It was especially quiet up on the roof of the tall building where Don stood, watching the few little people such a long way down walking on the path, and the little toy cars running along the smooth road. Everything looked so peaceful from up there on the tall building. Don could see the whole city this time as it was such a clear day. It was better than it had ever been, he thought. Up there, looking down on the little world where he lived out his daily life, he felt happy. And why shouldn't he? He was a happily married man, with a good income. He never had anything to complain about.
He stood at the wall round the edge of the building, looking down, down at the almost deserted streets below. "It's such a long way down!" he thought. And once he started looking down he couldn't stop. It seemed as if the ground way down below was compelling him to keep looking at it, looking at it. Don had heard of people being drawn to their death by such sights. For apparently no reason at all they would jump, perhaps just to see what it was like, falling freely through the air. "What would it be like?" wondered Don. It would be a wonderful experience, he thought, but it would not last for long. After the exhilarating experience of the fall would come the dreadful end, death. Death! But what was death? Was it really so terrible? Don thought these thoughts as he climbed to the top of the side wall and looked down, through the long passage of nothingness to the magnetic ground. He could turn somersaults in the air, he thought. And he could know the feeling of flying - like the birds. It would only be short but it would be worth it. Yes. Worth it. He bent his legs to spring - to leap into the air, to be free - to fly. He laughed for joy and jumped, up and out, into the air.
As his feet left the wall and he started to plunge down through the air, he said aloud, "What a stupid thing to do!"
But it was too late.