Jumpers

Today was the day the Steve was going to die.

He had determined it a long time ago. Now, with traffic whizzing by under his feet, it felt final. He climbed over the guide rail and thought of how he had gotten to his point. Lost his job. Lost his house. Mother dead from cancer. Father died in a car crash. Everything he had known that was good had left him behind, a bitter and broken man. He closed his eyes and counted down from three.

Three…

Two…

“What are you doing?”

Steve lurched forward in fright, barely catching the rail in time. He looked left and right, and finally behind him. He saw a woman on the opposite side of the bridge, looking back at him with an incredulous expression. He noticed she was on the wrong side of her railing as well.

“I could ask you the same question,” said Steve, baffled at the chance meeting.

“I’m going to jump,” said the woman, “as I have nothing left to live for.”

Steve shook his head, giving the cars below a glance before he turned back to her. “I’m sure that’s not true. Pretty girl like yourself, I’m sure there’s plenty you could still do.”

The woman laughed bitterly, looking over her side for a short while. Steve thought she may be preparing to jump before she turned quickly and screamed, “Fuck you!” with surprising anger.

“What do you know about my life,” the woman said, “besides the fact that I’m here on this bridge? I’m in this shithole of a city, spending every night in that nightmare of a home, worried that I’ll say the wrong thing and set him off! I can’t live like this any more!”

Steve was taken aback. What had he done, besides trying to help? He turned back to her.

“Well you could leave. The world is your oyster, ya know?”

The woman put her face in her free hand, annoyed that this wasn’t as easy as she had hoped it would be. She turned and said, “It’s not that simple.”

“Sure it is. Look, what’s your name?”

“Cheryl.”

“Look Cheryl, you can just go home, pack your bags, and leave on the next train up north. I’m jealous, at least you can run.”

Cheryl gazed longingly at the road beneath her, thinking of all the ways life had let her down. Finally she turned back to look at Steve, who was looking down at the road as well.

“Why can’t you run?” Cheryl said, mentally going through what she would have to pack, when her boyfriend would be at work, where she would go.

“In one word, money,” replied Steve. “I’m out of a job. My house was foreclosed. There’s no one to take me in, nobody to help me.’

“Family?” Cheryl asked.

“Not anymore.” replied Steve.

They both were silent for a time. Steve was in a position to see the faces in the cars, looking up with morbid fascination. Over the hills he could see red and blue lights flashing. The cops were coming to stop traffic. To try and talk him down.

He bowed his head and started praying.

“Most Sacred of Jesus, I accept from Your hands whatever kind of death it may please You to send me this day…”

“Shut up, shut up!” Cheryl couldn’t stand it. “Are you missing the point? You’re meant to allow God to determine your cause of death!”

“Cheryl, I’m choosing to jump. God determined where the ground is.”

“That is such a load of shit!” Cheryl spat, infuriated.

“Excuse me?”

“Corinthians paragraph 3, verse 16: Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is Holy, which temple you are.”

Steve sighed. He had read the verse, as he’d read all the others. He thought of his Bible, sitting on the bedside table. Surely God would allow him this one decision.

“And that excuses you, how?” Steve spat back. “Stop trying to save me.”

“Maybe we can run together.” Cheryl’s reply surprised Steve. The lights were coming over the nearest hill now. Steve watched as the cop cars started to divert traffic. As he watched the traffic jam start to form, he turned and said, “If I leave this bridge, will you?

Cheryl turned and locked eyes with her unfortunate friend. She nodded. Steve sighed, resigned to living. He started to climb back over the railing, when a gust of wind hit him. Cheryl called out as he slipped, barely catching a girder of the bridge. She quickly climbed over her railing and darted to the other side of the bridge. As she crossed the street she bumped into a police officer, who grabbed her.

“Are you okay?” he asked, concerned. She shook free and ran to peer over the railing.

There was Steve, dangling by one hand over the freeway. “Hang on!” she shouted as the policeman joined her at the edge.

“Cheryl,” Steve said as he alternated looking down at his death and up at his salvation.

“I’m here, Steve,” she called back, holding back tears. Even if she barely knew this man, she wanted him to survive. She wanted him to have hope.

“Cheryl, I want you to go home and pack your bags and run. Promise me.”

Cheryl shook her head, tears welling up in her eyes. “I can’t do it alone.”

Steve looked at her and tried to smile. “Look, Cheryl, it’ll be alright. Just keep the faith, alright?” He struggled to maintain his grip, but it was slipping fast. He felt his fingers falter, one by one. “Promise me!” he shouted with more emotion than he’d felt in a long time.

Cheryl wiped back the tears and nodded. Then she watched as Steve fell. “Steve!” she shouted. She tried in vain to climb over and go after him, as though he had fallen into water and she were the lifeguard, but the policeman got a good grip around her waist and forced her away, back to the cruiser. She gave no resistance as she was put in the back of the car, and cried all of the way to the station.

---

Once released, Cheryl sprinted from the police station to the hospital with only one thing one her mind. As she entered the ER and frantically asked the nurse for Steve’s room, the only thought in her mind was one of hope. She entered his room. Machines beeped and Steve lay unconscious in the bed. There was a cast around both his legs, and bandage on his head. She sat in the chair beside the bed, placing her hand beside his.

“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Cheryl sobbed quietly as she thought of the remaining words. Though her boyfriend had long ago burned her bible, calling it silly nonsense, she had continued going to church to keep her faith. As she thought of the remaining words, she realized that his hand had found it way into hers and gripped it with the strongest force it could muster.

As the tears rolled down Cheryl’s cheeks, Steve turned his head to face her. He smiled and finished.

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” Steve laid his head back and closed his eyes.

“Thank you Cheryl.”

“Thank you Steve.”