Scaling the Steel Arch

I charged straight from the newspaper dispenser toward a massive inverted U-shaped steel bike rack bolted to the sidewalk. A discarded blue elastic hair tie was wrapped tightly around the curved metal base. Perfect grappling gear! I planted my green feet onto the rounded pipe, grabbed the stretchy elastic with both hands, and levered my torso upward into a rapid climb. Halfway up the steel curve, the wind caught me, but I locked my knees tight around the cold tube and hoisted myself onto the top arc. Looking down across the wide Long Beach street, my patrol perimeter has never been clearer!