Hang Gliding Remiss

I looked at the universe and felt God. I was hang gliding for the first time and I was scared beyond measure. Why was I doing it? I wanted Frank Stands as my boyfriend and he was never going to notice me unless I joined the hang gliding club he was in. He was all I wanted.  He wasn’t shy and he didn’t mince his words. He bathed everyday and wore after shave as a habit. He had his own apartment. He didn’t live with his mother or take his clothes to his sister to wash for him. He cooked and gardened and his passion was hang gliding. I wanted that passion focused on me for a nano second and it would make jumping off a cliff face worth it. The sun rays pierced through the atmosphere like templar swords aimed at soulless infidels. The earth below was an ant’s world of grass and rocks. Was that dot a horse? Florida seemed less dangerous than Utah with its alligator swamps and rattlesnake infested palmetto stands instead of rock faces and wind current canyons but I had given up the infernal summers of the panhandle for God’s country and there was no turning back.
Frank was cool headed and loved hang gliding. “It is relatively easy once you get some practice,” he told Summer, my roommate. “Let’s harness you in real good,” he said to her and he told me to follow along and do the same. Without contacts or glasses I fumbled blurry eyed until, Bill, the assistant instructor, came and rebuckled everything correctly. We were strapped in an aluminum tent frame and zipped in a half sleeping bag. We were jumping at nine am. I didn’t wear my watch. I applied lip gloss and suppressed the urge to relieve myself and throw up at the same time. I watched Frank snake his arms over Summer and Summer coil into Frank. They looked like to super magnets making a visible click at the point of contact. I was ready to jump off the cliff for a different reason than the one I signed up for when I joined the hang gliding club. It was good I was strapped in the contraption. Not wearing my contacts probably saved my life because I wasn’t able to see how to unleash myself from the glider even if I wanted to jump to my death. Frank liked Summer and wasn’t interested in me and he never would be. My ego hammered this evil summation of current events in my head until I had a headache.
Nine o’clock came and went. Bill flew with me because I was speechless and he thought it was better for me not to go solo. I took the bus back to the sandbar of my birth. I’m never going flying again. I hate Utah and I always hated summer anyway.