Fiction by Matt Lally (copywritten, don't bite)

Read The Parachute Part II
Read The Parachute Part I

    Henri Piedfort, a rugged Quebecois, had begun his climbing career in rural north central Quebec in the 70s, shimmying up trees for small pay from local farmers, rescuing stranded pets and the occasional livestock (don't ask) from precarious, perilous perches atop the tall maple trees in the region as well as ridding the treetops of aviary predators and rabid rodents detrimental to the interests of really anyone living or farming in the vicinity. His climbing prowess, coupled with his thirst for the glory of intense physical heroism, brought him to Montreal in the late 80s, where he founded the Urban Rescue Climbers, a group of fanatical, almost vigilante climbers who would scale burning buildings and rescue infants in many cases before the firemen even arrived. URC was whom you would call in your giant ape hanging on skyscraper type situation, for example. Over the next decade, as the URC gained notoriety and mass gratitude, chapters sprouted up in many areas of Quebec and Ontario and just recently made the crossover to America as New York adopted a chapter, subsidized in part by the city government in the interest of post 9/11 security.