REVIEWS: Jumper Down

Had already read this short story by Don Shea as I started from the beginning of Flash Fiction Forward almost as soon as it was pulled from the Amazon box.

Basics: written in first person POV, opens with setting and character, introducing the protagonist, Henry, as an EMT in the narrator’s workplace world who is exceptional at talking people out of jumping off roofs, bridges, what have you.  The story then goes on to explain the terms ‘jumper up’ and ‘jumper down’ to satisfy our curiosity. 

The setup continues with the background of where and who, introducing no real conflict regardless of the topic, and leads into Henry’s retirement party, his last day on the job.  There is further backstory of an episode that serves only to establish a camaraderie and understanding of the nature of the job as well as the insertion of a little light humor. Here is where conflict arises: a call comes in, interrupting the party, of a jumper up. 

While the story arc rises to meet the tension of the situation as they race to the scene, it is immediately diffused with the jumper taking his dive before Henry can get to him. 

Not necessarily the climax though, as the narrator and Henry go over to the fallen man and realize that there is just a shred of light left that’s flickering.  Henry then does the unexpected, he shouts in the man’s ear, "I know you can hear me, ’cause hearing’s the last thing to go.  I just gotta tell ya, I wanted you to know, that jump was fucking magnificent!" 

Frankly, I would’ve ended the story there and let the reader figure out what the narrator explains in the last two full paragraphs. 

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