Spring Flight

That upright wooden clipboard was propped at the perfect forty-five-degree slant! I leaped out from the stopped tape roll and eyed the top edge. A giant metal wire clip gripped a thick sheaf of receipts. Pure launchpad material. I scrambled up the smooth pressed wood, grabbed the curved steel wire handle, and hauled it back with all my weight. Click! The spring resisted, humming tight under my palms. I planted my red shoes on the paper stack, let go of the wire, and rode the snappy metallic recoil straight up into the air, landing clean atop a stack of glossy magazines. Flawless aerial test!