"They've got to be kidding," Grace said, looking at the harness warily. "This is going to keep me from falling?"

"Sure," Latisha said excitedly. "I bet it'll be fun."

"I don't think throwing myself off the top of a building with nothing to stop me but a rope and harness is fun," Grace said, nervously opening and closing the D-ring. "You go ahead."

"She's gonna make you go, you know," Latisha said.

"I know," Grace said. "But I can put it off for a few minutes, can't I?"

"Let's go, Waters."

"Yes, ma'am," Grace said, certain she would be seriously injured before this was over. She moved closer to the edge, her heart pounding harder when she saw the pavement below.

"Step up to the mark," Carey said. "I'll check your harness."

Grace hesitated, then stepped forward. The pavement looked so far away. "Oh God," she whispered.

"You'll be fine," Carey said, tightening the harness. "Everyone else has done it." A handle with a hook on the end was used to pull the rope over. "Here you go, put the rope through the ring and wrap it three or four times."

"What happens if I slip?"

"What happens if I slip, ma'am," Carey corrected, putting the rope in her hands. "If you feel you're going too fast, use your right hand to brake."

"What if my hand slips off...ma'am?" Grace asked, wiping her palm against her fatigues.

"Grace," Carey said gently. "Your hand won't slip because you're going to stay focused, and once you do it, you'll wonder what you were afraid of. Come on, set the rope and lock that ring."

Grace wrapped the rope around the D-ring once, then again, amazed at how much her hands were trembling. "I can't do this, ma'am."

"Yes you can," Carey said. "That's it, one more. Good, now lock the ring."

"What if the harness breaks, ma'am?"

"The harness won't break.”

“I'm scared of heights, ma'am."

"Then this is a great time to learn to conquer your fears. Step forward."

"What if the rope breaks?"

Strong hands gently squeezed her shoulders. "I checked the rope, Grace. Every inch of it. I checked your harness. You need to trust me when I tell you that you can do this. Now step forward to the black line."

The black line was only a few inches from the edge, giving Grace a clear view below. "Oh God," she said, quickly moving back until she slammed into an immovable force. "I don't want to do this. ma'am."

"Grace," Carey said, her breath warm on Grace's ear. "Do you trust me?"

"Yes, ma'am," she said, feeling the heat of Carey's body against hers, then the loss when the instructor moved back.

"You know I would never make you do anything I didn't think you were capable of?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Grace, trust me. Use your left hand to guide and your right to brake. When you step off, get your feet under you and flat against the building. It's just like walking, only gravity is going in a different direction. Grace, you can do this. I know you can. Now step up to the mark."

Grace took a deep breath, then gripped the rope. "Yes, ma'am."

"All right, now bring your right hand back and grab hold of the rope. Step out and plant your feet against the wall. You can do it."

When she looked over the side, the ground seemed even further away than before. Grace thought her heart was going to pound its way out of her chest when she put her right foot on the edge of the building. On three. One…two...okay, everyone else has done it. It can't be that bad. One...two…three. Pushing off, Grace scrambled to get her feet between her and the wall.

"Get your feet under you," Carey called from the top of the building. "You're doing great."

Great was not how Grace would have described it. Terrifying was a better word in her mind. Clinging to the rope for dear life, she tried to calm down and pay attention to what she had to do. Feet flat against the wall, straighten up so I'm almost standing sideways.

"That's it, Waters," Carey's voice came from above. "Straighten up a little more. That's good. Now ease up on the brake and slowly walk down."

Grace shook her head vehemently.

"Unless you plan on being a monkey and climbing back up, you have to go down," Carey said. "Ease up just a little." Grace did and found herself slipping, but gripping the rope stopped the downward descent. "That's it," her mentor encouraged. "Controlled slippage. Ease up again."

"Come on, Grace," Latisha's voice called from below. "It's really fun."

Bullshit, Grace thought to herself as she slowly made her way down the wall. When she was close enough, she let go of the rope with her right hand and dropped the last three feet to the ground. "Thank God that's over."

"See? I told you it was easy," Latisha said. "Come on, let's get back up there."

"Oh no," Grace said, looking up, way up. "You go. I'll stay down here."

"You have to go back up or she's gonna come get your ass," Latisha said. "You know that."

"She can't make me do that again," Grace said, her heart rate slowly returning to normal. "Once was bad enough."

"What's the problem, Waters?"

"Nothing, ma'am," she said, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. "I'm afraid of heights, ma'am."

"I just watched you scale down the equivalent of a four-story building," Gage said. "I'd say you're well on your way to conquering that fear. Get back up there and do it again."

"Yes, ma'am," she said in a resigned voice, following Latisha and Jan to the stairs. "Please just shoot me now and get it over with." When they reached the top of the wall, Grace deliberately lagged behind, letting everyone else take their second turn before her.

"Let's go, Grace," Carey said. "You've already made it once."

"Isn't once enough?"

"You really want me to answer that question?" Carey asked. "Get over here."

Grace grunted in frustration and tore the paper out of her notebook.

"Problem?" Carey asked, leaning against the archway between the kitchen and living room.

"Just PF homework," she said. "We're supposed to figure out how much our monthly income has to be and set a budget."

"That should be easy enough for a math whiz like you," Carey said. "Just write down your expenses, add them up, then you'll be able to do your budget."

"It's not that easy," Grace said. "We're supposed to use it to figure out how much income we need to have and I can't figure it out."

"Just use all that algebra you've learned," Carey said, entering the kitchen and sitting down next to her at the table.

"How?" Grace said.

"Get a fresh piece of paper," Carey said, rising from her seat and going to the refrigerator. "You want some real life uses? Let's try this one. X equals the amount of money you need to live on." She returned to the table with two apples, putting one in front of Grace. "So are you going to live in a nice apartment or a dump?"

"A nice one, of course," Grace said.

"That's going to run you at least six hundred. We'll assume you're not going to live in a high cost of living area like Boston or New York." Carey took a bite out of her apple. "I've watched you eat. Figure three fifty for food and household things."

"That much?" Grace asked with surprise.

"Easily," Carey said. "And don't forget about your utilities."

"Included with rent?"

"Not a chance," Carey said. "Electric and heat will run you at least a hundred a month if you live in a temperate climate. More if you live in the north."

"A hundred for utilities," Grace said, scribbling the number down on the paper.

"Phone and cable?"

"Sure," Grace said. "That's what, fifty?"

"More like fifty each," Carey said. "So what do you have?"

Grace added up the numbers. "One thousand fifty."

Carey gave her a humorless smile. "That's with no going out to eat, no new clothes, no car or bus fare, no Internet, and no extras. Now there's 4.3 weeks in a month, so how much do you need to earn each week to make ends meet?"

Grace looked at the paper. "So I divide 1050 by 4.3 to get the weekly amount." Carey flashed her the rare smile. "Let's see...so I move the decimal point...that's a two...and that's four...$244.18."

"Let's make it easy," Carey said. "Let's say you need to make $250.00."

"So if I need to make $250.00 a week and there's forty hours in a work week," Grace began writing out the equation. "So it would be X times forty equals $250.00."

"So forty X equals $250.00. Figure it out," Carey encouraged.

"6.25," Grace said cautiously, looking to the older woman for confirmation.

"So you think a job paying six and a quarter an hour is enough for you to live on?" Carey asked.

Grace rechecked her figures, then nodded. "Yeah. So if I got a job paying seven bucks an hour, I'd have enough for extras."

"You think so?" Carey took the pencil and paper. "Every week when you get paid, you'll get a pay stub. 34 of my pay goes to either federal or state taxes. Another 6 goes into my retirement fund and twenty bucks a week is deducted for my insurance." She wrote out an equation. "Now taking that into account, how much do you need to make?"

Grace did the math. "Over 375 or...9.375 dollars an hour."

"Let's round up to ten," Carey said. "And again, that's without many of the extras."

"Wow," Grace said, surprised by the figure.

"Are you qualified for a job that pays ten dollars an hour?" Carey asked. "I'd like to see you find one without a college degree."


THREE MONTHS