Chapter 24 Chapter Twenty-Four

It was luck that there was a strong updraft in the alley, because Arthur hadn't done this for a long time, at least not deliberately, and "deliberately" happened to be what he shouldn't have when doing this. He flipped down so fast that he nearly smashed his jaw on the doorstep, fell through the air, and was suddenly terrified at the stupidity of what he had done, completely oblivious that he was about to hit the ground, so he didn't hit the ground. "Nice trick," he thought, "if you can master it." The earth hung menacingly above his head. He tried his best not to think about the matter of the earth. If the earth decided not to hang so much and suddenly fell on him, it would be a serious matter, and it would cause him multiple injuries!In place of these thoughts he tried to think of something good about lemurs, which was the right thing to do, because at the time he couldn't remember exactly what lemurs were, those hordes that marched majestically across the grasslands. —whatever it is—one of them, or an antelope or something.So thinking about lemurs is a neat way of thinking about something that you don't have to think about as disgusting.This keeps his mind busy, and his body adjusts to not being in contact with anything.

A piece of Mars (the name of the candy company, Dove is its brand—translator) candy wrappers slapping the ground in the alley. The wrapper seemed to hesitate for a moment, then finally decided to allow the wind to lift it up and float between Arthur and the ground. "Arthur..." The earth still hung menacingly above his head, and he figured it might be time to do something, get off the ground, for example, and he did.Slowly, very, very slowly. He closed his eyes as he left the ground slowly, very, very slowly - carefully so as not to shake anything. The feeling of closing his eyes flowed through his body.As the sensation reached his feet, his whole body became aware of the fact that his eyes were closed and panicked.Slowly, very, very slowly, he turned his body in one direction while thinking the other.

This way the ground can be thrown aside. He could feel the air around him freshen up, flowing cleanly around his body, and he didn't worry about him being there at all.Slowly, very, very slowly, as if waking from a deep sleep, he opened his eyes. He has flown before, of course, many times in Banqiu Xing, until the birdsong made him lose his head, but this time is different. Now he is in the air of his own world, very calm and unhurried, only a little trembling caused by some things. Ten or fifteen feet below him was the hard asphalt road, and a few yards to the right were the yellow streetlights of Appel Street.

Luckily the alley was dark and the lights were supposed to be on all night, but they were fitted with a clever time switch that was set to come on after lunch and go off when it was getting dark.So, he is now safe surrounded by darkness. Slowly, very, very slowly, he looked up at Finchitch, who was now breathless with astonishment, standing silently, silhouetted against her upstairs front door. Her face was inches from his. "I was about to ask you," she whispered in a trembling voice, "what are you doing. But then I found myself seeing what you were doing. You were flying. So it seems," she paused in confusion Paused, and then continued, "It's a bit of a stupid question."

Arthur said: "can you do it?" "cannot." "Do you want to try it?" She bit her lip and shook her head, not completely negative, but completely dumbfounded.She trembled like a leaf. "It's very simple," said Arthur, "if you don't know what to do. It's important. Don't ever figure out how to do it." To demonstrate how easy it was, he floated down the alley, rose sharply, and flew back to her undulating like a gust of wind blowing a banknote. "Ask me how I did it." "how did you do it?" "Don't know. Not at all."

She shrugged in bewilderment. "Then how can I...?" Arthur floated down a little, and held out his hand. "I want you to try," he said, "on my hand first. Only with one foot." "what?" "try it." "like this?" "Like that." Nervous, hesitant, she said to herself, it was almost like—she still didn't tell herself what it was like, because she had the feeling that she didn't want to know. Her eyes were fixed on the drainage system on the roof of the abandoned warehouse across the way, which had been pissing her off for weeks because it looked so obvious that it was about to collapse, and she wondered if anyone would take it for granted. Take some measures, or should you talk to someone about it.For a moment she didn't think at all that she was standing in the hands of someone who was hanging in the air.

"Now," said Arthur, "take your weight off your left foot." She figured the warehouse belonged to the carpet company whose offices were on the corner, and she'd removed the weight on her left foot, so maybe she should go to them about the drainage. "Now," said Arthur, "take your weight off your right foot." "I can not do it." "Try." She had never seen the drainage system from this angle before, and now she saw that it was muddy and slimy, and there might have been a bird's nest.If she had leaned forward a little more and shifted her weight off her right foot, she might have been able to see better.

Arthur was a little horrified to see someone in the alley below trying to steal her bike.He especially didn't want to be involved in a quarrel at this time, he hoped that the person could steal quietly and not look up. The man had the calm, sly look of a man accustomed to stealing bicycles in alleys and habitually oblivious to the fact that the owner of the bicycle was hovering a few feet above his head.These two habits made him very relaxed, and he devoted himself to his work clearly and focusedly. When he found that the bicycle was firmly locked to an iron rod protruding from the concrete by the tungsten carbide steel ring, he was calm. He twisted both wheels sharply, and went on.

Arthur let out a breath he had held for a long time. "Look at what kind of eggshell I found for you." Fenchurch said in his ear.