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Chauntel and the Zip Line |
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 Chauntel chickened out on the Zip Line. A tiny nine-year-old with a wraparound smile, she had clamored to be the first to ride the cable 650 feet down the mountain.
But she wasn't smiling now, and the other campers looked like ants far below. She relaxed her hold on the belay line and cautiously felt with her foot for the ladder behind her.
The other kids encouraged her to go for it: "Go ahead, girl. You can do it!" But Chauntel was on the ladder now, edging her way down, past the other kids waiting their turn. Then she watched as, one-by-one, the girls from her cabin at the Angel Tree camp in the San Gabriel Mountains stood at the top of the platform, grasped the pulley tether line, and set sail down the mountain. As each girl got off at the bottom, the pulley was pulled back to the top for the next rider.
Then there were no more kids, just Chauntel and the platform instructor. "Could I try it again, please?" she begged. He nodded for her to get back up on the platform.
She grasped the pulley tether in a two-handed death grip; she gritted her teeth and clamped her eyes shut. Then she slid off the platform into space and sailed down the line to where the others waited. Seconds later, the catchers had her and released her from the harness. Then the other girls pounced-howling, high-fiving, and hugging. Little Chauntel had just conquered her Fear of the Week.
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