The Pipe, the Passes, and the Two Hours We Stayed Anyway

July twentieth. The thing about the climbing gym is that it's already a little unhinged to be there on a Saturday afternoon in the middle of July when it's ninety degrees outside and the idea of using your arms sounds genuinely terrible. We knew this going in. Simone knew this. I knew this. We went anyway.

About forty minutes into it, something happened in the hallway near the bathrooms. There was a sound, not quite a bang, more of a pressurized thunk, and then water. A lot of water. A gym staff member appeared from somewhere holding a mop and moving with the resigned speed of someone who has handled this exact situation before, and we all stopped climbing and sort of watched for a minute the way you watch something that is clearly not your problem but is also very much happening right in front of you. The hallway was shut off. We were handed small cards: a free day pass for next time, one each, very sincere, very laminated.

Here is the thing: our shoes were still dry. The mat floor was fine. The bouldering wall was right there. Simone looked at the card, then at me, and said, 'So we're staying.' It wasn't a question. I already had my hands on a hold.

the moment before we decided to stay anyway

We stayed another hour and a half, maybe closer to two. At some point I sat on the bench near the gear area with one shoe half-off, not entirely sure why I'd taken it off, and Simone stood next to me looking at the taped-off hallway with her eyebrow raised in that particular way she has where the skepticism is already turning into amusement, and I thought: this is the thing that was going to happen today. Not what we planned. Just this.

chalk hands, wet hallway, no plans to leave

I'll use the pass eventually. Maybe. Or I'll just lose it in the bottom of my bag and find it in October. Either way I think today already paid for itself.