i'll hold your ankles

'Maybe I should leave things the way they are,' she said. 

'How are they?'

'We get along.'

'What about inside?'

'I don't go inside.'

'Sethe, if I'm here with you, with Denver, you can go anywhere you want. Jump, if you want to, 'cause I'll catch you, girl. I'll catch you 'fore you fall. Go as far inside as you need to, I'll hold your ankles. Make sure you get back out.'

- Beloved, Toni Morrison (1987)