Dream, Dive, Daley?

Chapter 8(a)

Sutton’s point of view

We stood there, Eric and I, at the edge of a cliff on a mountain somewhere in Mexico. Ten minutes ago, we were hiking.

‘How far down do you think it is?’ I asked Eric to ask one of the locals. He murmured something in Mexican or Spanish, or was it Portugese?Anyways, I didn’t understand because I took French in High School. The others took a distance from the edge.

‘He says about 50 feet’ He said and looked over his shades. ‘But both you and I know that’s about 67-70 feet’ I nodded and agreed with Eric. We stood there for a while considering the distance between the water and the cliff.

‘This should be interesting’ I took off  my Nike shoes. Everyone was staring at me as if I was crazy. Never seen a white girl cliff dive before?

Eric’s point of view

The ocean was greenish-blue. The waves hit the shore. I turned around to see my sister half stripped. She didn’t wear much at first either. ‘No you’re not jumping’

‘Don’t think of it as a jump or a leap, ‘Ric. It’s more of a cliff dive’ she smiled and pulled her short hair up in a small pony tail.

‘Don’t think of it as a cliff dive, but as a direct handicap card. Do you remember last time you said you were only going to do something?’ Even though she couldn’t see my eyes through my Wayfarer shades, she knew what I was thinking about.

‘As a five year old, you fell from the trampoline and cut your head open. Three years later you fall down the stairs and get a minor concussion.’ She scowled at me. Of course she didn’t remember anything because of the concussion. I bent down and picked up her shoes ‘In Nevada, the snowboard accident where you broke two bones on the left side of your rib cage?’ She was beyond pissed right now. Fantastic, now I got her where I wanted her.

‘Are you done yet?’ Sutton was tapping her barefoot on the sandy ground. A set of Olympic rings were tattooed on the inside of her left foot. I had a matching one on the outside of my right foot. It was a reminder of our first Olympic games.

 ‘Do I need to say more?’ I handed Sutton her Nike FreeRun shoes. She sighed and put on her sneakers and designer Gucci sunglasses.

Sutton’s point of view

‘Party-pooper’ I headed towards the trail again to catch up with the others. Tonia, Jack, Chris and Tom were way ahead of us. Eric jabbered something in Mexican or Spanish again to the Mexicans before we wandered off to the woods. ‘Look at us. Brother and sister, bonding.’ I gave my brother a push. The wind was a bit damp and hot. Almost like a steam-sauna. I had taken off my top after the first half mile.

‘So what’s up with you and Daley?’

‘Wow… You didn't have to be so discreet about the topic’ I said sarcastically while taking a sip out of my bottle of water. He gave me the look. Childish-Eric was long gone.

'What did Wagner ask you to do now?' He gave me the tell-me-everything-now-face. I waited for him to give up, but eventually I gave in.

‘Fine! Andre wanted me to play around with him for a little bit. Gain some media attention, sponsors and blah, blah, blah. No big deal’

‘You’re such a poser’ He shook his head. ‘I’m deeply disappointed at you’ He walked passed me. The muddy trail was narrow, so only one person was able to walk at one time. ‘Mom would have been too you know’ He stopped and turned around. The small hill made him at least two foot taller than me.

‘Don’t you dare include Mom into this’ I pointed my index finger up at him and threatened.  Mom was a fragile subject. We only brought her up once in a while when we needed to make a statement, a really important statement, which this was not!

‘I’m sorry…’ We stood there like two statues for a couple of minutes, just taking in the moment. Eric and I hadn’t spent this much time together since junior high. ‘If you mess things up…’

‘I won’t’ I assured him.

‘Just if, SUTTON’ He yelled, and a flock of birds flew up in the air. ‘Then you’re all alone.’ Eric continued. My eyes widened in shock as I stood there watching my brother rage. He sighed and hopped down from the hill to me and embraced me in a hug. ‘Just don’t fuck things up, okay?’ he whispered in my ear.

‘I won’t’ I repeated and sighed; 'We have to go, they are probably waiting for us'