Week 3 Rewrite: Tone and Travel

The scariest ride at the fair and he wanted to take me on it. “Come on” he coaxed “It’s not that bad.” With his palm firmly on the center of my back, we merged forward; I was leaning backwards and my feet were two steps ahead of the rest of me…I did not want to go on the ride.

A black night, with the sparkling lights from the fair added a colorful glow over our heads. I had enjoyed the evening thus far; cotton candy, a game of darts, the car stunt show - life was good. But now, the night was taking a turn for the worse - no excuses left - my husband was dragging me onto the ride that frightens me the most…the Ferris Wheel.

We stood in line - three couples ahead of us, he had a tight grip on my forearm so I couldn’t bolt, I was wincing in pain and already starting to cry a bit; the carnies were eyeing me - I could tell that they were wondering if I was drunk, stoned or going to puke on their ride. One carnie even moved to bring the water hose closer to the loading deck…just in case I guess. After all, I couldn’t guarantee them I wouldn’t; all the lights that were once prettily illuminating the night were now blinding me as they spun this way and that. I couldn’t help but notice a container stopped at the top was rocking back and forth, appearing to be held on by only two small pins; I was unable to run, so I just lowered my head, closed my eyes and started to pray.

Mike pulled me up the silver metal steps onto the platform, he handed the man our tickets and we moved inside the railing; another guy lifted the lap bar and Mike nudged me to climb in first. I stood frozen, my stomach already churning, I did not want to get on. He nudged again, more like a shove and I stumbled into the seat. The man lowered the bar and pulled the lever we were going up.

Slowly, like the hands on a clock we started to work our way around the wheel as they unloaded and loaded more people. With one hand on the side of the bench and another on the bar across my legs, I trembled and whimpered softly not loosening my death grip on the cold steel one bit. Mike howled, laughed and rocked the bench wildly back and forth; we swayed and tipped and I could see both the ground and the dark sky within the same second….I squeezed my eyes shut, my body ached and my belly hurt. Up, up we went.

Right as we were nearing the top I feared they would stop us there to let on more people but, thankfully, they did not. With a tug and a jerk, we were off. I tried to pry open my eyes but the tears were stinging them so much it was a pointless effort; I wasn’t about to let go of the freezing frame to wipe them. Each trip around felt like an eternity; the ride was slow going and our seat was just a rockin - Mike laughing like a mad man, obviously amused hollered down for them to speed up and keep it going; the carnies half appeased him by stopping us right at the very top.

My heart was racing a mile a minute. Seeing the end of my life through squinted vision, I had no thoughts at all but those of the painful death that was to come at any moment.

“Open your damn eyes!” Mike said. “Come on - let loose and hold your hands up or I’m going to flip this thing all the way around!”

I just gripped a little tighter, stiffened a bit more and prayed that much harder; just hoping someone was listening to me. I don’t know how long we were up there but it felt like forever; my head hurt, I was dizzy and felt very sick to my stomach. After what seemed like hours, we started down. Mike was making use of our final moments by trying to peel my fingers off the bars, all the while swinging roughly trying desperately to flip us. Unsuccessful and annoyed he urged the man to let us stay on for another trip around. I don’t know what the look on the man’s face was but I do recall feeling the bar being lifted off me and a strange hand being offered to help me out.

The world spun when I stood and I released the air that I believe I had been holding in my lungs during the course of the entire ride. Each colorful light turned white and several faces merged together; I rocked, swayed, trembled and my legs felt as heavy as boulders and moved like jello - I tried to take steps but as I did the ramp below me seemed to move like the waves of an ocean…my body gave way… and I fell.

Laying on a hard surface, freezing and unable to move - the world was dark - I thought I was dead. Muffled sounds had me trying to pry open my eyes, when I was finally able to open them, I saw two paramedics above me and heard lots of voices all coming at once, I felt very, very nauseous; Mike’s voice, although low and quiet, boomed over all the rest, I could smell him and feel his hair brushing against my cheek, he leaned in very close to my ear and whispered… “I just got us enough tickets for another trip around.”