Grid Traversal

The balcony floor was secure, but the vertical grid above needed a route test. I scrambled up the brickwork beside the potted plant and reached the metal brackets of the clothes drying rack. Four hollow aluminum rods extended parallel over the edge. I leapt onto the first bar, absorbing the slight metallic flex with bent knees. Two wooden clothespins clipped along the rail served as stepped handholds. Grabbing the sprung coil of the nearest pin, I propelled myself across the span to the outer bar, establishing a clean, elevated traverse above the courtyard below.