The Catwalk  

By: Trey Perlman

As I entered in the path to the Catwalk, my stomach was twisted into a knot. All I could
see was the smooth, wet, and slippery beam sticking up a towering thirty feet from the ground.
Oh great! I just love the Catwalk! I thought sarcastically. But, this time I will face my fear.
I’m waiting, waiting, waiting, and watching as Liam and Canyon climb up the long,
slippery, and wet beam. I watch as they get up there, one after the other, and watch Canyon as
he shakily slides, very slowly, across the beam to were Liam stands, his pool noodle out and
ready to fight. Canyon keeps hitting Liam, and finally, both come down, floating and drifting
down to the ground.
“ Can I go next?”, I ask hopefully, wanting to go up and not wanting to go up at the same
time.
“ Sure,” Carter says, as I am thinking, ​Why did I do
that? Why did I say that?
I hear a click as the carabiners get strapped into my
harness.
“On belay,” I say.
“Belay on,” Carter says back to me.
“Climbing,” I say, my voice quivering.
“Climb on,” Carter says. As soon as I hear those two
words, I climb like a spider, crawling up the ladder and the
little pegs, sticking out of the long pole. As I’m climbing up,
my stomach has twisted into a knot. All I can see is the smooth, wet, slippery beam, sticking up
from the ground, right in front of my face. I don’t look down, because if I do I will get scared. I
thought I would be one of the people that climbed the pole up to the top and then waited for the
other person to walk across the beam to fight with the pool noodle. But, I decided to walk across
the beam a couple times. As I’m walking across the slippery beam my stomach and brain are
saying no thank you, but my legs keep moving, bringing me across the beam. After a while the
knot in my stomach slowly unties, like someone is picking at it, trying to get it untied. After a
while, my stomach and brain start to think this is kind of fun, and I start dancing, jumping up and
down, and walking back and forth across the beam.

I learned that day that you should always face your fears and go out of your comfort
zone and try to have some fun with it. I felt great ( after a little while) while I was on the Catwalk
and I hope that you go out of your comfort zone one day and have fun!