Sleepy downtown Iowa City may not seem like much at first. But after the sun goes down and the cops have moved on to the sports bars and mall parking lots, downtown becomes a wonderland. You still don't see it? Look up. The transformation is on the rooftops. There is a two block radius of buildings that are varying heights but all connected. One night in particular I joined my buddy Ajax, a roof hopping pro, for a night of adventure. First, we had to find the entry point. In a small dark doorway, we slip inside the belly of all the buildings. Here is where the grease traps and dumpsters are digested to be shit out onto the street for the morning dump. We start the climb up dumpsters and small storage sheds to the easiest obtainable set of steps. Once on top, the view of the town is beautiful. The drunk college kids are barely audible in their bars, we are now impervious to the reality down below. Downtown, beneath the street lights looks like a set for toy cars and people. We start walking along the edges hopping from roof to roof. In the past I have made this walk keeping to the safety of the parts of roofs directly touching each other. Ajax wanted to introduce me to the more adventurous aspect of hopping. He started me off making little hops of only a foot in distance between buildings. Next was scaling a chain-link fence where seven stories below the concrete awaited my arrival. We cleared the fence without incident, but we couldn't quit yet. Next was a fifteen foot gap with a drain pipe connecting two buildings. To conquer this obstacle I wrapped my legs and arms around the pipe and shimmied across upside-down. I am no longer concerned with the view and our conversation has long since ceased. We have been spotted, possibly by someone who saw us from their apartment window. This means that our adventure must come to an end. We are in no state of mind to encounter other humans. Ajax jumps first, then I am left to jump down about five feet to a building three feet away. Ajax yells for me to jump and he will catch me - I don't believe him. I grab ahold of a small satelite dish for stability. I make the jump as the dish crumbles under my weight dislocating my shoulder. The distant sirens stifle my pain and we keep running. We slide down the nearest wall and hide in the shadows of the dumpters until we can exit safely. The cops pass us by and we walk away to another adventure.

- Phoebe