The incident certainly shook him up.
He had been under pressure to stop the leak for some time. She had been prompting him regularly, as though he had forgotten about it, with him having to explain over and over again how nervous he was about being up there when it was so windy and how he was continually watching the weather forecasts. Finally, despite the lack of improvement in the weather reports, he went out to the shed and collected the ladder. As soon as he was high enough to see what the problem was, his confidence about getting it fixed went up a few notches. He eased his way onto the roof and slowly made his way to the area that was causing the problem.
He wasn’t sure what happened next, but he knew he had a number of aches and pains in most of his body. In fact, he was standing there rubbing himself when the elderly gentleman dressed in white approached him asking if he was alright.
“Yes,” he replied, without thinking, “although I do seem to have several bruises.”
“That’s often the way. I understand, I might give you a moment, then.” Smiling, he sauntered off. Watching him go, he couldn’t help noticing the mist swirling around his feet as he went.
He was still massaging his wounds when it all came back to him; the leak, the roof, the weather…
He called him back. “Hello, I remember now. Can you help me? I mean, what happens now?”
The old man returned, still smiling. “That’s good. Sometimes it takes a while. It’s quite normal. Nothing to worry about.”
“I was up on the roof, fixing tiles when this gust of wind…”
The other interrupted. “Yes, we know. How’s the pain now?”
The man patted himself in several places. “Well, now that you ask, it seems to be getting better, surprisingly quickly it seems.”
“Yes. Good. It’ll be completely gone in no time.”
“I’ve always had,” he faltered, “you know, a terrible fear of falling!”
“Yes, I thought that was the case. We can certainly help you overcome those fears, up here.”
“You can?”
“Oh yes. Let’s take a walk.”
They began to walk. Looking around the man said, “Everything seems to be white up here, and I couldn’t help noticing the mist wherever you go.”
“That’s because we’re on a cloud, you see. We’re almost there.”
Moments later they came to a clearly defined hole in the cloud.
It was quite remarkable.
He was peering down into it when the man in white gave him a gentle nudge.
He toppled in.