- Antonio was clinging on the mountain for dear life. The freezing sleet and wind were beating the life out of him. Oh dear god WHY did the rope have to snap?! Antonio screamed in his mind. The wind howled in his frostbitten ear as if telling him to give up. But he had wife and kids, something to live for – he couldn’t give up now. Climbing down should have been impossible without a rope, but he managed to descend an entire 150 feet with only the clothes on his back and the cleats on his feet. He ripped off the snapped rope and harness about 50 feet back; it was heavy and slowing him down.
- When his rope snapped it surprised him. He was sure he had gotten a strong enough rope for the climb up Mount Xavier. He thought about how it could have happened: the rope freezing, or, gotten cut on a rock or, or something! But no, the cut was too clean, too sudden. It had to be something else.
- Antonio didn’t really think to hard about it. He was too busy trying not to die. He felt for each crevice very carefully, putting his foot down each time in a rhythmic pattern. He was so absorbed in his effort that he didn’t hear the slight clip clop of hooves above his head, or see the looming black shape several yards above him. Finally he saw it, causing his heart to skip a beat.
- He wasn’t really thinking about the “important” questions, like “How can a huge black moose stand on such a tiny ledge?” He was still so shocked about his rope that he thought this was a normal thing to see. The moose had gleaming black eyes and huge pointy antlers sitting on top of its gleaming head.
-The moose and he locked eyes for what he thought was a long time. Antonio blinked and shook his head and the moose was gone.
