The four of them decided that they way that they did the safety course would probably be safest for them. It meant that there was a body guard in the front and one in the back.
Jasper had hold of one of Sarah-Alice's hand, and Eleanor had hold of the other. Rosie was hovering by Eleanor's free elbow. They made it to the bottom of the first course, and Jasper attached his harness to the safety wire. He walked up a couple of steps, and turned to watch as Eleanor attached Sarah-Alice onto the wire behind him. Jasper moved up another couple of steps to allow for Eleanor to catch on, and then again for Rosie to catch on.
When they were all on, Jasper led them up the stairs to the first platform. He waited for everyone to catch up. He crouched as best he could and told Sarah-Alice to step where he stepped, and if she needed help to shout his name.
When he saw Rosie appear at the top of the stairs, Jasper set off, out onto the course that was swinging from the trees. He was sure that he could walk across the first obstacle within seconds, as it was zigzagging planks across his path, but he had to keep reminding himself that the person behind him was as tall as his legs and he needed to let her keep up to him.
They quickly got into a routine. As they could have four to a platform, Jasper would set off when there were two people on the platform in front of him, taking one step at a time, and allowing everyone to catch up to him before he took another step.
As they made their way through the courses, Jasper frequently had to stop and help Sarah-Alice, and sometimes even Eleanor, across the larger gaps. As the obstacles swung in the trees, Eleanor and Sarah-Alice occasionally squealed, grabbing hold of their safety lines.
They laughed their way through four of the six courses.
It was on the fifth that they started having some problems. They were halfway around the course when Jasper took a step out, and he realised it was a big step for him. He turned to face Eleanor, who realised at the same time he did that Sarah-Alice may not make it.
Jasper planted his foot on the plank he was on, then used his other foot to try and push the plank Sarah-Alice was to step on towards her. He then held his hand out for Sarah-Alice to take hold of, but she was frozen on the platform.
"Sarah-Alice. It's ok. You'll be ok." Eleanor tried to reassure her, but Sarah-Alice simply stood there, too scared to move.
Jasper stepped back onto the platform and crouched down to her eye level.
"What if I fall?"
"You won't fall. That's what these are for." Jasper said, shaking his safety rope. Sarah-Alice was still too scared to move, and Rosie was having to stop people from trying to get onto their platform.
"What if we did it together? Then if you fall I can catch you?"
Sarah-Alice seemed to feel relieved at this suggestion, and took the hand Jasper was offering to her. Jasper glanced at Eleanor, who gave him a small smile before he gripped the first plank with his foot, moved his safety rope onwards, pulled the plank towards him and helped Sarah-Alice onto it. Once he let go of the platform with his other foot, the plank swung wildly and Sarah-Alice screamed, letting go of Jaspers hand and clinging to the rope holding the plank up. Jasper steadied the plank by catching the next one with his foot. It took a few minutes for him to persuade Sarah-Alice to move again.
This pattern continued until they were half way across the obstacle, when Sarah-Alice got used to the gap and the swing of the planks as Jasper moved. At this point, they covered the remaining half quite quickly.
While he was helping Sarah-Alice over the obstacle, he kept on having to look back to check on Eleanor. He could see she was slightly nervous, and offered her a reassuring smile. He then looked back at Rosie, who despite muttering under her breath for the last two courses, was keeping up to them.
When he and Sarah-Alice landed on the platform, he heard lots of people clapping. Looking around, he saw people on the ground watching them, and the people on the opposite platform. They were all clapping, which made him confused. He shuffled Sarah-Alice to the other side of the platform to make room for Eleanor and Rosie.
"Hey kiddo. Doesn't look too bad from here till the end. You going to be ok?"
Sarah-Alice looked at the course that they had left. Then looked up at Jasper and nodded. Eleanor landed on the platform next to Sarah-Alice and embraced her.
"Well done you!" she whispered.
The rest of the course was also slow going, as Jasper, knowing that Sarah-Alice was terrified, held her hand and helped her across all of the remaining obstacles until they got to the last one. The Zipline.
The one thing that they noticed as they had gone around. All of the ziplines were staffed.
"Is there any way we can do this together?" Jasper asked him
"Sorry, I'm afraid not."
"That's ok. You can catch me at the bottom." Sarah-Alice told him, letting go of his hand.
"You sure?"
Sarah-Alice nodded.
"Just land like we have been doing?"
Sarah-Alice nodded again.
"Eleanor is right behind you if you need her."
"Damn right I am!"
Jasper could see the staff members eyes widen as he realised who Eleanor was. He was then told he could leap off the platform and fly down the zipline, which he did. Once his feet hit the land, he quickly raced to disconnect himself from the security wires and to the designated safe space so that Sarah-Alice could follow him.
All he could do was watch Eleanor try and talk her into it and wave at Sarah-Alice. Eventually, he saw her small form drop off the platform and fly down the zipline. when she was close enough to the ground, he had to shout at her to remind her to use her feet. When she landed, he could see she was in tears, so he quickly guided her to where she could disengage the safety line and picked her up to comfort her.
It was moments before Eleanor was on her feet next to him, checking on the small girl. The three of them watched, and waited and started taking bets on how long it would take Rosie to jump.
Jasper put Sarah-Alice down and ran the distance to the tree, keeping an eye on Eleanor as he did so.
"If Sarah-Alice can do it, so can you Rosie!" He shouted up at her.
"If you pick me up after this like you did her, I swear to God I will not hesitate to shoot you." she shouted back.
Jasper laughed and ran back over to where Eleanor and Sarah-Alice were attracting a little bit of attention. As soon as he approached, the group of people recognised him and backed away from Eleanor. He turned around as he heard a scream, which was quickly taken away on the air. Rosie came flying towards them, and landed quite awkwardly in the landing area.
Once she had disconnected herself from the safety line, the four of them left the landing area. They made their way over to a clear bench.
"Who wants to do the last one?"
