May, 10, 2021 Fear at 300 feet

“Abdullah go to suite 2905 and put on a harness. I need you to paint the bottom of the balcony.” A crackling voice came through Abdullah’s phone.

“What’s that boss? I think you said a harness? Outside on the balcony?” Abdullah looked down at his iPhone and checked the number. Sure enough, it was Raj, his boss, telling him to get a harness to paint a balcony. The young painter did not like the sound of those instructions. “Ok, where is the harness? Can you get me the paint?” 

“Yes man, go downstairs to the supply room. There is a harness hanging on the wall, Gurdeep should have the right paint. It shouldn’t take you very long.” Raj sounded impatient on the other end of the call.

“Yes boss, I will go right away.” Abdullah headed down the stairs to the paint room. It was always faster to walk down rather than try to call an elevator, even from the fifteenth floor. Going back up was another matter.

Gurdeep was waiting in the supply room and handed Abdullah the harness and the painting supplies. He had a strange look in his eyes when he passed the young painter his brush and roller.

“Here you go buddy, have fun up there.” Why was Gurdeep smirking under his face covering? There was a look in his eyes that made Abdullah nervous about what he would have to do on the twenty-ninth-floor balcony. 

Ten minutes later he stepped out onto the balcony almost three hundred feet above Okanagan Lake. Before he started working for his cousin Raj in Kelowna, he lived in a small town in southern India. Everything was so much different here in Canada.

He stood staring at the view of the Monashee mountains reflected in the waters below. Canada was a beautiful country, he was very happy to be there working. He liked his job, but why did he have a harness? He looked around and realized why he was wearing a harness. There was some sort of platform sitting on the balcony. He edged around and looked upward. Four floors above him was the bottom of the thirty-third-floor balcony. The edge needed to be painted. His boss wanted him to paint that… His stomach sank into his toes and he turned around looking for an escape. 

Suddenly through the door marched a very wild-looking man wearing a harness. He had on the most gruesome mask Abdullah had ever seen, it was some sort of creature with an awful grimace. He wasn’t sure if it was a skull or maybe some sort of terrifying gorilla. The wild-looking man’s hair flew raggedly out from under his hard hat. 

“Hey man, you must be the painter.” The apparition said. “I’m Barrman and I am going to take you up there to finish painting that balcony.”

Abdullah wasn’t sure what was more frightening; the man and his mask, or getting on the strange platform. He really didn’t like the idea of heading to the bottom of the balcony three hundred plus feet off the ground. His toes tingled and his hands shook, this was not something he was prepared for.

“I need to go get a pole so I can reach,” the young Punjab painter turned to walk back to the elevator. 

“You don’t need a pole, I can take you right up close. The elevators are really slow today and it will take you too long. Let’s just get-er-done.” The creature named Barrman looked down at him. With the hideous mask he was wearing, Abdullah almost felt like he was going to be eaten alive. 

“It’s the wrong colour of paint. I will be back in five minutes.” Abdullah quickly turned to leave. He was going to tell Gurdeep to come up here and do the job himself. There was no way he wanted to go up the side of the building with that madman. 

“Five minutes? Ok, hurry up. I have lots of things to do.” Barrman shrugged and the young painter headed out the door towards the elevator. 

Abdullah decided at that point to skip the elevator and run down the stairs. He would get Gurdeep to do this, and he didn’t want to wait for the elevator in case the madman figured out the paint was the right colour.

Six minutes later he emerged out of breath at the supply room on the main floor. Gurdeep was nowhere in sight. Now, what could he do? He didn’t dare call his boss and tell him he was too afraid. Disappointing Raj would disappoint his family and he didn’t want to do that. Reluctantly he grabbed the extension pole and went back to the elevator.

The one time he wanted it to take too long, the elevator was sitting there waiting for him. Emilie, the young elevator operator, looked over at the diminutive painter. “Where too?”

“Twenty-nine, some crazy man is going to take me on a swing stage.” resigned to his fate, Abdullah felt his stomach churn as each floor ticked by in the elevator.

“Oh, I know who you are talking about. Don’t worry, he’s harmless, I’m sure he will look after you.” Emilie smiled down at him through her mask.

Moments later Abdullah re-emerged onto the balcony. There stood the strange man, his hair hanging loosely on his shoulders, the mask with the creature grimacing at him. Yet behind the mask, he saw a glint of a smile in the man’s eyes. It was time to be brave and fly up the building with this crazy person. Was it bravery or insanity? 

“Ok buddy, just push the up button when I tell you and hold on, I will do the rest,” the man seemed very calm and he felt better as he stepped onto the narrow platform.

Abdullah tried not to look over the side of the balcony. He focused on looking up at the job he was headed to. He looked at the motor at the end of the stage and stared at the up button.

“Ready? Ok, push the button.”

How could anyone be ready for this? With a sigh, Abdullah pushed the button and felt his stomach stay behind as the small platform left its secure place on the balcony. He let go of the button and froze. What the heck was he doing? Why wasn’t someone, anyone else, on this stage? He grabbed the railing of the stage and felt the urge to get off and go back to his safe place painting the inside of the brand new building.

“It’s ok, you can do this. Just push the button and don’t let go.” Barrman nodded to Abdullah and gave him a reassuring look. 

Seconds ticked by as the motor whirred and carried them upwards. His body shook inside as each agonizing floor passed by. He dared not get too close to the edge. Thoughts raced through his mind and fear grabbed hold of his soul. Abdullah glanced down and stopped. They were so high! He couldn’t do this! Frozen by fear he let go of the button.

He felt the voice coming from the crazy man beside him, felt it before he heard the words he was saying. “It’s ok man, if you are too scared we can go back down and get someone else.”

He shook his head, he must do this thing. It would not kill him – he hoped. Inside his head, he calmly assured himself it was safe, he would be fine. Meanwhile, the rest of him screamed that this was insane – he had to go down. It took everything in his body to push the up button again. His palms were wet with perspiration. Determined, he kept the button pushed until they were at the top.

What insanity.

He could barely look at the other man on the stage and his crazy mask. He couldn’t look down, all he could do was look up and pray for it to be over soon.

Quickly he rushed his job and looked back at the scary mask. He thought maybe he understood why the man wore such a grimacing mask. It takes some kind of crazy to hang on the side of a building so high off the ground.

Please just let me get back to the balcony below. I will not do this again – Abdullah thought to himself

“Ok, you can press the down button now. Don’t worry, we will make it.” Barrman gave him a sympathetic look. 

The two men pushed the buttons together and the swing stage descended from the top. After the longest five minutes of Abdullah’s life, they landed safely back on the balcony.

“Are you going to do the next section? I will let Raj know when we are ready.” 

Abdullah looked over the side of the building and shuddered. “I will not be going on that one. Raj will have to have someone else to do that.” The painter turned quickly and went back inside, grateful to be alive.

Abdullah breathed deep and went back toward the elevator. This time he would not walk down the stairs. He needed a moment to find his stomach again. It was an experience he would tell his family back in India about. It was another experience in his new country that he would not soon forget. At least in Canada, this was the most danger he faced. Back in India, his family struggled to survive.