Angels Of Hope

Chapter 35

The first thing I notice as I get out of the car is the heat crashing down on me like a burning blanket.  It makes the air seem heavier with every breath I take.  Still, this is the only day that we have to visit the park.  As we approach the gate, we can hear the thick clanking of rides moving, the shuddering of rails and tracks, and the screams of their passengers as they are whipped around.

We pay our entrance ticket and take in the courtyard with its souvenir shops and concession stands.  Everything is a bright happy color, from the light poles to the benches to the garbage cans to the t-shirts of the employees who look like this might not actually be the happiest place on Earth.  The smell of hotdogs and popcorn is in the air, as well as the odor of several dozen people standing in the sweltering heat, practically pooling in their own sweat.  It certainly does wonders for the appetite.

We make our plans and consult the handy (and only partially vandalized) park map.  The girls decide to play it safe and hit the merry-go-round and log ride.  My buddy and I though, we have our sights set on the rollercoaster with its loop-de-loops and corkscrew spins.  We agree to meet up later and part ways.

And so begins the line ride.  Every park has at least one.  It marches forward inch by inch as we hear the joyfuyl, and sometimes panicky, screams as those ahead of us go spiraling down the track.  The whole track systems shudders and shakes as the carts go barreling past us, rumbling like thunder.

Time seems to crawl as continue to wait.  Ahead and behind us people drop out of the line, either out of time or short on patience.  No matter, it only benefits us in the end.  Finally, we find ourselves at the head of the pack.  Up top the long stairway we climbed to get here, we can feel a light breeze that takes the edge off the heat and slaps away the rank of sweat and bug spray.  The ride attendant ahead directs people as the next set of carts pull up to the track to deliver its shaken occupants, more than a few a little green in the face.

With a loud clanking sound of chains pulling the carts, we watch them depart the small station and pulled up the first climb.  So close to the end.  That last stretch seems to last forever, but finally those bright blue and yellow carts arrived and it was our turn.  We get stuck behind a large fellow who clearly just finished an extra large plate of nachos with extra jalapenos.  I find myself hoping that if he gets sick, he leans away from me.  Preferrably from both of us, but more myself than my friend.

The brakes let go with its telltale clank and the carts shudder.  The chains strain to pull us up the rise, lifting us higher and higher until we can see over the entire park.  Down below, people too afraid to brave the ride watch from below, living vicariously through the adventurous.  The look like ants from this height.

I barely have time to finish that thought before the ground comes rushing towards us.  Just as it seems like we’re about to drive into the asphalt, the carts turn sharply to the right, then the left.  It happens so fast, all I can make out is a blur of color.  Greens, blues, and reds stream past me as blinding speed.  All I can hear are the screams all around me.  Even my own are buried in the cacophony of sound erupting from the carts.

Another turn and I see it ahead.  The loop-de-loops.  The world turns upside down for a moment then becomes a kalediscope, colors swirl around, destroying all sense of up or down.  Even as the track rights itself, my vision is still spinning.  Which is just as well as the corkscrew is up next.  Around and around, tighter and tighter.  All color and sound bleeds together until it almost seems like it has mass to it, as if it becomes a physical object.

Just as sudden as it happens, its over and the carts slow to a crawl.  As the ride comes to an end, I look around at the other passengers.  Some look excited while others look like they’re regretting those two corndogs they had before they got on.  Our beefy companion ahead of us lets out a pungent burp as he pulls himself from his seat and waddles away.

I look at my friend and he looks at me.  His face is the shade of green I feel.  Slowly, a smile creeps across his face.  “Go again?”  I just nod with a grin.