ladder itself had been secured to the gutters with a bungee cord, but the part on the ground wasn't the most stable. 

"Bird!" I said menacingly, making them both jump a little. "Get Halley!"

My crow gave me a look that would have melted steel and deliberately turned his back on me before taking off into the back yard where his doggy door opened into the house. The noise he made in departure was a clear Well! I never!

Now I had to maneuver onto the roof, something I'd never done before, and I was hoping to avoid falling to my death. The roof was shake, and comprised of individual pieces of wood, some of which were missing. We'd meant to have it replaced as well but it didn't leak so it hadn't been an immediate problem.

Of course now it definitely was, given that the shingles were old and loose, and Jasper was sitting on several of them. He was shivering hard in his thin pajamas, face wet in the dim light of the moon through the clouds. God only knew how long he'd been up there. 

I stepped up another rung before I could think about it, letting go of the gutter and clinging to the ladder for dear life. "Don't move," I told him, forcing myself to move my right leg from the ladder so I could put that foot on the roof. Fuck, it was so awkward to do. My hands were sweating and it prickled all over my body. How had he even done it without falling? 

I heard the front door shut below me but I was too afraid to look back down. Then the most relieving three words in the world graced my ears. "I've got you," my girlfriend called up calmly, and I felt her steady the bottom of the ladder. "Just breathe, Mary; don't look at me. Are you okay to get him?"