Baked Scribe Flashback : With A View
Jordan stepped up onto the ledge and looked out into the golden expanse of the glittering morning sunlight. The birds were now fully awake, filling the air with their songs, as the cool breeze made his skin stand up. He held his arms straight out to each side, balancing as he teetered along the edge, glancing down at the miniaturized cars driving past on the street below.
From the edge of the roof, he heard a beeping as the intercom squawked with an indistinct voice, probably the front desk calling up because one of the occupants from the offices across the way had called out of concern. New tenants, more than likely. The ones who had been there longer were used to seeing Jordan out here for his morning excursions.
He was so occupied with searching the windows across the way for someone staring out at him, possibly waving their arms crazily and screaming at him to get down, that he almost didn’t notice the loose piece of gravel that had somehow ended up there on the ledge. The rocks scraped loudly across the concrete as he swept them off the roof with one smooth motion of his foot.
As he turned around the corner of the rooftop, and out beyond the protection of the building, the wind howled as it blew in off the lake, buffeting him and knocking him back on his heels. As he felt his equilibrium shift, he lifted one foot and extended it out into open space, leaning back against the gravity that fought to pull him down to a crushing death on the street below.
The sounds of brakes grabbing tires and of rubber being left behind wafted up to him, shattering the serenity of the morning. He rolled his eyes in annoyance at the intrusion. He was also starting to hear the muffled cries of his latest guest, who was still securely restrained inside the utility shed. The wind continued to howl as he hopped down off the ledge and strolled over to his workbench. He looked down over the tools laid out in front of him and chose carefully, selecting a brass pair of needle-nose pliers as well as one of the new scalpels he had just purchased.
Time to get back to work.
