Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
Nova watched and listened to Harrison and Stryker with rapt attention.
“In theory,” Stryker told the group, “and theory is the keyword here. But in theory, people will come right out this door—” He pointed to the haunted house’s exit that led the two-story high platform they were standing on, “and can get back down by standing on this spring-loaded plate and, well, let’s just show you. ”
Harrison—ever the actor—understood his cue and stepped to the right mark, put Carl on the ground, then stepped back. A moment later, that section of floor sprung up with a loud, hydraulic hiss and Carl went flying through the air.
“Whoa!” Nova said as she and the others hurried to the edge of the roof to watch as the mannequin soared until he ended his trip by plummeting down and landing atop the big air cushion below.
“Glad that worked,” Harrison said. “We spent a lot of cash designing Carl.”
Stryker nodded. “Yeah. I was confident in my design. But still not confident enough to let a human try it yet. Poor Carl is just going to have to do until I’m a hundred percent certain.”
“Couldn’t we make a cheaper lifelike dummy?” Harrison asked. “That way we don’t risk poor Carl getting beat up.”
“I should have already done that!” Stryker said. “Oh well. Looks like Carl fared pretty well this time around.”
Nova was amazed. “So, is that just one of those things firefighters use if people have to jump off buildings?”
“Exactly,” Stryker answered. “We had it custom made to be a bit bigger, just as an extra safety precaution.”
Harrison grinned. “Yeah. That way if our calculations are wrong, we don’t accidentally launch someone onto the ground or into the side of a mountain!”
“And if people don’t want to exit this way—which I get—we have stairs over here or a swirling slide.
See?” Stryker walked over to the portion of the roof’s edge and showed the entrances of the stairs and slide.
“The launcher is of course purely optional. Now, the hard part is getting the town to sign off on it.”
“Hey, I’m the mayor,” Eli spoke up. “But the whole council would probably have to sign off on this one. And of course legal would need to be involved. It’s most likely a major liability issue.”
“Yeah. I’m guessing it’s going to be a no-go.” Stryker sighed and shrugged. “But I’ll see what we can do. Maybe I can retool it to something less dangerous and still use the basic principles in some way.”
“Right,” Harrison said. “We don’t want to hurt anyone.”
“Never!” Stryker confirmed. “We just want maximum fun!”
Nova thought it over for a minute before asking, “So, can I, you know, try it?”
Everyone around her had wide eyes as they stood stunned in speechlessness for a moment.
“You really want to give it a whirl?” Harrison asked, the disbelief evident in his voice.
“Yeah!”
“Friend,” Trixie said, “a while ago me and you were nervous to even come in this haunted house!”
Nova chuckled. “True. But ghosts and jump scares and stuff are different. At least to me. Daredevil stuff like this”—she waved her hand out toward the giant air bag— “that just seems fun!”
No one said anything, but plenty of disbelieving glances were exchanged.
“Look,” Nova continued, “people always treat me with kid gloves like they’re handling priceless China or something. I guess because of my career and money and stuff.
“It’s a total first-world problem that a lot of folks would dream of having. I’m not trying to be tone-deaf here. But sometimes I just want to let go and do something crazy. Like this.”
Stephanie stepped forward. “I was wanting to do it too, actually.”
“Same,” Kelsey said.
“Ah, hell! I’ve been dreaming of doing this since y’all told me about it,” Stella admitted.
“Me, too,” Stryker told them all with a laugh. “And if anyone does it first, it should be me. I’m a former stuntman. I’ve done this sort of thing countless times. That’s how I got the idea to rig this up. We use similar schemes in movies.”
“Do you do stuff like this in your films?” Katie asked Harrison. “You make so many action movies and all.”
The actor shook his head. “I kind of relate to what Nova said. There’s no way the studio would let me do my own stunts. They treat me with kid gloves. But I get my fill of adrenaline rushes with this guy.” He hooked his thumb toward Stryker. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not up for more!”
“I’m in too,” Megan said.
“You can’t keep me out!” Eli announced.
“I’ll stick with the slide,” Katie told them.
“Me, too,” Trixie agreed.
“We’ll send Carl on a few more test runs just ensure the calculations are correct. Then, we’ll have some fun!” Stryker said.
Most of the Littles cheered.
“I don’t want y’all to put yourself in danger on my account,” Nova told them. “I can do it by myself or we can just go on and forget it altogether. Seriously.”
Harrison waved off the suggestion. “In all honesty, there’s a good chance me and Stryker were going to do this anyway. It was just a matter of time.”
Stryker bobbed his head in agreement.
Nova’s legs twitched as excitement overtook her.
It looked like she was going to get that full Mountainville experience she’d been craving.