The man found the superintendent who let her ride the outside hoist, as shealways did--a few planks with a rope for a railing, that rose up the side of thebuilding.She stood, her hand lifted and closed about a cable, her high heels poisedfirmly on the planks. The planks shuddered, a current of air pressed her skirtto her body, and she saw the ground dropping softly away from her.She rose above the broad panes of shop windows. The channels of streets grewdeeper, sinking. She rose above the marquees of movie theaters, black mats heldby spirals of color. Office windows streamed past her, long belts of glassrunning down. The squat hulks of warehouses vanished, sinking with the treasuresthey guarded. Hotel towers slanted, like the spokes of an opening fan, andfolded over. The fuming matchsticks were factory stacks and the moving graysquares were cars. The sun made lighthouses of peaked summits, they reeled,flashing long white rays over the city. The city spread out, marching in angularrows to the rivers. It stood held between two thin black arms of water. Itleaped across and rolled away to a haze of plains and sky.Flat roofs descended like pedals pressing the buildings down, out of the way ofher flight. She went past the cubes of glass that held dining rooms, bedroomsand nurseries. She saw roof gardens float down like handkerchiefs spread on thewind. Skyscrapers raced her and were left behind. The planks under her feet shotpast the antennae of radio stations.