The summer night air was as thick as honey and it clung to my body like a second skin. The crickets and frogs chirped out a steady rhythm in the large parking lot and when I closed my eyes and held my breath, my heart seemed to beat right along in unison. The bugs zigged and zagged lazily, wings heavy in the humidity, under the golden glow of dimly buzzing overhead lamps. A slight breeze stirred and wafted the all-too-familiar scent of the carnival toward me. It was a combination of sawdust, freshly deep-fried corndogs and funnel cakes, Italian sausage, sweat-coated bodies, of course, manure from where the live stock were... though this was not the greatest of combinations, it was a somewhat pleasant and comfortingly familiar smell.
Lights blazed and flashed, drawing your attention from one attraction to another as we walked into the depths of what only days prior had been am empty and grassy field. Voices boomed in the night, drawing the crowds in like simple-minded little moths to flame. Plush animals and plastic blow-ups, in a thousand varieties, shapes and sizes littered net walls, begging to be the trophy on someone's arm. Goldfish swam hapless circles in their small plastic-bagged universes, clueless to the fact that most of them, that once they were taken home, would be flushed down the toilet whether they were belly up or not. It's dirty... it's dingy... but you're alive in the carnival. You're scared here, but thrilled at the anticipation. This is the place you come alive... to escape your day-to-day, zombie-march through life.
And here I was, ready to be awakened. I was ready to be thrilled... offered up as a sacrifice to the god's of candy apples, centrifugal force and vomit. 'What do I do first?.' I wondered in pure excitement. And there it was... lit up like Pigeon forge at Christmas... that is to say, it sparkled like Dolly Parton's silicone breasts, coated in sequins and rhinestones, in the midst of a dozen spotlights... (Or am I the only one who thinks of Pigeon Forge that way?). Either way, the ride flashed its glorious red lights down upon me as it slowly spun in the air, the riders squealing in delight! I had to be on it next! I grabbed the bravest (and nearest) friend and got in line, my body barely able to contain my building elation.
Our little, plain paper tickets were taken and torn in two before they were dropped in a chipped and rusted, red-painted metal box. The man in the booth, at the base of the ride, our very own ride operator, in his faded, ripped jeans and Metallica T-shirt ushered us through and we were led by another to our semi-circular booth on this ride. I was too excited to pay too close of attention to my surroundings as my eyes glazed over with both terror and delight!
Tonight... oh, yes, tonight I would reach limitless heights and speeds, all for the sake of the thrill of making it back down to solid earth alive! What could be more exciting?
My attention was drawn as two more girls were put in the half-circle booth with my friend and I. I should tell you now I am no small woman. On the verge of being six feet tall, I obviously do not weight 110 lbs, but after having had a child (and gorging on foods for nine months because I was "feeding two") I was heavier and plumper than a woman my height should be... and my two new booth-buddies were quite filled out themselves. Honestly, they could have made three of me combined, and sweetheart, let me tell you, that's a whole LOT of me...
This was when my brain decided to notice and take in small details around me, like the obscene amounts of duct tape on this ride... perfect timing really, because I was still in thrill mode, and the blood flow to my brain wasn't strong enough for decent decision making. Now, when I tell you this ride is coated in duct tape, I'm not talking about duct tape on the cracking vinyl seats (though there was plenty there, too) I am talking about duct tape holding bars and rods together the way steel bolts or welded plates really should have been.
The man locked the lap bar into place...
"But wait..." My brain said, weakly. "Where are my shoulder restraints? Perhaps, some handle bars?" I wanted to ask. He walked on to the next booth and I was left alone with my half thoughts, petite friend and the newly acquired curvaceous ride buddies across from me... If I had been in a more logical frame of mind at that very moment, I might have felt on the verge of sheer panic, instead I let it go... surely, they wouldn't put up in danger, right...?
