Nothing holding her back from death but her fingers desperately clutching the window frame!

Ellie could feel all the world’s gravity willing her toward the distant concrete. She was dizzy with vertigo and a sick, stomach-tugging urge to simply let go and, briefly, fly. She squeezed her eyes shut tight, and felt hot tears streaming down her face.

She could tell from Mr. Tarblecko’s voice that he was standing right behind her. "If I told you to jump, Eleanor Voigt, would you do so?"

"Yes," she squeaked.

"What kind of person jumps to her death simply because she’s been told to do so?"

"A ... a slave!"

"Then what are you?"

"A slave! A slave! I’m a slave!" She was weeping openly now, as much from humiliation as from fear. "I don’t want to die! I’ll be your slave, anything, whatever you say!"

"If you’re a slave, then what kind of slave should you be?"

"A ... a ... good slave."

"Come back inside."

Gratefully, she twisted around, and climbed back into the office. Her knees buckled when she tried to stand, and she had to grab at the windowsill to keep from falling. Mr. Tarblecko stared at her, sternly and steadily.

"You have been given your only warning," he said. "If you disobey again–or if you ever try to quit–I will order you out the window."

He walked into the closet and closed the door behind him.

There were two hours left on her shift–time enough, barely, to compose herself. When the disheveled young poet showed up, she dropped her key in her purse and walked past him without so much as a glance. Then she went straight to the nearest hotel bar, and ordered a gin and tonic.