7.a.v.
When sliding
down a waterslide one can affect the direction of one’s body enough to send it
up the wall of the slide. This may be a
nominal and futile effort in avoiding the ultimate destination of the descent
but it is, in fact, true.
Also true in
fact was the number of exits from the corkscrew tube that were in existence as
it drops from the twenty-sixth floor.
That number
would be two.
One such exit
would deposit the unwary traveler on the ledge at the top of the
ever-descending staircase leaving him or her at the entrance to the thirteenth
floor. The other exit places the
traveler in a much more… subterranean location.
A third
relevant fact has to do with the corkscrew tube’s composition and pattern. At a point conveniently on level with the
thirteenth floor the material of the tube changes from black PVC to white and
levels from falling corkscrew to a relatively flat cruise. At this transition point there is a knob
shape, something akin to a handhold on one of those indoor rock climbing gym,
in the upper part of the side wall. In
order to exit at the thirteenth floor one would need to reach out, snag the
knob shape as they slid by thus shifting the momentum of their body up toward
the ceiling of the tube. The inevitable
downswing that follows would hurl them up the opposite wall and into a rounded
hole-like opening.
If successful
the thirteenth floor stair would be gained.
If not, the traveler would encounter a sudden dip at the end of the
relatively level area. They would then
plunge down a nearly vertical freefall.
It was
Franklin Buck’s misfortune and ignorance which caused him to sigh with relief
when the corkscrew leveled off into welcome white and then glide right past the
knob and the alternate exit and finally to his downward fate.
