As they pulled into the parking lot of the tiny carnival, Katy had a strange feeling of déjà vu. It looked so familiar. She could not shake the feeling, and sat back for a moment to explore the thought. She had seen it before in her dreams. The tiny kiddie-coaster was so familiar. She could see herself riding it and giggling with great joy. It was exactly like the carnival that she had dreamed of so often over the years. She found the thought unsettling. At that point, rather than have the entire evening colored by this feeling, she decided to call her mother and ask her if she had ever been to the Hebron carnival.
“Yes,” her mother replied quickly, “It was one of the last places that your grandfather took you before he died. You were just a little bit of a thing, and you were so excited. He passed away about two weeks later.”
The memories came flooding back. She had loved her grandfather dearly. He had been fun, although a bit senile, and they had always been close. He died when she was only eight years old, and her memories of him were a bit vague. Her primary memory was of great love for him. Now, at this moment, she could remember riding the rides, and holding his hand. And she could understand why this place had been so frequently in her dreams. What had seemed to be a creepy mystery turned out to be a forgotten memory jogged. She had yet another thing to be grateful to Todd for: A special memory of her grandfather. Suddenly, she could remember a great deal about that day. She excitedly recounted the memories to Todd as they came flooding back. She was concerned that he would think her crazy, but he seemed to relish having shared such a personal experience with her. At that moment, a bond was formed between them like she had never shared with another man.
They walked around the site, just taking everything in. Flooding memories left way to enjoyment of watching the children who were surrounding them. The excitement on those children’s faces mimicked Katy’s at that age, and it was infectious. Katy and Todd were both caught up in it. They examined the rides, the games, and the food stand. They decided their plan of attack for the evening. Todd suggested that they start with the Kiddie-coaster. When Katy rode it with her grandfather, it had been the most exciting moment of her life up to that point. Todd felt that they should ride it for memory’s sake.
The coaster was tiny, and there was only room for one adult and one child in each of the twelve tiny cars. Katy sat in one car, and Todd boarded the car immediately behind her. As they rode, he leaned forward and chatted quietly in her ear. The ride brought tears to Katy’s eyes as she remembered her grandfather laughing and holding her hand. The ride lasted less than five minutes, but the memory of it, as well as the one nearly twenty years ago, would stick with Katy for the rest of her life. She was glad that she had shared it with Todd.
After the ride, which Katy knew had amused the many parents watching the coaster, they walked to the concession stand. Neither of them had eaten dinner yet, so they decided to enjoy the experience of some very unhealthy carnival food. On the walk to the stand, Katy asked if they still had fried oyster sandwiches.
“Come now,” Todd laughed, “I know that you didn’t eat an oyster sandwich when you were eight years old.”
“No, I didn’t,” Katy smiled with melancholy. “My grandfather did. I had a hot dog. But he wanted me to taste his sandwich. I remember just thinking that it looked too gross for me. I’ve never had one. But I thought that tonight would be the perfect time to try one.” She tasted the sandwich, but it did not appeal to her. The flavor was a pleasant seafood flavor, but the phlegmy texture was not her style. Still, she finished the sandwich, a tribute to her grandfather, and enjoyed the memory that the sandwich represented.
After their dinner, they decided to take a break from rides until their stomachs settled. They went to the bingo tables and decided to play. Evidently, the bingo was popular with the fair patrons. The tables were crowded, and they had difficulty at first finding two seats together. Many of the women at the tables were serious bingo players. They had their lucky charms spread out before them on their tables, and would frequently rub them for luck. The young couple laughed quietly in a moment of shared awe. The bingo caller was an older man, who reminded Katy of a favorite teacher from high school. She would have assumed that it was he, but she knew that the professor had passed away only two years before. Still, she enjoyed hearing him call the numbers, and it added to the reminiscent feel of the evening.
She and Todd were amused when he called “B-4” and all of the players yelled out in unison “and after”. It was obviously a bingo tradition, and Katy joked with Todd, “Maybe we should have read a book on bingo etiquette before we sat down to play.” Todd laughed, but never looked up from his cards, for fear of missing a number. It was interesting to watch all of these people sharing an experience, yet never making eye contact. There were experienced players who were obviously friends who had whole conversations without ever looking at one another.
As her card began to fill, Katy could feel the excitement growing inside her. She started to understand why people liked the game so much. She and her friends had always mocked the little old women who swore by bingo, but suddenly their love of the game made sense. There was an element of gambling to the game, as no one could control what numbers were drawn. There was also an element of skill, as it was sometimes difficult to keep up with the numbers being called, especially with the nine cards displayed on the sheet before her. Evidently, nine cards was a standard number to play, you got nine cards for a dollar. Before long, Katy and Todd were yelling “and after” at the appropriate time as well. They were becoming bingo nuts.
Katy was dismayed when she was only two numbers shy of a full-card game and another player shouted “BINGO”. She was dismayed, and eager to play the next game. Bingo fever had struck her, and struck her hard. She and Todd sat at the table for two hours, but quit after Katy hit a four-corners game for fifty dollars. They decided that it was the time for them to quit while they were ahead.
After that, they rode the Tilt-A-Whirl. Katy had never thought much of the ride, after having been on the big coasters at nationally known parks, but suddenly the appeal made itself apparent. When they got into the little car, they sat next to each other and talked while they waited for the ride to start. Once the ride started, the spinning of the car pushed them together. It was a giddy feeling, spinning around this way and that. The giddiness was compounded by the close proximity to Todd, and she knew that he felt the same about the closeness to her. They swayed and spun, feeling the effects of the mild G-force of the car, as well as the force of the chemistry between them. Her heart was racing, both with a physical response to the dizziness, as well as to a hormonal response to Todd. It was all quite romantic and just a touch sexual.
After the Tilt-A-Whirl, Todd suggested the Caterpillar. She had not been on one since she was a small child. Her parents had once taken her to a park named Kennywood, and they had ridden the Caterpillar there. She remembered getting on the ride without hesitation, as it was a ride that went fast, but not very high. She also remembered being absolutely terrified once she had gotten on the ride. It was not the speed that terrified her; it was the fact that the ride got its name by covering the patrons with an attached tarp in the middle of the ride. The “cocoon” rose during the ride and covered the cars, leaving the rider in complete darkness for a part of the ride. It was frightening to her, not only because it had been unexpected, but also because, unlike the tunnels on other roller coasters, the rider had no idea when the cocoon would reopen. As a small child, unexpected darkness had been a scary thing.
She was an adult now, and knew that, because of her fears in Kennywood, her grandfather had never taken her on this Caterpillar. She was no longer afraid of the dark, and looked forward to sharing a brand new experience with Todd. They boarded the Caterpillar and sat close together in the car. She told him about her previous Caterpillar experience, and he offered to get off of the ride if she was afraid. She laughed and explained, “Well, I’m no longer afraid of the dark, being an adult and all.”
Todd was amused.
They sat close to one another in the little car. Todd had his arm around Katy, and her head rested on his shoulder. It was a romantic moment, and both of them felt it. As the ride started, the string of cars made their way around the track, increasing in speed as they went. The force of the spin caused Katy to slide into Todd, and both of them to slide to the far side of the car. Katy giggled like a schoolgirl. When the ride reached its full speed, the cocoon began to rise, making its way over all of the cars in unison. As the cocoon left them in complete darkness, Todd turned to Katy and kissed her.
The feeling was wonderful. His lips were like a perfectly ripe nectarine. They were sweet and firm but supple. She noticed immediately the softness of his skin, his lips and his cheeks, as she reached her hand up to touch his face. His lips gently opened, and his tongue tenderly probed her mouth. She moved hers to meet his. She could feel the delicacy and tenderness as well as the passion in his kiss. The mix of the two emotions amazed her. She felt his kiss all the way to her toes, and was glad that she was sitting down when it occurred, as she knew that her knees were weak. It was the kind of kiss that women spoke of in movies, and that Katy had never believed existed, until now.
As the ride slowed, the canopy over them receded, and Todd pulled back from the kiss just as gently as he had entered it. He looked her longingly in the eyes, and she felt the warmth and heat of his emotions. She hoped, in that moment, that the kiss had been even half as good for him as it was for her. Her hopes were realized, as Todd spoke only one word to her, “Wow.”
She smiled at him and replied, “I know.” Those would be the last words spoken that evening.
They walked arm in arm back to the car, and Todd took her home. The silence in the car could have been disconcerting, but Katy felt that they were both in a shared state of awe at the power of their first kiss. She felt no need to fill the silence with idle words. When he walked her to the door, he kissed her again. Katy had feared briefly that no kiss could have the power that their first kiss had, but her fears were put to rest quickly, as she felt her full body react to this kiss as well.
She smiled at him as her good night, and let herself into her apartment. Their parting moments remained as silent as the ride home had been. She prepared for bed silently, ignored the message light on her answering machine, and went to bed silently. She even fell asleep silently, with the memory of that kiss drifting through her mind.
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Christy Parker is the author of three blogs: Ruminations from and Unkempt Mind, Learn to Crochet - In Minutes a Day, and You Be the Editor.
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