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"It was an accident," Jock said "Calm down You’ll have to move"

They shifted to the side Jock finished up and had begun to climb dohen Peter heard a pop Jock let out a yelp A second pop, and with a loud clatter the ladder rocketed down the roof with Jock still attached At the last second he lunged clear and began to slide down the roof on his belly After his first cry, he hadn’tto grab hold of, his toes digging into the tiles to slow his descent Nobody had ever fallen that Peter knew of Suddenly this seemed not possible but inevitable; Jock was the one chosen

Ten feet fro: a rusty spike

"Help!"

Peter unclipped and scra a bracket, he leaned out "Take ht hand was clutching the spike, his left gripping the edge of a tile Every inch of him was pressed to the surface

"If I move I’ll fall"

"No, you won’t"

Far below, people had stopped on the street to look

"Foto, toss me my safety line," Peter said

"It won’t reach I’ll have to reset the anchor"

The spike was bending under Jock’s weight "Oh God, I’ Foto, hurry up with that rope"

Down it came Peter had no time to clip in; the boy was about to fall As Foto pulled the line taut through the block, Peter wrapped it around his forearan to slide