Right now, though, they were just goofing off. It was not the time for serious rock climbing. It was near dark and they had Jimmy to watch. Only one of them could go over the side at a time.

Amy rappelled down first. The rappel system had four basic elements: an anchor; a rope; a means of applying friction to the rope; and of course someone to rappel. The spot Matt had chosen to explore was ideal because they had a huge boulder on top. It was a perfect anchor; it weighed a ton. Matt had bought three one-hundred-yard lengths of rope—each with a tested strength of one thousand pounds. He made Amy a diaper sling with ten feet of webbing—which helped secure the rope to her body. She was unable to use his harness because it didn’t fit her. Also, the webbing worked well on smaller people.

Matt reminded her how to use the double carabiners to brake, and away she went. He was impressed she didn’t look down before going over the side. Whatever her faults, she was no coward.

“How does it feel?” he called. Jimmy was back at the tent, crawling in the rock and sand, playing with colored blocks. Matt could keep an eye on both at the same time. Amy had already dropped down fifty feet, close to a natural ledge. He would have preferred she slowed down. Her smile shone up at him.

“It’s better than sex!” she shouted.

He groaned. “Don’t be in such a hurry. Your rope is doubled. You won’t be able to reach the bottom.”

“That’s not fair! I’ll have to climb back up!”

“Remember that,” he cautioned. “Don’t exhaust yourself.”

“Yes, Daddy!”

He laughed. He loved to see her having a good time. In reality, he was not too concerned. If worse came to worse—if she lost her strength or nerve—he could rescue her. The double carabiners had a built-in safety feature. If someone slipped and fell, they automatically jammed the rope. A climber had to deliberately feed the metal loops plenty of rope in order to keep going downward. A sudden fall—of some distance—was next to impossible. Still, he followed her closely. She had been through a lot the last few days. Reckless moods and rock climbing did not exactly mesh.

Amy descended another ten feet and rested for a couple of minutes on the ledge. Then she boldly dropped down another sixty feet. She dangled away from the side, her inexperience showing. Rather than finding footholds with the tips of her shoes, she kept kicking herself off the stone wall. That was all right for a while. But if she couldn’t find a series of spots to lever herself up, he would have to pull her up by force. No problem—she only weighed a hundred and five pounds. He could pull her up with one hand if he had to.