Love on the Scale

Chapter Nine

When I arrived for work the next morning, there seemed to be a bit of trouble. Everyone was standing in the street outside.

"Is there a fire?"

"No, Maggie's gone mad. She's up on the roof."

I looked up the four stories of our office block. Maggie was sitting with her legs over the roof wall. Suddenly she erupted, "I'm a-gonna jump just you watch me. I'm gonna jump off this one, I am." She almost sang the words, her voice reverberating off the opposite office block windows. The bunch of us below groaned out loud.

"Come on, Maggie. We got work to do here. I'll give you that raise you've been harping on about." Lilian hadn't anticipated Maggie coming undone on her watch. Lilian had a company to run and they were already twenty minutes into the work day.

"You ain't gonna tell me what to do, you haggard hunk of flesh. I lost respect for your games two years ago when you slept with the janitor."

Lilian cowered, went red in the face and then crawled away up the stairs, going through the front door saying, "I'm calling the police. And then I'm going to sack her."

We were a sight, if anyone had happened upon us. Models were standing around, most fully clothed, a few in gown and slippers, and a handful were barefoot in their underwear.

It wasn't long before we realized Maggie wasn't about to come down.

"I'm a-gonna try my best to land on as many of you as possible." She said, letting out a long, celebratory wail, then stood up onto the wall with her arms outstretched, ready to take flight.

"One day you'll be me, you lousy lot; all dried up like a raisin... Make some space down there. When I come flying past, I want to make sure I leave some blood on every last one of you."

That made the crowd suddenly scatter. The police started to arrive which signaled me into action. I was out of excuses to myself as to why I wasn't up there helping Maggie.

"Maggie," I yelled to her, "I'm coming up."

By the time I reached the top of the fire escape that led to the roof, two policemen were already tugging at the door. Maggie had locked it from outside. They were threatening her with breaking the door down if she didn't swiftly surrender.

"If you gonna break down the door, you won't find me here. I'll jump and it will be on your heads." There was a feeling of triumph in the long pause as Maggie realized they were listening to her.

"Ok, Harold," the one policeman said to the other, "we'll have to exit through a window just below her, and rope her down." Then they were gone, leaving me there alone.

"Maggie, it's me, Chris. How about you let me come out there and jump with you." A pause. "...Maggie?" Suddenly the door unlocked. I turned the handle, opened the door, and stepped into the early soft winter sun.

"Well, come on out. Just be careful. The wind is a tad too strong for my liking."

I swung my legs over the wall and sat next to her, taking in the view.

"Hey!" someone shouted from the window across the street, "Now there's two of them. What kinda business do you guys run in there."

The crowd had grown substantially larger and the communal groan was louder this time.

Then a familiar voice yelled, "Oh, come on Chris. Our workout yesterday wasn't that bad!" It was Neil.

"Neil, this is not the time." I said. That shut everyone up.

It felt like Maggie and I were the only two people left in the world. We just sat there and said nothing, just watching the horizon, the pigeons flying about pooping everywhere.

Finally I talked. "Maggie, what's this all about?"

She was quiet, thinking. Then she said almost in a growl, "Vengeance."

That seemed a good reason to me. I didn't have time to ask why because by now Harold and Stanley had managed to scale the wall and had crept up behind us, suddenly saying, "Sorry to end the party, ladies, but we gotta take you downtown." They didn't cuff us, so Maggie was able to swat at them periodically as they carried us away. We were released the same day. Maggie never got fired. She was far too good at her job. Irreplaceable.