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like tossed toothpicks.  The whole split stretched as far as the eye could see, but was only maybe half a mile wide.  It was as if the earth had literally split in two.
    A little further along, the road damage got worse.  To one side, on the left, the river was running below the road’s cock-eyed surface.  To the right there was a twisted guard rail.  Beyond that was the crevasse.  I peered over the edge as we approached.  I found it hard to believe that the river hadn’t poured over the edge yet; especially after the huge jolts that must have rocked this region during the pole shift.
    Tara screamed.
    She had slipped on some grit on the highway and lost her balance toward the edge of the crevasse.  It was only a slight yelp of a scream, not a full-fledged scream.
    She looked at me, a crooked embarrassed smile on her fac e as she regained her footing. Then she really slipped.
    The slab that she had been standing on tilted down.  Her arms pin wheeled for balance.  Her footing gave way.  She was sliding off the side of the slab.  She was grabbing air, missing, sliding down the slab.
    I reached for her but missed.
    At the last second, she reached for a jut of a piece of guard rail.  She missed.  It cut her arm.
    “Dan!! Oh god Dan help me!” she screamed.
    She was dangling over the edge.
    I looked for a way to reach her, but couldn’t see a way.  If I slid down the tilted slab with her, I would probably fall off myself.
    “ I’m slipping Dan !!” she screamed.
    Quickly looking where she had fallen, I noticed that there was a muddy ledge below where I could stand to easily reach her.  I dropped both the tire iron and crescent wrench onto the cracked cement and jumped down into the mud below the bridge.  Dodging some low hanging sections of cement, I quickly worked my way over to her.  She was hanging onto a jutted rusty piece of pipe right above me.  Her belly and legs were in my face.  Her loose fitting jeans had slipped down.  I could see the top of her pubic hair.  Her belly button was pierced.  If she were to drop now, she would fall down onto another tilted slab.  This other slab was tilted too much to even walk on.  If she fell, she would land on it, slip off and fall down into the crevasse.
    I told her to swing forward if she could.  If she could do that, I would be able to grab her and catch her.
    “I can’t, I’m scared.”
    “Just do it.  Come on!”
    She started to swing her legs from the front to the back but she wasn’t moving very much.  Her pants slid down to her ankles.  Her crotch was right in my face.  I saw that her vagina was pierced with a small pearl.  I shouted to her “Ok never mind, just let go when I tell you to!”
    I positioned myself, bracing myself for her to drop into my arms.
    “Ok let go” I shouted.
    She dropped.
    I caught her, but lost my balance.
    We both slipped forward onto the worst of the two tilted slabs.
    She landed on her belly.  Her shirt slipped up when she landed on the tilted slab.  Now the bare skin on her stomach was rubbing on the cement.  Just her belly and upper torso were on the slab.  Her feet and legs were over the edge of the crevasse.  She was trying to get a foothold for a grip, but with her pants now down around her ankles, she was not able to move her feet very well.
    I was on my knees, holding onto both of her hands.  I was holding all of her weight.  I was using the tilted slab that she was laying on as leverage.  My chest was pressed against it as she squirmed, dangling over the side.  My feet were slipping in the mud.
    “Pull me up, Dan.  Hurry! I’m slipping… ”
    I tried, but it was an awkward position.  I had to use all the muscles in my back to pull her up but she was stuck on something! She wasn’t budging! I was afraid that if I pushed too hard with my chest to get leverage, I might push the slab out further.
    I had a good grip on both of her hands.  The arm that she had cut was a little slippery