A leap of faith

The young girl was on a swing rope cruising clear of the water, the young fella was about a storey up on a ledge of rock, writes Gerry Forde in this week's Southlander.

From my observation at the water's edge, it was a simple matter of the one swinging into the river and the other jumping but there's nothing simple about the boy-girl dynamic.

"I'll jump if you swing off the rope first," said the boy from on high.

The girl appeared to ignore him and swung nonchalantly over the water and back to dry land.

"Come on," pleaded the young fella. "Off you go!"

He crept closer to the edge of the rock.

Without looking up she murmured. "You first."

Excited at getting a response, he yelled, "Right. Go!"

He surged forward but it was about as brave a step as my dipping a big toe in the water and the girl stayed on firm ground.

"You didn't go!" accused the boy.

"Nor did you!"

He was still eager to impress and said: "We both count to three together and then we both jump!"

The casual way she toyed with the rope gave no indication that she was buying into any "we".

At this point, I stood on an overhanging branch to see the outcome.

"One." He creeps closer to the edge. "Two." He crouches like a tiger with one eye on the girl below. "Three!" He springs erect, teeters on the edge and retreats to safety.

"You weren't going to jump!" he accused.

"Nor were you," she replied swinging lazily out to the water and back to shore.

"Right this time, I'm going to jump!" And he gathered his courage. "Marks." She played languidly on the rope. "Set!" She ignored him. "Go!"

The boy took two quick steps, arms flung high and leapt for the sky. Within a split second the girl flung her hands off the swinging rope and they both hit the water together.

Whether we're 10 or 50 someone has to take the risk of being stranded in mid-air to win the prize.

Inspired, I jumped from the tree. The water was shallow and I bottomed on the stony riverbed. The Good Woman laughed from shore. See, there's no guarantees.

» Gerry Forde is the Venture Southland regional identity brand manager.

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