Chapter 4

My head snapped around to see the direction the boy was pointing, and then I quickly focused, seeing Rich’s tall frame clearly outlined in the afternoon sun.

What the fuck, I thought to myself, and quickly moved off toward him, more of the crowd looking in his direction now as he stood on a ledge, about ten feet from the edge and certain death.

As I started getting within about thirty feet of him, I spoke quietly, not wanting to startle him.

“Uh, Rich, that’s way too close to--” and I was cut off.

“Relax, Sport,” he said, not turning toward me, but looking out at the Canyon’s majestic beauty, “I’m not going to do anything stupid.”

As I looked at him, I thought to remind him that he’d already crossed that bridge by getting that close to the edge with no protective railing, but thought better of it.

“Yeah, I know, you’re already thinking that I crossed that line,” he said with a slight snicker but then got serious. “I can’t spend the rest of my life scared of something that doesn’t make sense. I’ve been living life cautiously after my first heart attack, and living like that just isn’t living. It’s existing. So, just give me a minute.”

I looked back and saw that someone was at the Visitor Center, pointing excitedly toward Rich and me to one of the Arizona State Police.

Ut oh. This was gonna get tricky.

“Rich, I’m coming out there to join you.”

I made my way closer to the ledge, noting that it wasn’t difficult getting there physically, it was just the mental conquering that took your breath away. I could hear noise behind me and figured it’d be police and others, trying to avert what looked like an impending suicide.

“Hey,” I spoke in a hushed voice as I came up next to him, “don’t look back, but we’ve got company, State Police to be sure.”

“Okay,” he said, taking one long last look around, “I’m blind. Take my arm and guide me back to the vehicle.”

I smiled, picking up on his idea.

Taking him by the arm, I guided us back from little safety to relative safety, and then we were approached by some State Police who didn’t look amused.

“Stay there,” the bigger one said, already reaching for his handcuffs.

“I’m sorry, Officers, this is my fault,” and all of us stopped within 10 feet of each other. “My friend Rich, well, he’s blind and I told him to stay back and not get any closer.” Rich stared straight ahead, despite the officers being slightly to the right of us. Dark sunglasses, looking in the wrong direction; he was playing the part well.

“You’re blind?” inquired the younger and smaller of the two, a slighter softer expression on his face at this revelation.

“I’m not blind,” replied Rich sharply, “I have a slight sight impairment!”

At that statement from him, I simply rolled my eyes in an exaggerated motion, and, looking at the bigger of the two, nodded for him to come over and take hold of Rich.

“Rich, the nice police officer is gonna’ assist you in getting back to the parking lot while I talk to his partner.” I pointed out the Hummer to the burly officer.

The big guy took Rich by the arm, Rich grumbling, and grousing, and guided him in the general direction of our vehicle. I spoke to the other one and tried to look as sheepishly as possible.

“I’m very sorry, Officer. He only has about 10% vision now, and he’s been getting feisty about it as it worsens. That’s why we’re on this trip from back East. He figures it might be his last chance to see something this magical before he loses it completely.”

I picked the right cop. He got the satisfied-of-the-explanation look on his face, and told me to be careful with him up here, that the Canyon could be a dangerous place. I thanked him profusely and hurried off to catch up to Rich and the other cop, hoping that he wasn’t overplaying his part.

“ ... A S D F J K L semi-colon ... I know exactly where the keys are, sonny!” Rich was being crotchety.

The big cop shook his head slightly at me. “If you can take care of Hemingway here,” he indicated to Rich with a point of his thumb, “I’m gonna’ get back to work.” I nodded and thanked him while Rich mumbled something to the guy about watching his donut intake.

Once we were safely inside the Hummer and driving away, we both began to laugh. Took us a couple of minutes to settle down.

“So now what?” I asked.