Lombardus: The Trident Clown

Chapter 5 ☬

Running is healthy
Same also goes for bumping
Hey! Don't hit me hard

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HE WAS STANDING ROOTED to the spot invisible to the fairground passer-bys. A dark menacing look was etched on his powder-white face. A scarlet liquid smeared his lips. He stuck out his tongue and lolled it snakily.

A Clown?

In his hand was a golden trident with glinting tips. A playful sneer sat askew the corner of his lips.

Suddenly, he bent the trident like a lance and in an eye blink, charged with the force of a frenzied Pamplonan bull. He bumped hard into me and...

☬☬☬

And I opened my eyes.

What the heck was that all about? I thought.

Rupert's bumper car bounced away as it hit mine, skidding over the oval track.

The floor was raised a few metres above ground level and the track was made of metal. We were at the bumping gallery and the cars were painfully tiny for us.

"Too afraid to bump back?" The large boy taunted in his ride, looking like a giant pig stuck on a potty-chair

"This is so hard to grasp. I don't think I can do this," I said loudly enough for any potential bumper around to avoid me. I, who is no fun.

I hope they understood the tight spot I'm in. (You can interpret that anyhow you want).

"Face me if you're not cowardly enough!" Luke came to my rescue, strapping his seatbelt across his chest. He was fairly good at driving since he boasts about driving his dad's golf cart around in their large mansion.

So here we are, colliding with each other in electric mini cars and enjoying every moment of it. Except for me, of course, who is so eager to get off and try out something else. Something fun and safer.

I must be kidding, eh? Something safer. This is a fair where casualties happen daily and people still rushed to hitch a rollercoaster ride.

I studied my environment. The bumper cars were all connected to the conductive ceiling by mobile metal poles. The poles tapped power from the ceiling, which in turn allow the cars to move on the conductive metal track, thus forming a floor-to-ceiling circuit. In short, we were like magnets on cardboards, being controlled by another stronger overhead magnet.

According to the British brand name, "dodgems," the creators did not intend the cars to be bumped into each other. Instead, they were created to dodge and dash over tracks.

But as time moved on and fairgrounds became more popular leading to overcrowdedness, the thousand dodgems scooting on the small area began bumping into each other and the children thought it as: Thrilling.

Hoorah!

Then, it became a culture. A typical way of life of every fair child.

The creators of bumper cars had no choice but to add rubber bumpers to their list of numerous upgrades in the long run. Unless they want their business to go bumpy before they could say, Bump.

"Luke! Run!" Rupert suddenly yelled.

I couldn't see him. I noticed his car was empty. I stretched, as far as I could without being pulled back by seatbelt (which, presently, I've forgotten how to unfasten).