Photograph by Highlander~
Suggested prompt...
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Mary Sue sat alone in the seat. Waiting. "Single rider!" shouted the Carney. She could feel the heat rise in her cheeks. Just put the bar down and go, she prayed. All she wanted was a ride on the ferris wheel. To see the pretty lights from the top. Feel the sway of the chair.
"Right here," came a voice. It was Billy Wilson. He sat down next to Mary Sue and pulled the bar down, trapping them together. She lowered her eyes and glanced over at him through her lashes. Billy grinned. "I've been watching you," he said, "waiting for the right time to say something." Her heart skipped a little. "Really?" He nodded.
The wheel began to turn slowly, then faster and faster. As the chair rocked back and forth, they talked. About nothing. About everything.
“So when did you know?”
Mary Sue shook herself, grudgingly came back to reality. “What?”
“When did you fall in love with Grandpa? How did it happen?”
Mary Sue smiled wistfully at her granddaughter, as she stirred the cake mix. “It happened on the ferris wheel.”
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9 comments:
it happened on the ferris wheel.
two went up, but one came down.
i started out conflicted.
but slowly, carefully we rose.
fear got tangled in the rotating bars, and remained up there, in the air, watching the world turn.
i went up with two, but only returned with confidence.
i left fear up there - on the ferris wheel.
Arriving at the fair, the wheel stood above everything else. Eventually I found myself at the base looking up into the early night sky contrasting the unknown future with the present.
Watching, as I often do, the youthful couples in line for the ride, I could see the shyness, uncertainty and awkwardness of first attempts...stepping out of mom and dad's umbrella into the world of others.
I was 16 again. Just received my drivers license and the freedom of stepping out on my own. There was the smell that grass releases when stepped on by so many feet in the town square. The first nip of Autumn in the air. The nervousness and fear of being turned down. The first of many times in my life where stepping out my "zone" meant taking the chance that I would be rejected...a skill that is only learned by trial and error. Sometimes you win...sometimes you loose. The youth in line had taken that risk and you could see the relief in their faces...she/he will go with me on the ride! Arriving at the end of the ramp, they stepped into the pod...a sanctuary that for a few brief moments gave the excuse to steal a hug or hand clasp under the auspices of helping to lessen the fear of the ride.
The ride was much more than a "ride"...it was the portal to a brave new world.
It happened on the ferris wheel.
I confessed my love for him that day.
I decided to tell him his suspicions were real
But he told me he didn't feel the same.
Now I wish I hadn't told him.
I just regret that day.
Because unfortunately, I haven't seen him since.
It happened on the ferris wheel. I realized that my life was at a standstill. As I sat alone at the top, my eyes scanned the horizon. I felt a sense of panic overtake me. Having this time alone was not a good idea. My kids and husband pushed me to take a slow ride on the ferris wheel alone. They thought that I would enjoy a relaxing ride after a busy day at the amusement park. Instead, my thoughts crowded in on me as I realized how alone I felt each and every minute of the day. Tears coming down my cheeks, I struggled to get it together as I got off the ferris wheel. The mama in me could not face that realization of emptiness and still pretend to play. I left those thoughts going round the ferris wheel.
It happened on the ferris wheel, I was on when it stopped on the top. I felt at the time I could see the whole world from my seat. What joy! A thrill ran thru me....I knew I would see the whole world. That summer I saved all my money and bought a passport. True to my ferris wheel days I have actually seen much of the world and have had my passport stamped many a time.
My life on wheels flashed before my eyes on the old Santa Monica Pier wheel last year. It was closing down. I remembered my first ride, probably 3 years old, with my mom and aunt Ve in Forest Park, in St. Louis. Then I recalled the romantic interlude with a beautiful girl as we rode the wheel and necked when I was sixteen. We rode it again and again.
As the old Pacific wheel ground to a halt for the last time, I came back to earth and escorted Pat off...we had experienced the end of an era and for me, a flashback of the past. Long live the new Wheel.
Mary Sue sat alone in the seat. Waiting. "Single rider!" shouted the Carney. She could feel the heat rise in her cheeks. Just put the bar down and go, she prayed. All she wanted was a ride on the ferris wheel. To see the pretty lights from the top. Feel the sway of the chair.
"Right here," came a voice. It was Billy Wilson. He sat down next to Mary Sue and pulled the bar down, trapping them together. She lowered her eyes and glanced over at him through her lashes. Billy grinned. "I've been watching you," he said, "waiting for the right time to say something." Her heart skipped a little. "Really?" He nodded.
The wheel began to turn slowly, then faster and faster. As the chair rocked back and forth, they talked. About nothing. About everything.
“So when did you know?”
Mary Sue shook herself, grudgingly came back to reality. “What?”
“When did you fall in love with Grandpa? How did it happen?”
Mary Sue smiled wistfully at her granddaughter, as she stirred the cake mix. “It happened on the ferris wheel.”
My friend and I were having a grand day. We were comfortable together. We never felt the pressures to ride on scary rides the way we did when we were with other people. Together, we knew we were safe. To ride just the rides we wanted to. So we rode the ferris wheel. We laughed and shouted down at others. We told each other stories and felt so alive. Then there were two older guys on the ground who saw us riding and shouted to us to meet them somewhere at sometime.
We just laughed some more and told them maybe.
Much later that day we saw them again, while riding the ferris wheel. They appeared just as we were about to get off and when we did, they acted as though they didn't see us and kept walking. We looked at each other and laughed once more...our height gave away our young age. How fun it was to feel that beautiful...
cool!
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