Marlon and I were inseparable from that day. We decided to head to Coney Island together one August day. We'd been dating again for weeks, and couldn't keep our hands off of each other.
We went on the older rides, one had spinning plates on the ground that you laid on together. You bumped together as the plates forced you to clash and move around the floor.
Another was a ride were you got on a cart and the carts all moved in a circle. A dark green tarp would occasionally fall over the riders to make it dark and all the more scarier. Marlon would playfully punch the top of the tarp and I laughed, trying to pull his arm down.
"I'll rip the fucking thing I'm not afraid to do it!" He smiled.
Another ride put two people in a compartment, and it spun you around in the air. At one point we were upside down hundreds of feet in the sky, and I screamed as Marlon laughed next to me. He made sure to shift his body side to side on the ride to make it rock more.
We went on a love boat ride that showed you dull scenery. We just necked throughout the whole thing. His hand made it up my shirt and fondled my bra as we kissed in the dark tunnel.
While walking on the boardwalk, they had a bunch of games to play and attractions.
"Step up, step up! Knock over the bottles and win a teddy for a pretty lady!" A man in a boater hat called out.
"I'll give it a try." Marlon said with a hand in his pocket. The man nodded and handed up two balls.
"Two tries for a cent." The man told him. Marlon slapped a penny on the table and the man placed it in his pocket.
Marlon took a ball and threw it at the stacked metal bottles. They didn't budge.
"Marlon, these games are a waste of money. They have weights in those bottles, it's extremely hard to knock them over." I warned him and he glared at me.
"I lift weights, I'm not defeated by them." Marlon answered back. He took the 2nd ball and rolled it in his hand. Then, he got in a position as if he was on a baseball field. Throwing it, the metal bottles all clattered down with a crash.
Marlon punched his fists in the air, tasting sweet victory.
The man lifted his boater hat off of his forehead and leaned on a table. "Say, kid, most guys who run through here don't actually knock 'em out. You've got an arm on you."
"I want the big teddy for my lady." Marlon said, ignoring the man's comment. A huge teddy bear was handed to me, and I smiled as I struggled to hold it.
"Since when did they start making these so big?" Marlon remarked in amazement and I laughed and we walked off.
"Look here for the most exotic delicacies from foreign lands!" A man at another part of the boardwalk called out. "India! China! Egypt! Mexico!"
The man caught Marlon's attention, but I didn't care for some guy profiting off of the idea of other people's cultures.
"Spicy jerk chicken from Jamaica... and a tiny dancer in the back as well!" The man called out. Now he had my attention.
I was ready to scrutinize this "Jamaican" attraction. I placed my teddy bear in front of his booth and looked at what he had to offer.
"Would you like to taste curry right from India?" The man asked me. Marlon stood next to me, not knowing better that all of this was a sham.
"No, I'd like to see that Jamaican jerk chicken you say you have." I said with my head held high.
"Ahhh. Right from the islands." He pointed. He got out a plate with a covering over the dish, and lifted it.
I couldn't believe my eyes. The chicken was barely seasoned, the chicken itself had some kind of mystery sauce, and pineapple was placed around it.
"What is this?" I asked with a risen brow. As someone who grew up with Jamaican food, I knew this was all wrong.
"Well, it's chicken from the exotic land of Jamaica, land of wood and water..." The man said in a dramatic mysterious voice. I glared at him, and he looked back at me turning pale.
"Okay!" He said placing the cover back on the chicken. "Wait until you see our Jamaican beauty we have in the show."
"Jamaican beauty." I squinted, criticizing this whole show.
"I'd like to see." Marlon shrugged. I rolled my eyes. "How do we get admission?"
"So you want to experience the Jamaican cha-cha first hand?" The man asked Marlon.
"Cha-cha? That's a whole other island I—"
"Sure, why not. Never too old to see something new." Marlon smiled at me. I was so over this whole experience, but morbid curiosity led me to agreeing to go in the back and watch this god-awful show.
"You want admission?" The man asked to confirm, and Marlon nodded. "Great, get ready to have the experience of a lifetime!"
A large smile formed on Marlon's face as he looked to me. I half smiled for him and rolled my eyes when he wasn't looking.
"Of course, great things come at a price. Twenty cents per ticket." The man said bluntly, suddenly he didn't have an interesting voice.
"Oh." Marlon reached into his pocket and handed him the money. The man looked at the nickels in his hands and then his act was put back on.
"Enter to see all of your desires behind this curtain." The man pulled back a red curtain. Marlon entered first, and the man stopped me.
"Are you sure a young girl like you wants to view this?" He asked.
"Why wouldn't I?" I snapped, then pushed past him.
Marlon and I were the only ones sitting in the small, dingy tent. It was totally silent, and finally the curtains opened.
"Welcome ti de show." A white girl in body paint said. She wore a fruit hat on her head and some wrapped cloth that she called a skirt and a bandeau.
She stepped forward, and she wore a gold anklet on her ankle. She conversed and shook her body in stiff, uncomfortable movements. I couldn't believe my eyes, but when I looked to Marlon, he was eating it all up.
"You know this isn't accurate, right?" I whispered in his ear as she shook her shoulders vigorously in front of us.
"I figured as much, but it's great to watch." Marlon answered. I pouted and crossed my arms. The girl continued to move her body in the most confusing ways.
I felt like licking my thumb and wiping that thick paint off her forehead. I wondered how long it took her to douse her body in that stuff.
Suddenly, she tore off her bandeau and was shirtless. I was shocked, but Marlon still watched as if it was the best show he'd ever seen. She waved herself across the stage like a maniac, and finally fell on the floor.
The curtains pulled, and when I looked to the side of the stage I could see the same man with his hands on the rope. He smiled as he quickly released the rope, not taking the time to finish closing the curtains.
"Listen here, we have a Chinese one as well..." The man told us. Marlon rubbed the back of his neck, he could finally tell I wasn't into this at all.
"We're good, thanks for the interesting show." Marlon declined as we stood up. Marlon picked up the teddy bear he won for me off of a chair and looked at it.
Then, he handed it to me and brushed my cheek with his thumb.
"Let's move on." He smiled, and we linked arms and walked out together.