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Up on the Roof

Bill Tope

Abruptly the woman stopped walking. Kasha
Was on her lunch break from her job at an
Office building downtown. Rather than eat the
Cheeseburger she fancied, she’d decided to
Walk a while. She could stand to lose a couple
Pounds, she thought. Kasha looked back the way
She’d come. Discovering she’d covered about
Six or seven city blocks, she figured that she
Should start back now.

She glanced at her surroundings. She was in
The old part of town, which was given over to
Extensive rehabbing and renovation. Gentrifi-
cation, she believed they called it. There was a
Great deal of construction equipment about and
Scarce traffic, no pedestrians milling around.

Kasha saw the man on the roof of the building
Across the street and didn’t think anything of it;
Probably a tradesman or a maintenance worker
Checking the A/C or something. He was wearing
One of those bright orange vests that workers
Often wore.

Then she saw him step across the roof and approach
the precipitous edge of the building, getting closer
And closer to the drop off. What was he doing?
She wondered. He raised one arm.
Kasha thought that perhaps he was signaling to
Someone on the ground, trying to get the attention
Of another worker. But no. There was no one else
Around. It was just the two of them there: Kasha
And the man on the roof. Was he gesturing to her?

She half raised her arm, then let it drop back to her
Side. What was she thinking? She didn’t know him!
The building was ten stories high, which meant that
The man was about a hundred feet up. A fatal
Distance if the man should fall. Was that what he had
In mind, to jump? A frission of panic ran up Kasha’s
Spine and she looked back up at him, squinting through
The sunlight.

He was speaking, though she couldn’t hear the words;
It was windy and he was high up and far away. She
Tried to discern what he was saying, but failed.
Kasha looked wildly around, but no one else was
Near. She looked down the boulevard and thought she
Spied a police car, but it was far, far away. She had
To get some help! She glanced up, checked him again;
He was even nearer the edge than before!

She reached for her cell but then remembered that she
Had forgotten to charge it. She looked at it: zero bars.
Kasha glanced back up the street; the police car was
Gone. She searched the boulevards for people, for
Anyone. There was no one there. She looked again at
The roof.

Suddenly the man withdrew back the way he’d come.
Kasha took a deep, shuddering breath, released it.
The man hadn’t meant to jump, after all. She had been
So silly, she thought, getting caught up in a bizarre drama
That didn’t even exist.

What would Russell say when she told him? He’d laugh,
Tell her that her imagination was running away with her,
To stop watching CSI. She smiled to herself, thinking that
She should have just eaten that cheeseburger after all. She
Shook her head, then glanced a final time at the roof, just in
Time to see him go over.

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