her life. 

Anna is the mother of the narrator in this story, a former trapeze artist who is now an older lady, but who still moves carefully, using skills she learned in her former life. With her first husband, Anna was part of the Flying Avalons, and the two were famed for their circus act in which they appeared to fly like birds.

On one occasion, when Anna was seven months pregnant, she was flying through the air toward her husband Harry when "lightning struck the main pole and sizzled down the guy wires." Harry was meant to catch his wife, but now he hurtled to the ground. Anna tore off her blindfold and, instead, of grasping at her husband, twisted her body to deliberately change direction, aiming her hands towards a heavy wire. This wire was, of course, red-hot from the lightning strike and when Anna grasped it, she burned her hands badly. However, she managed to hang on until she could be rescued. She had her arm broken in the chaos, and then had a miscarriage later at the hospital, but she had succeeded in saving her own life.

In "The Leap," the circus tent pole is struck by lightning during a trapeze performance by the Flying Avalons. Anna, who makes up half of this double act, is in midair when the lightning strikes, but even in this moment, she is able to think quickly and respond appropriately.

Firstly, Anna tears off her blindfold. Secondly, she changes the direction of her body, and this enables Anna to grab hold of a piece of braided metal, instead of plummeting to the ground. Her hands, however, are horribly burned by the red-hot metal which was scorched by the lightning.

Finally, Anna gently lowers herself onto a "sawdust ring," which is just strong enough to take her weight, though parts of it are on fire. She is rescued from the ring, but an "overeager" rescuer accidentally breaks her arm. She is also knocked unconscious by a falling tent buckle.

By reacting quickly to the lightning, Anna is able to save her own life, but neither her husband nor her unborn child are so lucky. Anna spends the next couple of months recovering in a hospital, where she meets and falls in love with a doctor. This ensures that her daughter, the narrator, will be born.

In "The Leap," the circus tent pole is struck by lightning during a performance by the Flying Avalons. In fact, the lightning strikes at the exact moment that Anna and her husband are mid-air, their hands about to meet.

Realizing the danger, Anna acts quickly to save her own life. Firstly, she does not grab Harry as he falls to the ground. Instead, she changes the direction of her body, twisting her body towards a wire made of braided metal. This enables Anna to make her second move: she grabs hold of the braided metal, but she burns her hands because it is still hot from the sizzle of the lightning. Finally, from the metal, she is lowered down onto the sawdust ring of the circus tent and down to safety on the ground.

What is really striking about this moment is Anna's sense of clarity and purpose. Instead of panicking or dashing to save Harry as he falls, she acts quickly and sensibly, therefore saving her own life and that of her unborn child. (The baby is later stillborn, but this should not detract from Anna's attempt to save it).

In the final act of each performance, Anna would kiss her husband, Harry Avalon, in mid-air as they 'swooped past one another.' One afternoon, while they are about to perform the flying kiss, a freak lightning strike hits the main pole of the tent, and its electrical energy sizzles down the guy wires. The tent buckles and Harry never manages to grab on to his wife's hands in mid-air. Instead, he falls to his death.

Meanwhile, when Anna finds that her hands do not meet her husband's, she tears off her blindfold and proceeds to twist her body towards a heavy wire, which she grabs on to. The wire is still hot from the effects of the lightning strike. The narrator tells us that Anna's hands were burned so badly that her hands healed with no lines on them. Anna is subsequently taken to the hospital where her baby is still-born a month and a half later.

Lightning strikes the circus tent pole during Anna and her husband Harry's trapeze act in "The Leap" by Louise Erdrich. Anna and Harry are supposed to do a blindfold act that culminates in them kissing, but lightning makes it so their lips are "destined 'never again to meet.'" Harry was struck by lightning first, and fell off his trapeze onto the net. When Anna's hands did not meet Harry's, she knew something was wrong and removed her blindfold. She saw him as he was falling past her, and could have chosen to grasp his ankle and gone down with him. She opted not to do this, though, and hung on to a heavy piece of braided metal instead. This metal was very hot because of the lightning strike. Grasping this hot metal burnt her palms severely enough that, even after they healed, her hands do not have lines on them. Although Anna's decision to grab the metal causes her to burn herself and lose her child, it ultimately allows her to survive.