Passage 4.
At the Notch
we present our tickets
and wait to board
Mustard
as we see
Ketchup ascending
toward the summit station.
It disappears into the clouds.
Packed in a 80-passenger car,
I can’t help eavesdropping.
“Oh, we won’t be able
to see anything.”
“Maybe it’ll
clear up later.”
“Quel dommage!”
“N’importe, on monte
quand même.”
“Yes, I’m going to tell him
later.
It’s really been going on
Too long…
No, not at the hotel.”
“We can always walk down
the Kinsman Trail
to the base station.”
Here we go.
Summer tourists
with time to kill.
I pry open
the portal on the ceiling
and clamber onto the yellow roof
to dismantle the bomb
in a red backpack
strapped to the roof.
It is rigged to go off
at a lower barometric
pressure.
At 1,000 feet per minute
the summit is fast approaching.
Simone joins me on the roof.
We grapple.
I slip.
I yank off the
Apparatus.
Simone tackles me.
I employ the Bartitsu throw
Holmes used
on Moriarty at
Reichenbach Falls.
I kick her off the roof
with the bomb.
With a jolt
Mustard docks
at the summit station.
“Did you pack our lunch
in your red backpack?”
“Uh… yes.
It’s strapped to my back.”
“Are you …ok?”
“Yeah, everyone ‘s safe.”
“Walter, you really ought to have
your hearing tested.”
“Yes, Sally.”
