I just have to keep my concentration for another ten feet and then I can take a breather – no mistakes now," he warned himself.As he got closer, Don...nie saw that there was a large bird nest at one end of the ledge. He put it out of his mind and focused on each hold until at last he was able to pull himself up and onto the ledge. Lying on his back, he took a few minutes to just let his muscles relax. He was of course looking upwards and he thought could see the summit of the mountain only about. 7 – Fall Fell today. Took half-second, watched it in slow motion in head. Always the way with falling, isn’t it? Seems like it takes forever. Been ten years, three months, since last time. Know what you’re thinking. Thinking ‘ten years? not eons?’. Nope. Nature unpleasant–sure I’ve mentioned that before. Try my hardest, but nature tries harder. Can’t deny what we are. Never compromise with excuses, never forget. So, yeah, ten years and three months. Only know that because Artie reminded me. ’ Prentiss left, followed quickly by Andrews and Taylor. Harker followed more slowly, and paused briefly at the door to the den. ‘Carl,’ he said, ‘I just wanted to say how sorry I was to hear about Derek. No one should have to lose a son.’ Fenton sat back down in the chair that he woke up in, and turned away from the door. ‘You always were good at being nice without sounding like a suck up, Harker,’ he said coldly. ‘Do us all a favor, Fenton, and lay off the Tangueray.’ Harker stormed out,. She was determined to get her teacher's certification in less than four years. Meanwhile, my mom dated almost always on weekends, and since I gradually began spending every weekend with relatives, no one was needed to overwatch me. These were gray, uneventful days. I got bored every fifteen seconds.Life had tragedy now. It had dire consequences, uncertainty, loneliness, nuclear warheads. On a daily basis I tracked every news story and photo of the Korean War, longing desperately to be old.