I thought I would add a page to my website of short scenes I’ve written over the years. There is no theme or genre. I hope you enjoy them.
SHADOWS ON THE ROCK – I DID IT
I stood at the bottom and looked upward at the rough red surface beyond – a massive, imposing sandstone structure, standing over three hundred metres high. It rose from the ground like an island mountain in a sea of scrubby bushes and spinifex grass.
With its bulk lying hidden beneath the Earth’s surface, it reminded me of a giant rock iceberg; only the tip exposed to the elements. How deep it goes, or how big it is, hasn’t been determined yet. While some estimate it extends as deep as five kilometres, scientists don’t have equipment capable of viewing deep enough to confirm this measurement.
To say I felt intimidated would be understating the intense sense of foreboding washing over me. Especially after reading the danger sign informing potential climbers of the risks inherent on proceeding with the challenge. Individuals are warned not to even attempt it if they are unfit, suffer vertigo, or have a medical condition. Since recordings began, there have been thirty-seven known deaths from recreational climbers. A tour operator claimed that three weeks earlier, a Japanese man had suffered a heart attack and died while hiking to the top.
“Are you sure you want to climb it still?”
I looked at Colin and shrugged my shoulders, chewing on my lip in indecision before answering. “I said I would.”
We both looked once more at the steep incline where in 1964 a chain hand-hold had been installed to make the ascent easier. The people climbing along its length, one behind the other, looked like small insects traversing a well-worn path in their efforts to reach the summit.
Did I really want to climb it?
I’d promised my husband I would join him in the trek up the red monolith. The three major reasons for undertaking such a mammoth chore were –
- Next year the climb would not be allowed, as Uluru/Ayers Rock is considered a sacred site to the traditional custodians and caretakers, and therefore will be forbidden.
- Many tourists wanted to make the climb, but because of bad weather or windy conditions, the site had been closed. Today it was open, the weather near on perfect.
- I wanted to share the experience with my husband, who’d never been to central Northern Territory and was in awe of the rock.
I’d been fortunate to have made the climb before, in the early eighties. Younger then but my memory assured me that, sure, it’s difficult to start with, but once I conquered the initial steep beginning, the rest became fairly doable.
NOPE. As I soon found out, my memory was a liar!
Another thing that goaded me onward. I saw a few women my age or even older coming down. They were red-faced and tired, but they confirmed what I’d previously been told – that if I took it easy and rested often, allowing two hours to reach the top, it could be done.
With a backpack filled with two bottles of water, camera, and snacks, we climbed.
Puffing and out of breath before we even reached the chains, Colin asked, “Are you sure sweetheart?”
“Yep,” I gasped. My lungs felt like they were burning, and I felt certain I bled internally. “I’m determined to do this.”
He smiled at me and pulled me to my feet, allowing me to go first, at my snail’s pace.
In no time at all my brother-in-law, Gary, and a friend we had been travelling with, Daryl, caught us and chatted on one of my many, many breaks, before they overtook us, to power upward.
“Do you want to go with them?” I asked Colin. “I can easily just trudge slowly on my own if you do.” I offered graciously, but secretly I wanted him to stay with me.
My traitorous body at this stage kept telling me, ‘abort, abort’, but I knew if I retreated now, Colin would feel obliged to return with me. Then this opportunity would be lost. I would never do that to him.
“No way. We’re in this together,” he stated. “As if I’d ever leave you.”
He bent over to me sitting on the rocks surface, and clasping my face between his hands, dropped a quick kiss on my lips.
I smiled at him and nodded, too out of breath to make further conversation, before heaving myself back up to stand, and continued to scale the rock.
After an hour we discovered we were about two-thirds of the way; only one final steep slope to where the chain ended. Colin climbed first, then put his hand out to pull me aloft. Using both hands to clutch at the thick chain and bracing my feet solidly against the hard stone, I hauled myself skyward. It wasn’t easy given the extra kilos I carried, and my lack of fitness, but Colin called out for me to grab his hand. At first, reluctant to release my death-grip on the chain as a vertical drop less than a metre on my right yawned before me, but I trusted him and reached out.
Wrapping his fingers around my sweaty palm, the other hand gripping the top of my arm, he yanked me higher with his superior strength until I stood beside him beaming. I heard a little cheer go up from the two Asians patiently waiting behind me to climb after.
I acknowledged to myself how lucky I am to have him with me. I couldn’t have done this epic climb on my own. Like the perfect husband he has turned out to be, he stayed with me the entire journey, pulling me uphill over rock faces and even getting behind to put his shoulder to my butt , and shoving me along when necessary.
Eventually, after much panting and puffing from me, Colin never even breaking into a sweat, we reached the summit. I had scaled my ‘Mt Everest’. After taking photographic evidence I’d succeeded, we celebrated with water and potato chips before we began the gruelling descent. But the important thing is… I DID IT!