A Tensioned Escape

I set my sights on reaching the dining chair's lower rung, which sat four inches off the ground—far beyond my vertical leap! Luckily, I spotted a wide, discarded green rubber band wrapped around a cardboard receipt. Golly, elasticity is truly magnificent! I hitched one end of the band securely around a hefty table leg knob and pulled the loop toward me, testing the tensile yield with both arms. Backing up until the band stretched taut as a bowstring, I braced my feet against the floorboards and settled my back against the band. Three, two, one—I released my grip! Zing! The band hurled me upward in a clean parabolic arc, and my hands clamped onto the wooden rung. Vertical ascent achieved!