It was a sunny Friday morning in Dillydale. Little Miss Daredevil was planning her next big stunt. She just needed an assistant to help her set things up. Her usual assistant Mr. Quiet was unavailable because he had planned a date night with Little Miss Shy so she called her secondary assistant to come over. Until a couple of month ago, that would've been Mr. Nervous but he quit after the stress became too much so Miss Daredevil decided to hire a new secondary, who before long arrived in his purple car.
"Hello Miss Daredevil." smiled Mr. Bump as he stepped out of his car and wander towards her. "What's up."
"Hey Mr. Bump, I'm glad you could make it." said Miss Daredevil excitedly. "I need help setting up my next big stunt!"
Mr. Bump's face fell. "Really?"
"Okay, here's how it works. I'm gonna ride this motorcycle across a tightrope from this end of the gorge to the other. No net, no giant airbag, not even my rocket boots! I know it seems pretty basic but sometimes, it's the simplest things that are the most awesome." Miss Daredevil suddenly noticed that Mr. Bump looked sort of apprehensive. "Hey man, you alright?"
"Miss Daredevil, I'll be honest with you. When I took the job as your backup assistant, I kind of assumed it meant not really having to do anything and occasionally get a check or something. I don't think I'm cut out for this death defying entertainment business."
"C'mon Mr. Bump, people live for this type of entertainment. Besides, Mr. Quiet is busy so..." but Miss Daredevil was quickly interrupted.
"Okay, here's the thing, I'm very prone to injury. If there's something for me to bump into, I'm very likely to bump into it. It's just how things work out for me so I typically try to avoid anything that could get me seriously injured."
Miss Daredevil decided to be a bit more encouraging. "I understand your fears but you've got nothing to worry about. In all the years Mr. Quiet has been my assistant, he barely ever got a scratch on him. And in the case of Mr. Nervous, the worst he got was some mild shock but hey, that's Mr. Nervous for you. My assistant's have never got seriously injured when helping with my stunts."
Mr. Bump thought for a moment...
"What about Miss Calamity?"
Miss Daredevil was backed into a corner. She didn't know how to put it delicately so she just blurted out "Look, that was just a one-time thing and even then, she wasn't really an assistant, she was more of an intern. Besides, what happened to her wasn't that bad and she's fine now."
Mr. Bump was not convinced. If anything, it just made him more apprehensive. Miss Daredevil realised she'd need to show him some more kindness. She put her hand on Mr. Bump's shoulder and spoke calmly to him.
"I promise you Mr. Bump, nothing will go wrong. You'll be fine."
Mr. Bump looked into Miss Daredevil's eyes. "...you promise?"
"Scouts honor."
Mr. Bump decided to trust Miss Daredevil and after a quick handshake, they set to work setting up the big stunt.
It was around 1 o'clock that Saturday when there was an audience at the gorge. The stands were packed with excited Mr. Men and Little Misses looking forward to the big stunt. Mr. Bump was prepping up Miss Daredevil's motorbike while Miss Daredevil spoke to the crowd.
"People of Dillydale!" she announced, "I will now attempt to drive my motorcycle across this tightrope over Dillydale gorge! There are no needs and no cushions! Oh, and one more thing!"
Miss Daredevil removed her rocket boots and there was a gasp from the crowd.
"That's right, I won't be able to fly my way out of this one folks!" and then she turned to Mr. Bump. "Mr. Bump," she asked. "Is my motorcycle ready?"
"Just about." replied Mr. Bump. "Just need to make a slight adjustment."
But Miss Daredevil wasn't listening, she was full of too much adrenaline. She jumped up onto the bike and started revving it up, not noticing that Mr. Bump's bandages were snagged on the back of the motorcycle.
"Uh, Miss Daredevil?" called Mr. Bump, trying to get her attention. But it was no use, she was too in the zone to listen.
"LET'S BOOGIE!" cried Little Miss Daredevil as she revved her motorcycle and sped across the tightrope to the other side, unknowingly dragging Mr. Bump along behind her. When she reached the other side of the gorge, she got off her motorbike and bowed to the crowd.
There was a chorus of cheers from the crowd, followed by a chorus of gasps. Miss Daredevil was confused until she heard Mr. Noisy call out "MR. BUMP!"
Miss Daredevil looked over and saw that Mr. Bump's bandages were unravelling and he was falling down into the gorge. Miss Daredevil was about to fly in and save him but remembered her rocket boots were back on the other side of the gorge. She quickly tried to start her motorcycle up again to to race back to the other side of the gorge to grab her rocket boots.
...and that's when she heard a thud.
The crowd was silent.
The silence was broken by Little Miss Whoops screaming in terror. Mr. Nosy quickly called the emergency services.
Before long, Mr. Bump was lifted out of the gorge by a rescue helicopter, put on a stretcher, lifted into the back of an ambulance and carried away in an ambulance, with Miss Whoops, Miss Calamity, Mr. Nosy and Mr. Small following behind in a car.
After all the excitement died down, the crowd dispersed. Everyone went home... except for Miss Daredevil.
She just stood there, staring down into the gorge, not knowing what to say or what to think. She stood there for what seemed like hours. After some time, she decided to finally get in her car and drive home, grabbing some drive-threw on the way.
She didn't get much sleep that night.