I wrote this one on the flight to Vegas--in First Class! Inspired by:
OK, so it's a bridge not a staircase. Sue me!
Stairway
“Isn’t that an old song? My dad always had that junk on in his car.” Mandy couldn’t hide the note of sadness in her tone.
Jimmie didn’t know anything about old classic rock songs. “Maybe, but this one’s real.”
He led her through the forest to a staircase towering into the sky. Mandy stood at the base open-mouthed. Jimmie nodded, indicating she should climb it.
Mandy put a tentative foot onto the first step, then turned back to Jimmie. “But won’t I die?”
He shook his head and grinned. “Nah, not if you don’t stop off the top step.”
She looked relieved but confused. “What’s the point, then?”
Confused by her confusion, Jimmie said, “Well, you can look around. It’s pretty amazing.”
Mandy took two steps up, then paused. She looked back down again. This time, though, her expression was devious.
“Does it work both ways? Can someone come back down?”
Before he could answer, Mandy turned and sprinted up the steps. She ran headlong to the top and almost too far. Teetering on the narrow top step, she waved her arms to catch her balance. Mandy looked out across an unending vista of verdant rolling hills shrouded in mists.
Cupping her hands to her mouth she shouted, “Dad! Dad, are you there?”
At her beckoning, a figure appeared out of the mist and started to climb the stairs on his side, though each step took more and more effort until he stopped, exhausted, two steps from the top. Overcome with joy, Mandy leaned down to help him up the rest of the way, lost her balance, and fell over the brink.
“NO!” Jimmie yelled.
Rising onto the last step, Dad rose with Mandy cradled in his arms and set her down on top of the Stairway to Heaven.