Created: 9-23-03A hundred years ago, Paris was a land of international art. It has attracted almost more than hundreds of artists world wide. People came far and wide to either show off their career or just to have a holiday in Paris, and most of them were famous men and women of arts.
At that time, the only best place you can ever have very high quality bed and breakfast would Mrs. Possible’s little hotel. She came with her husband to Paris to make a living but Mr. Possible passed away due to an accident at work, leaving her enough money to build this hotel. She was famous for her home made cooking and her freshly made feather beds. Artists and actors from Moscow, New York, Ireland, etc…all came to her little affordable hotel to have a nice quiet rest and a great bed and breakfast service.
Mrs. Possible toiled day and night just to keep her customers happy. She would do almost anything to make their stay more comfortable. Her daughter Kimberly Anne Possible was of no exception either—whether it’s chopping up the lettuces, peeling the potatoes, washing the bed sheets or mopping the floor, there is nothing this little girl can’t do.
But after a hard day’s work (and usually Mrs. Possible would excuse her daughter to go to bed), Kim’s favourite past time would be to sit on the stairs with her mole rat Rufus (which was given to her by a very special friend named Ronald Carmen Stoppable before he left for Harvard) and listen to all the stories the customers tell each other in their days of fame and glory just before bed time. Some were interesting, like about a great magic performance in Brazil told by a magician and some were pretty dull, like about having tea with the governor of Holland, but Kim listened to them all. Deep down inside her, she wished that some day, she would be in the world of art just like them.
One evening, a thin and tall but seemly down man came to the hotel for a stay. He told Mrs. Possible that his name was Senor Senior Jr. and he’s a retired high wire walker.
“Since you’re a retired artist, I must say you do need a little settling down,” Mrs. Possible invited him in. “I just so happen to have a room just upstairs near the backyard and it’s very peaceful and quiet.”
“Thank you, senora,” the man replied. “That’s just what I need. Oh, and by the way, please have my meals brought into my room. I want to eat alone.”
Kim couldn’t help thinking that this man called Senor Senior Jr. was pretty mysterious-looking.
The next afternoon, when Kim went to the backyard to take in the bed sheets, she saw the Senior Jr. man walking on one of the washing line to and fro without any difficulty. Kim was dumbstruck. She stared at him like she was hypnotized or something. She had never seen a true artist at his work before. All she heard were tales. This was for real.
‘How wonderful it might be if I were able to do that! It would be life’s best thing in the whole world!’
Kim’s feet started to itch badly. She felt as if she just wanted to jump onto the rope and stand at Senior Jr.’s side. Slowly, she gathered her courage and approached Senior Jr.
“Err…Monsieur Senior Jr.? I was hoping…that you’d teach me how to walk on high wire, pretty please?”
“You? Walk on high wire?” Senior Jr. was surprised. When Kim nodded her head eagerly, he sighed and said, “I’m afraid I can’t do that. If you ever start learning to walk on high wire, you can never stand walking on solid ground ever again.”
“Please teach me. I beg of you,” Kim was determined. “My feet have already begun to resent the solid ground.”
Senior Jr. still shook his head, declining her request.
Since then, Kim often kept an eye on him. She stared at him while she dusted the furniture, wiped the windows and swept the floor. She gazed at the way Senior Jr.’s feet stepping lightly on the rope, standing firmly, walking stealthily forward. His eyes were looking straight ahead, not looking anywhere and definitely not looking down. His facial expression was the most interesting at all—a face of dreams.
Kim couldn’t stand it anymore. As soon as she saw Senior Jr. leaving to town, she hastily finished her chores and rushed to the washing line. She wanted to give a personal try over this. As soon as she stepped onto the rope, her arms waved and swung around like a roller coaster, unable to keep her balance. She fell immediately onto the floor without even staying longer than a second on the rope. Rufus the mole rat was lucky to dodge away from her. Kim stared grudgingly at the rope and grumbled to herself.
“That’s not what I expected! This is harder than I thought! Then why Monsieur Senior Jr. could walk on it so easily? I’ll give it another try. I don’t believe my feet are not meant for this rope!”
She tried the rope again and again, and falling over and over again. At her 10th attempt, her foot was able to stay in balance for about a few seconds. After a whole day’s practice, she was able to walk 3 steps without falling. She was happy, but not too easily satisfied. She continued this secret routine for days, and finally within a week’s time, she was able to walk down the whole length of the rope without even falling.
She was glad of her success. She couldn’t wait for the next day to prove herself to Senior Jr. that she was worth the rope.
The next day, when she caught sight of Senior Jr., she dumped her chores and rushed towards him, explaining what she had done for the past week and requesting a trial to see if she was fit for the high wire class. After showing what she could do, Senior Jr. went deep into his thoughts.
“Of all the people I’ve seen, once they’ve started learning the high wire and failed, they would just give up, yet you continued until you’ve succeeded. Oh well, I suppose you do have the talent.”
“Merci, merci, Monsieur Senior Jr.!” Kim thanked Senior Jr. She could tell from his words that he was willing to teach her more.
Since then, Kim deliberately woke up 2 hours earlier than her usual wake up time. She finished all her chores even before the sun actually has risen. Her leftover time was spent on learning the high wire walking. Senior Jr. was obviously a really strict teacher, a guy who puts perfection as his number one priority. His most famous words were “Don’t look anywhere but up front. Keep your heart on the rope under your feet and your destination ahead of you”.
When she finally was able to walk to and fro on the rope a lot of times without even staggering, Senior Jr. taught a whole lot of other tricks like lying on the rope, jumping, bowing (or in Kim’s case, curtseying) and doing somersaults. Kim was so glad of her success that she shouted out loud, “I’ll never fall down, ever!”
“Don’t brag!” Senior Jr.’s voice was so strict that it scared the heck out of her. She lost her balance and had no choice but to jump off the rope. Luckily she was caught by Senior Jr. just in time because she was falling headfirst. Their heart suddenly skipped the beat simultaneously. Senior Jr. set her down quickly, looking away. Kim felt a little awkward and blushed at this sudden chemistry between them, but she’s still mostly happy that she had finally achieved what she always wanted for: to be in the arts just like the artists.
Until one night, a drama manager named Wade from London came to Mrs. Possible’s hotel to stay. When he caught sight of Senior Jr. entering his room when he was on his way to the dining room, he was in for a shock. In a thrice, he rushed towards the dining room and exclaimed, “I don’t believe it! I’ve actually met him at this sort of place!”
“Met who?” a mime asked.
“The world’s greatest high wire walker Senor Senior Jr.! That’s who! Don’t you have any idea that he’s here?” Wade was surprised.
Kim was about to serve the customers their dinner, so she was all ears while she put out the plates for them. Of course, she did in silence.
“Senor Senior Jr.?” the mime widened his eyes. “You mean the man who walked on high wire and crossed the Niagara Falls within 10 minutes?!”
“Not only that,” Wade took a stroll down memory lane. “He even stopped in the midst, fried an egg, opened a bottle of champagne and gave a toast to the people 1000 feet below him!”
“My father did tell me about this,” a juggler replied. “I even heard that he was willing to give up his high-classed education and all the riches he inherited from his father Senor Senior Sr. just pursue this career. He got kicked out of his mansion for that.”
Wade continued enthusiastically, “Did you know that Senior Jr. tied a basket on his ankles each and crossed the Mountain of Alps? And also that feat where he walked on a high wire and crossed the burning volcano blindfolded? My word, he even fired a cannon on the high wire just above the Barcelona! That man is as calm as an icy cold mountain!”
Kim heard enough. She rushed up to Senior Jr.’s room and asked, “Did you hear what they’re talking about you? All those feats at Niagara and Barcelona? Is it true what they say? Have you really done what you did? I want to do those things! I want to go away with you! Say you will take me with you, Monsieur, please say you will!”
“I’m sorry, my little senorita, I cannot,” Senior Jr. replied.
“Why not, Monsieur?” Kim was taken aback.
A long silence hung over Senior Jr. before he finally blurted out, “Because I’m afraid.”
“Afraid??” Kim was really shocked. “How can you be afraid?!”
“Because…I have fallen once when I was practicing for a show and it almost cost me my life. I was scared of doing very, very high spots ever since. Once you’ve started to have fear walking on a high wire, it will never go away. My father was right; this job won’t last very long.”
“Then you have to make it go away! Screw your father, monsieur! Forget what he said! If you want to be the world’s famous, most respected high wire walker again, you have to make the fear go away!” Kim replied in determination.
“I’m sorry…I can’t.”
Kim ran out of his room and into the kitchen, heartbroken. Tears flowed out of her eyes as she scrubbed the kitchen floors. She thought of the days she practiced the high wire with Senior Jr. She thought of the happiness she felt when she finally was able to walk without falling and how joyful she was when she started learning new tricks on the rope. She even felt so elated and heart-rushed when she found out that she actually had a crush on Senior Jr. who was pretty much older than she was. Those were really, really great times. But now, Senior Jr.’s fear has brought a dark sadness into that happy world.
Meanwhile, Senior Jr. walked around his room for hours. ‘I feel so bad to let Kim down,’ he thought. ‘What am I to do?’
After contemplating for so long, he finally decided before dawn came that if he were to face Kim, he were to face his fears. He couldn’t lie to himself—he was a little bit in love with this girl who was so headstrong and so determined to achieve her dreams. If he were to make himself worthy of her, he had to abolish his fears. He knew exactly what to do, but would it work?
Later that night, as Wade, the London manager, came back to the hotel, he saw Senior Jr. standing outside his room waiting for him. He got straight to the point, telling the chubby manager about his plans. The more he listened, the more excited he was with the idea. With confidence, he promised Senior Jr., “Don’t worry, everything will go according as planned.” At the same time, he thought to himself, ‘Now that’s one way to earn some cool cash!’
While the manager made arrangements, Senior Jr. went to the tallest building he could find, went up to the roof and started tying the rope between the building he was standing on and the one opposite it. All the while, he hoped that Kim wouldn’t be angry with him anymore.
The next night, while doing her chores, Kim heard a loud commotion outside. She was curious and wanted to go see but she had chores to finish. Her mother Mrs. Possible noticed and said, “Go ahead, dear! Maybe it’ll cheer you up a little. You look down all day today.”
Kim excused herself and went outside. As soon as she’s out of the hotel, she saw that the road was completely filled with people young and old—so many that she almost couldn’t see what was going on up there. A spotlight suddenly burst on and Wade’s booming voice could be heard yelling, “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls!! The Great Senor Senior Jr. has returned!!”
Kim was shocked. Could it be true? She felt a whole lot of joy yet a whole lot of anxiety as well. Her heart was thumping so hard it was threatening to break out of her chest.
Senior Jr. could be seen stepping on the high wire, giving the audience below a bow. When he took the second step, he moved no more. The fall he had was still haunting his mind—the way he confidently did a triple jump on the high wire, the way his foot suddenly slipped out of the rope, the way he fell 10 feet down to the ground, the way his whole body crashed onto the solid ground…he turned blue just thinking about it.
The audience was getting impatient. They shouted and cheered and hollered like crazy. What was wrong with the Great Senor Senior Jr.? He can’t just keep them waiting. Kim knew exactly what the problem was. For a second there, she was also frozen on the spot like Senior Jr., not knowing what to do. She just continued staring at Senior Jr. who was staying on the rope at the opposite building, static and unmoving.
Before she knew it, she pushed the door of the building she was standing at, ignoring the questioning stares of the footman of the building and climbed up the stairs to the top floor and finally climbed up to the roof, gazing encouragingly at Senior Jr. who was in front of her.
She held out her hands towards her teacher, her crush, her love. Senior Jr. saw her and smiled. He finally began to walk towards her. As Kim stepped on the rope to go to him, she felt a sudden rush to her head. It was filled with happiness and satisfaction. It was like a dream come true as she walked across the night sky beneath the stars. Finally, she and Senior Jr. came together at the middle of the high wire. Senior Jr. knelt down and took her hand, gazing deep into her eyes as he asked, “Will you come with me to our destination ahead of us?”
“I would love to,” Kim said, and got a kiss on the forehead from her Senior Jr.
The crowd went wild as they clapped their hands raw at their stupendous performance. They have never seen anything like it.
Wade was the happiest and most excited of all. As his mind began to work on taking Senior Jr. and Kim on a money-making world tour performance, he announced out loud with his booming voice, “Here we have it, ladies and gentlemen, Senor Senior Jr. and his greatest student of all history!!!”
What would become of the student and teacher cum lovers? Well, besides keeping their hearts together, they kept their hearts on the rope under their feet and their destination ahead of them.
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