The Edge by Roland Smith Page A

all going to be spending the night on your portaledges. Each of your ledges is a different color. He’s going to string you out on the cliff face in the shape of a”—he hesitated—“an inverted
V
. Once you’re all set, you’ll light up your ledges one by one in order. He had custom letters made that will attach to the ledges. They spell out
P-E-A-C-E,
with the
A
at the top. Jack’s going to take the long shot somewhere back here. Will and I will be on the face, along with your mom and Zopa if we need them. That is, if Zopa shows up. We’ll be doing the close shots on the cliff face.”
    It did sound kind of cool, but I wondered why he used the term “inverted
V
,” when it was clear that Phillip intended to set up a little mountain. And who was going to be the
A
? Who was the peak? But I didn’t ask, because I didn’t really care. I was just happy to finally be able to use a portaledge.
    Ethan’s description of the cliff was perfect. It did look like a dragon rookery, or like a giant had blasted the face with a humungous shotgun. We headed toward a patch of green at the base of the cliff. The green meant moisture, maybe even a small stream. Jack dangled the mike boom in front of my face. JR and Phillip joined him. JR with a camera. Phillip with a tablet. I stopped walking.
    â€œNo, Peak,” Phillip said. “Keep walking.”
    I couldn’t believe he got my name right.
    â€œI’m going to ask you a few questions. Remember, this is your climb. The adults aren’t in it. It’s just you and the other young climbers. Just act natural. You’re talking to a friend, or if it feels better, you’re all by yourself in the Afghan wilderness talking to yourself.”
    I’d rather not talk at all.
    â€œThis is a Peace Climb,” Phillip continued. “Obviously every sane person wants peace. We want the senseless killing to stop. We’re in Afghanistan, a country that has been at war for centuries. Most of the people here have fought their entire lives, as have their parents and grandparents, and
their
parents and grandparents. My question to you is why do you think wars happen?”
    I kept walking, saying nothing, expecting Phillip to give me another prompt or to tell me to hurry it up. He did neither. He just walked along with me, JR, and Jack at his side, silently, camera running.
    â€œMoney, religion, land, and power, or a combination of these things, causes wars. It’s interesting that some of our former enemies, Britain, Japan, and Germany, are now our friends. So what was the point of all the people who died in the Revolutionary War, World War I, and World War II? Wouldn’t it have been better to just skip the war part and get to the friend part? We have to protect ourselves. We have to help those who can’t protect themselves. But beyond those two reasons, I don’t get the whole war thing.”
    I walked on for a few more feet with the camera and mike boom in my face, wondering if I should say something else, but I had nothing more to say.
    â€œThat’s a wrap!” Phillip finally said, grinning. “Beautiful. I loved it.”
    JR and Jack were grinning at me too. I didn’t want the compliment to feel good, but it did. They wandered off to interview someone else. I continued across the scree, thinking about Zopa, the climb, and the twins. I wondered how the two Peas were doing without Mom, which stopped me in my tracks. If I was missing the twins, Mom had to be going crazy. This was the first time she’d been away from them for more than a night. I turned around. We were spread out across the scree for at least a half a mile. Rafe was the closest to me. Mom was a hundred yards behind him. She was walking with Alessia. Behind them were Phillip and the film crew, heading toward Aki, Choma, Ebadullah, and Elham. If I waited for Mom, Rafe would catch up with me, and I might have to walk with