Chapter 20
Read an extract of A Cosy Christmas in Cornwall
For Val, with love
epic
ˈɛpɪk/
adjective
heroic or grand in scale or character
particularly impressive or remarkable
achievement
əˈtʃiːvm(ə)nt/
noun
a thing done successfully with effort, skill or courage
Day 1: October
Five miles east of Salisbury
Epic Achievement: The skydive.
‘C’mon, Edie, let’s do this.’
We’re bumping our way backwards along the fuselage floor and when I screw my head around there’s a gaping space where the door used to be. Then the backdraught hits and we’re sucked out of the plane.
What happens next is the most crazy thing that’s happened in my life so far. There’s no lurch of my stomach, no warning, but I’m hurtling downwards. The air rush is wrenching my cheeks off my face, and the blow is so hard I can’t breathe. I’m just screaming and falling. Falling and screaming. Somehow I remember to stick my arms and legs out. Then I’m freezing and screaming. And choking. And the flat patchwork of fields below are hurtling nearer and nearer. It’s going on forever. We have to stop soon, or we’ll definitely die.
Somehow we spin, and I catch sight of the camera guy a few metres below us who almost looks stationary. And bizarrely he’s waving at us. It’s that weird thing about waving. Without even thinking, I’m waving back. Then we’re twisting again, and I’m looking up across the sky at Bella. Her cheeks are distorted, her hair is plastered across her face and she’s waving madly too.
Then, just when it feels like it’s never going to stop, there’s a yank and the air rush stops. Everything slows down and my screams have stopped. Instead of falling we’re hanging, suspended on strings, and up above us a broad blue parachute is billowing across the sky. And I can hear Dan’s voice again.
‘That’s the ’chute out. Not long now. Would you like to do some twists and turns on the way down … or hold the parachute?’
He has to be joking me, make mine vanilla. ‘Straight down is fine … thanks all the same.’
It’s so relaxed, there’s even time to look
