I always tried to soar through the sky on the swing. No matter how high I got, no matter how much of the city I could see below my outstretched feet, I always leaned back further, sometimes to downright dangerous angles: completely horizontal, a thrill-seeking balancing act which would inevitably lead to a test of reaction time as I’d tip towards the upside-down; my body then switching into panic mode causing my hands to clench the chains and my arms to flex, desperately keeping hold of the life supports while my legs instinctively propelled themselves downwards to level myself out. Only after slipping towards the edge of your life do you realize that surviving is enough excitement.
I was one of those impatient kids who, instead of gaining momentum by leaning forward on the back swing, would violently kick my feet against the ground in an effort to propel myself upwards. Or, rather than due to impatience, maybe this method resulted from the lack of grace that came with my awkwardly long legs, or the pleasure of the stimulation that came with the challenge of trying to push the ground at a precise moment in which I peacefully strengthen, rather than interrupt, the force of my flight. I think it was a combination of all these things.
Eventually I would decide that I was jumping high enough (this felt pretty good, as an overweight boy is rarely proud of his vertical) to stick with the regular momentum-gaining tilts, probably because my distance from the ground on my forward swing was enough to daydream of jumping off at the peak point and traveling through the atmosphere in a long, smooth—and of course very high reaching—arc (which would occur in slow motion for dramatic effect as everyone watched, absolutely mesmerized). Sometimes the fantasy would include a very impressive assortment of ninja-styled flips occurring in mid flight, in which case I’d have to either strike a “ready-for-combat” pose once effortlessly landing on two feet, or never allow myself to come down at all—flying into the distance until becoming a dot so small that I finally vanish.