The Zipper

a short story

Gret stood on the edge of his building, resting his elbows on the belly-high wall around the perimeter, tall enough to keep a blind person from wandering off the edge, but low enough to rest one’s elbows on and gaze at the view, or listen to the sounds, of the city. He listened to the sounds coming from three thousand feet below, echoing off the other buildings and distorting each other. He tried to parse out the sounds of individual vehicles, alarms, machines, and people. He smelled the air, and in his mind, he separated the exhaust fumes and the factory fumes and the trash on the surface below and focused on the essence of the air itself, as if it were clean fresh air, and indeed some of it was.	
	“What do you want to do today?” Toba asked Gret.
	“You know what I want to do,” Gret said.
	Toba remained silent. Beyond the wall stretched the seemingly endless city, a network of tall cylindrical buildings piercing the clouds. Some were flat and rectangular on top, like his. Others had long pointy cones or domes on top. Some of the newer buildings flared out like flat-topped mushrooms. All of them were connected by thin black lines. These were the zipper lines, and on them ran the zippers, public-transportation cars that allowed people to travel between buildings without having to go all the way to the surface of the city. 
	“Still scared?” Gret said.
	“I’m not scared. I just don’t see the point,” Toba said.
	“I’m scared. I’m scared of a lot of things. I’m scared of the whole damn world. But that’s the point. I don’t want to be scared anymore. Not of anything. And if we can walk the zipper, then nothing else will ever be scary.”
	“Okay. But the zipper? Where do you even get ideas like that? It’s nuts.”	
	“I want out of the box I live in. The box everyone has me in. And I want to go big,” Gret said.
	“And so you want to walk the zipper.”
	“Yes.”
	“Nothing could be more dangerous.”	
	“It’s an abandoned line, and we’re first in line, because there is no line,” Gret said.
	“Yeah, nobody else is dumb enough to try it.” Toba said.
	“See, that’s just it. Everyone else is too scared. And why are they scared? Because of what their eyes tell them. Their eyes fill them with fear. But not us. That’s where we have the advantage. My eyes do not fill me with fear, and you can’t fall and die, so we have the advantage, and if we don’t use our advantages, what are we? Average. Just plain old boring Gret and Toba, scared of the world. We do it, we lose fear of everything. And we’re instant legends. That part’s cool too.”
	“What if they fixed it yesterday? What if a zipper comes? We’re dead,” Toba said.
	“They didn’t fix it yesterday and they’re not going to fix it.”
	“Right, if that’s true, then why aren’t they going to fix it? Is it about to fall down?”
	“Lines don’t fall.”
	“They might. What if it’s the first?” 
	“Life’s full of what ifs. What if we walk it? What if everyone knows we did it first? That’d be stardom for us.”
	“What if it rains?”
	“Boom! Stardom. You and me. Gret the Great and Toba the Terrible.”
	“I don’t think you understand how high it is,” Toba said.
	“About three thousand feet,” Gret said.
	“What does that even mean to you?”
	“It means we’d have enough time to make peace with the maker if we fell. What’s it mean to you?”
	“It could be then end.”
	“What if we practiced? Isn’t there a plank around here about the same width as a zipper?”
	“There’s one over by the antennas.”
	“I bet we could set it up across two cooling units and practice.”
	“Now that sounds like actual fun.”
	Gret began walking around to the other side of the roof. “It’s around here somewhere, isn’t it?”
	“Five steps forward. Left seven steps at the cooling unit.”
	Gret found it, a long plank left over from construction. He set one end on a cooling unit, then set the other end on another.
	“How’s it look?” Gret asked.
	“It looks good. Sturdy and safe, as long as you don’t fall on your head.”
	“I won’t fall on my head. Watch and learn.”
	Gret climbed up and carefully stepped forward. “Does it look like it’s going to break?”
	“No. It looks good,” Toba said.
	Gret slowly made his way across and climbed down.
	“Your turn.”
	Toba walked the plank, then Gret climbed up and did it again. “It’s less scary the second time. Stand on the end behind me and bounce a bit,” Gret said. 
	“Jeez. Do you think the zippers bounce?”
	“I hope not. But it’d be good practice anyway.”
	Toba climbed up and stood on the plank behind Gret. Gret started walking and bouncing. He almost fell, but laughed and got to the other side. 
	“Now you try it,” Gret said.
	When the plank finally got old, Gret said, “Now let’s try the wall.”
	“No, definitely not the wall. Are you crazy?” Toba said.
	“I’m not scared of the plank and I’m not scared of the wall,” Gret said while he walked to the edge of the building. He held up his arms and proclaimed. “And now, for our next act, Gret the Great and Toba the Terrible will stand on the edge of the world!”
	“You’re crazy!” Toba said.
	“And yet?”
	“And yet, Gret, can do anything,” Toba said.
	“Thank you,” Gret said. He carefully climbed up onto the wall and slowly stood. Toba stood on his left staring out at the city, taking it all in. After only a moment, Gret leaped back down. 
	“The zipper will be easier than that. And easier than the bouncing plank,” Gret said.
	“I guess so,” Toba said.
	“And we can live-stream it.”
	“Cool!” Toba said, brightening up.
	“Gret the Great.”
	“And Toba the Terrible.”
	Gret held up his hand and Toba high-fived him.
	“But how are we even going to get to the zipper station? It’s closed and locked,” Toba said.
	“I have an idea,” Gret said.

The following day, Gret leaned his head over the side of the wall on the edge of the roof. He held a long string with a large steel nut tied to the end, and he slowly lowered this along the side of the building. The steel nut bumped along edges and settled on flat shelves, and Gret lifted it and swung it out and back, probing the wall and all its features, creating a map in his head.  
	Six floors directly below was the zipper station. The line, it had been determined, was too long and therefore required too much power. Times were tough and power was in short supply. 
Gret’s weight found the line and the opening to the station behind it. Gret smiled, pulled the weight back up, and started over. 
	His idea terrified him, but the longer he probed the wall and imagined himself climbing, the more he believed he could do it, and the more he believed, the less he feared the idea.
	Gret told his friends that he was going to walk the line, and he told them when he was going to do it, and that he was going to live-stream it. They all told him he was crazy, but he could hear the excitement in their voices. He could hear envy too.
	After more practicing and planning, Gret stood on the edge of the roof directly above the zipper line. “It’s time, old friend,” Gret said.
	“Time, and yet, Gret, you are a madman.”
	Gret held a selfie stick with his phone in his left and the string with the nut in his right. “Turn on live stream,” Gret said.
	“Live stream on,” his phone said.
	Gret tied the string to the selfie stick. He held it out and faced the camera to him. He held his other arm out wide and declared to all the world, “For our next performance, Gret the Great and Toba the Terrible shall attempt to down-climb to the zipper line. Fear not!”
	He lowered the selfie stick and tied the string to a bolt in the wall so it hung outside the abandoned zipper station.
	“See anything out of the ordinary?” Gret asked.
	“Negative, sir,” Toba said.
	“See any reason not to climb?”
	“Only the fact that you might fall and die, sir.”
	“I’m a good climber,” Gret said.
	“And yet, Gret, you still might fall.”
	“Indeed I might. But still I will climb and at the bottom find the zipper line, where I will be first in line, to walk into a world without fear,” Gret said.
	“And stardom,” Toba said.
	“Gret the Great.”
	“And Toba the Terrible.”
	Gret climbed over the wall, found his first foothold, and began his descent. Though he couldn’t see below him, he knew from the map he had constructed in his head where all the ridges and ledges were, and they were all where he expected them to be as he down-climbed. 
	He felt with his foot until he found a gap where his toes fit. He reached down with his right hand to a pipe and held it while he lowered himself. His left foot found another gap between windows, his left hand a vertical edge. Beneath the window was a tiny shelf where he placed both feet. A breeze became a gust and he held on until it passed, then scooted right, where he stepped down onto a protrusion. He bent down and grabbed this with both arms and hung. His feet found gaps, and his right arm another pipe. He continued down like this until he stood on the top of the opening for the zipper cars which ran no more. He scooted to the right, then climbed down a vertical beam and swung himself into the zipper station. 
	“See anything out of the ordinary Toba?”
	“Negative. It’s just as you expected. No one here. Nothing amiss.”
	“Excellent.”
	He found his hanging selfie stick and untied it from the string. He held it out and faced the camera.
	“Gret the Great and Toba the Terrible have completed the climb, and now the dynamic duo face the abandoned line, and as we have talked the talk, now we shall walk the walk. Never before has such a deed been accomplished, neither by the abilified, the vilified, or anyone in between. We shall be the first, and we humbly ask to be recognized as such.” He pulled the phone close. “But first, we must test and assure that the line is dead.” He touched the screen and said, “turn on electric field tester.”
	“Electric field tester on,” his phone said. 
	He held the phone over the zipper line, close. The phone remained quiet. 
	“Turn off electric field tester.”
	“Electric field tester off.”
	He looked at the screen. “The line has been confirmed to be dead. Now I shall step on. Wish me luck!”
	He stood in front of the abandoned zipper line. Before stretched a mile and a half of sixteen-inch-wide beam, three thousand feet above the surface of the city. Behind was the dark abandoned station where an egg-shaped car sat on the line gathering dust. Behind was childhood, adolescence, fear, and mundane existence to which nobody looked up. Before was respect, dignity, and maybe even girlfriends. A life without fear.
	Gret held his phone out in front of him. “And now,” he proclaimed, “Gret the Great and Toba the Terrible will attempt to be the first to walk the Cordoba/Finkle zipper. Thank you for watching. And we’re off!”
	The phone made little popping noises as Gret’s friends liked his feed, and though Gret didn’t see the hearts and thumbs, nor could he tell who was responding, the sound gave him confidence.
	He switched the camera so it faced ahead. “Is Toba the Terrible ready?”
	“As I’ll ever be.”
	“You know you gotta go first, right?”
	“Of course, sir.”
	“Walk ahead of me. Let me know what it looks like. Keep me safe old friend.”
	“At your service.”
	“Thanks buddy.” Gret held up his hand. Toba high-fived him. Gret took from his belt a short rod. He flicked it, and out telescoped a long cane tipped in red.
	Gret reached down with his cane and felt the zipper, half expecting it to shock him to death in an instant. But there was no shock, and he stepped down onto the line. In his left hand, he held the selfie stick, in his right his cane, which he tapped on either side of the sixteen-inch-wide zipper as he walked out of the station and into the breeze, into open space, into a void where sounds came from all directions from far, far away. 
	“What do you see?” Gret said.
	“Nothing but the zipper. No obstacles in our way.”
	“So then, in your opinion, safe?”
	“It’s just a long walk in a straight line. The only difference is that the straight line becomes straight down if you step off the line,” Toba said.
	“Walk straight I shall. He flipped the camera back around to himself. “Toba the Terrible and Gret the Great shall now walk a line straight, and let our feet have great grip as we walk along the abandoned zip.”
	He switched the camera to face ahead. “Sounds funny,” he said.
	“What sounds funny?”
	“The zipper. It swallows sound. Footsteps sound like walking through piles of dust. The cane sounds like a bouncing rubber ball. It makes me feel like we’re walking through outer space. What do you see?”
	“The sight of the surface three thousand feet below is scary. It’s not something you’d want to see while walking the zipper line. Better to not see. It feels like it’s pulling me down.”
	“But it’s not.”
	“No, it is not.”
	“It’s different for me too. Sound usually bounces off the floor all around me. I can tell it’s there. But here, sound comes from a great distance and from all directions, including down.”
	He flipped the camera to face him.
	“Gret the Great and Toba the Terrible walk the line through outer space, Earthbound astronauts, transiting the truth and trusting one another as the mind bends, given confidence by the presence of you, my friends.”
	The phone emitted a series of popping noises and Gret smiled. He continued walking, tapping his cane on either side of the zipper, left, right, left, right, as he walked, staring straight ahead at nothing.
	“My step count says we’re about halfway. Let’s take a break.”
	“A break?”
	The selfie stich was pointed ahead, and Gret left it that way as he spoke quietly to his friend.
	“Toba the Terrible, I’m afraid the time has come.”
	“The time?”
	“For us to part.”
	“To part?”
	“For me to go on without you.”
	“Why?”
	“Because I’m almost an adult, and you are an imaginary friend.”
	“What’s wrong with that?”
	“You’re not real.”
	“How can you be so sure?”
	“Nobody else can see you.”
	“You can’t see me either.”
	“I can’t see anything.”
	“But you can hear me.”
	“Nobody else can hear you.”
	“Because I don’t talk to them.”
	“Why do you talk to me?”
	“Because you are my friend.”
	“Your only friend, right?”
	“Yes.”
	“And that’s because you live in my head, and you live there because I created you, and I created you out of fear. I can’t get over my fears if I keep leaning on you.”
	“But how will you see without me?”
	“How could I ever see? All I needed was your encouragement, and your words will forever live on in my head.”
	“I only wanted to keep you safe, but maybe my job is done.”
	“I believe so.”
	“Here, halfway. Good choice. The final half shall be your own, and the achievement shall be your own,” Toba said.
	Gret smiled.
	“Did you know that I can fly?”
	“Fly?”
	“Perhaps you thought I’d fall.”
	“Of course not.”
	“Toba the Terrible does not fall. But you would, so stay on the line.”
	The two friends embraced, and Toba evaporated into the wind, and became the wind, and Gret listened to the sound of a world that he would continue to conquer alone.
	Gret tapped the cane on the left, then the right side of the zipper and resumed walking.