Beyond the Station Lies the Sea Read Online Free PDF

Niner has already spread his arms out. He stands there in the middle of the night on the railing, swaying back and forth, with the trucks beneath him rumbling toward the sea.
    Cosmos is terrified. He wishes he could just run away, but he can’t do that. After all, he promised the Queen.
    â€œCome on, man,” he pleads, “come down from there, please. . . .”
    His head is roaring, like a drumroll in a circus.
    Then Niner cocks his head a little, as if he hears the drumroll, too. He’s “Niner, the world-famous tightrope walker,” the only one ever to cross over the Hudson River without a safety net.
    And then suddenly he’s off.
    Very carefully, very slowly, with his arms extended, he puts one foot in front of the other.
    â€œMan, Niner, just think of the sea. We gotta get there together! What’m I supposed to do there by myself? What’m I supposed to do if you fall off?”
    â€œIf I don’t make it now, I’ll never get to the sea anyway. It doesn’t matter if I’m with you or without you,” Niner calls out, swinging one foot in front of the other again.
    He is a rope dancer, a bridge balancer, a boy balancing in the wind. Far, far above the highway.

    Now he’s reached the middle. Here, the bridge is at its highest point. Niner wobbles a little. He braces himself against the wind.
    Cosmos holds his breath.
    He’s going to fall, thinks Cosmos. He’s going to fall for sure. There’s no way.
    But Niner keeps going, very slowly, step by step by step.
    Now he has three quarters of the bridge span behind him and he hasn’t stumbled yet. Cosmos walks along beside and below him.
    If he falls now, maybe I can catch him, thinks Cosmos. And then, just as he is thinking of it, Niner slips.
    Niner begins to fall, his arms flapping like a crow.
    Cosmos reaches out to catch him.
    The whole thing happens in an instant.
    Then the two of them are on the ground. Niner on top, Cosmos under him. Cosmos is briefly conscious of a sharp pain shooting through his foot, and he feels his head slam hard against the curb. Then he feels nothing.
    The night quickly grows blacker. Everything is dark now, and Cosmos feels himself drifting away.
    â€œOpen your eyes, Cosmos! C’mon now, open your eyes!”
    Cosmos hears Niner’s voice from very far away. And he
feels someone slapping his face lightly. The night gradually becomes lighter again.
    â€œQuit hitting me, you idiot!” Cosmos sits up and tries to move. He turns his head. Then he extends his arms and tries to wiggle his toes.
    â€œOh crap, my foot,” says Cosmos, grimacing. “I think I hurt my foot.”
    Niner looks as if he’s about to burst into tears any second now.
    â€œDon’t you dare cry,” says Cosmos, “don’t you dare cry!”
    Niner swallows hard.
    â€œLet’s see here,” Niner reaches out and feels Cosmos’s ankle.
    â€œQuit it,” says Cosmos. “Help me up instead!”
    It takes a while, but after a struggle, Cosmos is upright again.
    â€œIs it broken?” asks Niner.
    â€œNah, sprained at most. But now I’ve gotta limp because of you, you idiot!”
    â€œI didn’t mean for that to happen,” pleads Niner. “Believe me, I really didn’t mean it!”
    â€œWell, what did you mean, then, you fool? Why’ja climb up there?”

    â€œI . . . I . . . just wanted to try something out,” Niner stammers. “’Cause of the guardian angel, you know, ’cause . . . if I ain’t got one no more then I’ll never make it to the sea, even with the money.”
    â€œYou’re crazy! You’ve lost your marbles!”
    â€œBut I fell off, and that means . . .”
    â€œThat don’t mean nothin’. At most, it means you’re crazy. No one would have made it all the way across, with or without an angel. No one! Especially not with that wind!”
    â€œBut . .