Chapter 16: The Gods Above, Part 1

One Saturday, in March, Jack told Pranthi he was going up on the roof.

"You should come," he said. "It's cool. There are things to block the wind and the sun is warm."

Pranthi put on the fur lined hoodie and took the elevator with him to the top floor. Jack helped her up the stairs to the roof, his arm warm around her waist. She didn't need his help, but didn't mind it either.

In the brief time since he tried to steal her gear, he'd become important to her. Nothing romantic, something more important. Jack didn't ignore her legs, or make her only about them. They were just part of her. As she considered their friendship, Pranthi thought again how Jack might have been the age of her brother if he still lived.

She wasn't going there today. Her brother, whether alive or dead, was a sorrow for a different time. Not something to get between her and whatever Jack was showing her.

The roof was everything that Jack promised. Most of it was flat with gravel and tar, but boxes and vents stuck out of the roof and people would sit or lay on them and bask in the weak sun.

Pranthi started going up every day. Walking up there meant a view other than the endless procession of apartment doors. A faint whisper in the back of her head sighed with pleasure when she stepped out into the sun.

She stayed away from the edge, though there was a railing surrounding the entire roof. The height didn't bother her if she didn't have to look straight down. Jack loved to stand right by the railing and look down at the people walking in and out of the building.

They were a floor or two higher than the building next door and its roof was also occupied. Pranthi brought up her camera and took pictures of the roof and people. The Journal bought her photo essay and named this new obsession roofing.

All over the city, residents climbed to the roofs of their buildings to take in the sun. Some people weighed in with concerns about safety and others commented about the body's need for vitamin D. One columnist wondered what made the people so interested in populating the roofs of the city, when only a few other places had citizens basking on the rooftops.

Nobody mentioned voices in anyone's heads, so Pranthi kept quiet about the increasingly vocal whispers telling her to climb higher. Clearly, the voice didn't care about her legs.

After a couple of people fell from a building, the city tried to stop people climbing to roofs without proper railings. The roofers went anyway. In most buildings, the management gave up and put up some kind of railing and posted signs telling people they were there at their own risk. That was cheaper than the constant replacing of broken doors.

The TV station called to let Pranthi know they were going to film a story about the roofers from a helicopter and wanted her to shoot pictures from the roof. She passed the good news on to Jack. There would be no problem getting a crowd up there, but she could use a hand lugging her gear up there. She wanted more than just her camera and one lens.

Pranthi just got out of the shower when Jack banged on her door.

"We're heading up," he called through the door. "You coming?"

"I should get dressed, first," Pranthi said.

"Yeah, good idea. See you there."

Pranthi put on warm clothes, topping it with the hoodie Jack gave her. The leg braces made her ache as soon as she started walking. Pain that reminded her she was alive. Her camera bag thumped onto her back; the reason she still enjoyed living.

Jack waited for her at the stairs and helped her carry her equipment up to the roof. As soon as the door opened, the sound of the helicopter washed over her. Crowds of people gathered and pointed away to the south. Pranthi's heart beat faster. Jack danced with impatience but stayed with her.

Her legs wanted to run and climb to the highest point.

Higher, closer.

Pranthi couldn't remember anything like it since she was a child snatching bread or fruit to run laughing and uncatchable through the crowds. She took a step as if to run and pain ran up her leg into her back. Whatever her legs wanted, the braces kept them trapped. For the first time in years, a tear rolled down her cheek because of what she'd lost.

Climb, run.

All over the roof people pointed at the helicopter and waved. Some shouted and all had broad smiles on their faces. Pranthi pulled up her camera and started taking shots of the celebration. If she couldn't run and climb, she'd photograph the scene.

The chopper hovered near the lower building and the roofers there were also jumping and waving. With her long lens, Pranthi caught the smiles and laughter. The roofers looked jubilant, like they were at a festival, like they heard the same voices Pranthi did.

They crowded under the helicopter, following its motion as it hovered high enough that the downdraft was just a strong breeze. A young man on a roof vent gave a focal point above the mob. He waved and jumped as her camera clicked. Then he fell and disappeared under the roofers. No gap appeared as people stopped to help him.