Would you like to try?
She bit her lip and shook her head, not so much to say no, but just in sheer bewilderment. She was shaking like a leaf.
It’s quite easy, urged Arthur, if you don’t know how. That’s the important bit. Be not at all sure how you’re doing it.
Just to demonstrate how easy it was he floated away down the alley, fell upwards quite dramatically and bobbed back down to her like a banknote on a breath of wind.
Ask me how I did that.
How… did you do that?
No idea. Not a clue.
She shrugged in bewilderment.
So how can I?…
Arthur bobbed down a little lower and held out his hand.
I want you to try, he said, to step on my hand. Just one foot.
What?
Try it.
Like this?
Like that.
Nervously, hesitantly, almost, she told herself, as if She stopped telling herself what what she was doing was like because she had a feeling she didn’t altogether want to know.
She fixed her eyes very very firmly on the guttering of the roof of the decrepit warehouse opposite which had been annoying her for weeks because it was clearly going to fall off and she wondered if anyone was going to do anything about it or whether she ought to say something to somebody, and didn’t think for a moment about the fact that she was standing on the hands of someone who wasn’t standing on anything at all.
Now, said Arthur, take your weight off your left foot.
She thought that the warehouse belonged to the carpet company who had their offices round the corner, and took the weight off her left foot, so she should probably go and see them about the gutter.
Now, said Arthur, take the weight off your right foot.
I can’t.
Try.
She hadn’t seen the guttering from quite this angle before, and it looked to her now as if as well as the mud and gunge up there there might also be a bird’s nest. If she leaned forward just a little and took her weight off her right foot, she could probably see it more clearly.
Arthur was alarmed to see that someone down in the alley was trying to steal her bicycle. He particularly didn’t want to get involved in an argument at the moment and hoped that the guy would do it quietly and not look up.
He had the quiet shifty look of someone who habitually stole bicycles in alleys and habitually didn’t expect to find their owners hovering several feet above them. He was relaxed by both these habits, and went about his job with purpose and concentration, and when he found that the bike was unarguably bound by hoops of tungsten carbide to an iron bar embedded in concrete, he peacefully bent both its wheels and went on his way.
Arthur let out a long-held breath.
See what a piece of eggshell I have found you, said Fenchurch in his ear.
“想不想试试？”
她咬着嘴唇摇了摇头，不完全是否定，只是完全懵了。她哆嗦得像一片树叶。
“很简单的，”阿瑟说，“要是你不知道该怎么做的话。这一点很重要。千万不要弄清楚你怎么做。”
为了证明有多简单，他沿着巷子飘走，急剧地上升，然后起伏着飞回她跟前，就像一阵风吹着一张钞票。
“问问我是怎么做到的。”
“你是……怎么做到的？”
“不知道。完全不知道。”
她困惑地耸耸肩。
“那我怎么才能……？”阿瑟
阿瑟向下飘落了一点，伸出了手。
“我想让你试着，”他说，“先踩在我手上。只用一只脚。”
“什么？”
“试一下。”
“像这样？”
“像那样。”
紧张，犹豫，她对自己说，这简直像是——她还是没告诉自己正在做的事情像什么，因为她有种感觉，觉得她自己根本不想知道。
她的眼睛牢牢盯着对面废弃仓库房顶上的排水系统，这套系统让她这几个星期以来一直很生气，因为它看起来很明显快垮了，她不知道会不会有人为此采取点措施，或者自己该不该找人说一说。有那么一会儿她完全没有去想她现在正站在一个悬在空中的人的手里。
“现在，”阿瑟说，“移开你加在左脚上的体重。”
她想这个仓库属于那个办公室设在街角拐弯的地方的那家地毯公司，她移去了加在左脚上的体重，那么她可能应该就排水系统的事情去找他们。
“现在，”阿瑟说，“移开你加在右脚上的体重。”
“我做不到。”
“试试。”
她以前从来没有从这个角度看过那排水系统，现在她看见它上面又是泥巴又是些黏糊糊的东西，还有可能有一个鸟窝。如果她再向前倾一点点，并且把右脚上的体重移开，那么她就可能会看得更加清楚。
阿瑟有些惊恐地发现下面巷子里面有人正在试图偷她的自行车。他特别不希望在这个时侯卷入一桩争吵中去，他希望那人能够安安静静的偷，而且不要向上看。
那个人长着一副平静而狡猾的样子，这种长相的人习惯于在巷子里偷自行车而且习惯性地没有想过自行车的主人正在他头上几英尺的地方盘旋。这两种习惯让他很放松，明确而专注地投入到自己的工作中，当他发现那自行车被碳化钨钢圈牢牢地锁在混凝土里伸出的一根铁棒上的时候，他平静地把两个车轮都扭弯，然后接着走了。
阿瑟吁出一口憋了很久的气。
“你看我给你找了一片什么样的蛋壳。”芬切琪在他耳边说。