Charlotte Gaspel: Demons and Ghosts

IV: The Next Act

The family went for a walk for a while in the park. They weren't afraid of being caught with a baby, mainly because they knew that the mafia hasn't policed the streets since 1947.

It was Saturday afternoon and the family was excited to see the weird stuff of the fairground vendors. In October there are all sorts of crazy things on the streets, like Halloween themed decorations, especially the spooky decorated pumpkins on the porches, which you don't know whose they are because they don't last more than an hour in one house, as they get stolen or eaten; there are also artificial spider webs; real spider webs; decorative papers; and something very peculiar: rubbish bags stuffed with papers so that they look like body bags. The fun part is guessing which one is fake.

Charlie was not deprived of the excitement, as his baby carriage allowed him a great view of the reddish leaves falling from the brown trees and the gray sky. It would be quite a spectacle if it weren't for the fact that the only thing his underdeveloped eyes could allow him to see were spots without depth or consistency; in fact, I don't think he could have seen anything outside the edges of his crib.

You could see confetti, toilet paper and plastic bags in the treetops, including the smell of the burnt flour from the fruit cakes. All this meant one thing: It was time to play carnival games!

Jeff was jumping with impatience, but he'd be too dumb to think Clara would let him near one of those. However, they had to walk past them to get to the other rides.

The further they walked, the more attractive the prizes looked. They went from bitten apples to expensive candy, even stuffed animals. Jeff could only watch the booth attendants as they set up the games for the night. Some vendors were asleep in their chairs, but others seemed to be begging for your attention. Clara enjoyed the ride; Jeff's addiction didn't bother her, mainly because she only brought money for just one attraction.

The Ferris wheel. You never quite knew the exact name of the ride, but you already know which one: You get on a carriage, which is wheeled up into the sky and back down again. Silly and technically dangerous, but fun. After all, it gave that feeling of power and freedom that humans yearn for so much: To be at a great height, watching others like ants while contemplating your superiority.

Anyway, they went there. They gave the driver a coin and got on. Charlie enjoyed being in a confined space with the feeling of being in slow motion towards the heights. Clara and Jeff enjoyed the view and the lights that adorned the houses. Naturally when someone goes up on one of these devices they are usually worried that it will stop working at the worst possible moment, and considering the fact that the person at the top is the most powerful and at the same time the most vulnerable, you might be thinking that luck did not favour our dear characters, but, on the contrary, the wheel of fortune stopped working when they were about to come down. Crazy, isn't it? They managed to get off the strange attraction with some difficulty while the supervisors found a way to repair the disaster. What caused the breakdown? It's a good thing you asked, because I'm going to tell you:

It was a raccoon. A simple rodent was frolicking in the machine's wiring and circuitry. Fortunately, it didn't end up being anything serious.

Jeff and Clara breathed a sigh of relief at the situation, initially irrelevant, but demonstrating the strange decisions that fate makes.

They made their way to the stage, where a new show was about to be performed. On a wall there was a poster announcing the person who was going to amaze the audience: Steven G. Ledger, the Wizard. They showed some indifference at first, but it was a good way to distract Jeff from his addiction to games.

They took a seat in the bleachers to wait, Charlie resting on his mother's lap so he wouldn't miss the show. They didn't have to wait long, because the show started right away.