Thrill Ride

  I was assigned to the Hansel and Gretel gift shop, otherwise known as H & G, or as I was beginning to think of it: hell and god-awful. Because, of course, since this was a theme park—theme being the operative word here—I was scheduled to show up in wardrobe for sizing at two o’clock. And I didn’t have to ask what my costume would be.

  “At least the gift shop is air conditioned,” Jordan said, swirling her French fry around in a glob of ketchup. “I mean, I’m going to be standing out in the hot sun all day saying, ‘Please exit to your right. Watch your step.’ Can you believe they gave me a script for this?”

  They’d given everyone a script of things to say and not say. Rules and regulations to follow. We’d been given a mission statement, a purpose, and a rousing pep talk.

  Then we’d walked through the entire park, while its history was revealed to us by a very energetic guy named Bill (Waterloo, Ontario).

  The most fascinating of all the rides to me were the carousels: original pipe organs, original wooden horses—restored by artisans. They actually had three carousels in the park, and I wished that I’d been given one of them as my assignment. Those who took care of the rides wore cargo shorts, red shirts, white socks, tennis shoes, and red baseball caps. They could wear their hair however they wanted. Me? I was going to have to wear braids on each side of my head. I was seriously contemplating a major haircut.

  Throughout the tour, Ross had stuck to Jordan like paper to glue, but not in an overtly romantic way. They realized that they were at work and not on a date, but still it made me miss Nick all the more to see them together.

  The park was open but hardly crowded, since the “season” hadn’t officially started.

  When the tour was over, we broke for lunch. Now the three of us were sitting at a table in the food court area of the theme park.

  “So what are we going to do this afternoon?” Ross asked.

  “Wanna go sailing?” Jordan asked.

  He grinned. “Sure.”

  Jordan looked at me. “Wanna come with us?”

  “You have a boat?” I asked.

  She laughed lightly. “No. Down the lake a ways they have rentals.”

  “I’d love to but I need to go to costume.”

  “Oh, right. Gretel. Wonder how long it’ll take.”

  I shook my head. “No idea, but since everyone is getting fitted this afternoon”—I wrinkled my nose—“you probably shouldn’t wait on me.”

  “Okay, but let me give you my cell phone number in case they cut you loose quickly. We can always come back for you.”

  That was so nice. As we exchanged numbers, I was thinking that maybe things were going to work out with my new roomie after all.

  I stood in front of the mirror in costume, fighting back my strong urge to yodel. My costume had a white blouse with short puffy sleeves, a short black skirt with a bib that came up the front and straps that went over the shoulders and crossed in the back, and a petticoat. Oh, yeah. And white knee socks and black shoes.

  “The only thing that could be worse than this is to be Hansel,” said Patti (Weed, CA). She was tall like me, but not as slender. Healthy, my grandmother would have called her.

  I bit back my laughter. “I don’t know. This is pretty bad.”

  “Do you think we got this gig because we have long hair? I mean, give me a break. Tomorrow we have to braid it.” Her hair was long, blonde, and wavy.

  “I’m thinking of buzzing mine tonight,” I confessed.

  She laughed. “I always thought of Gretel as being petite. We’re both pretty tall.”

  “I think you’re right—it’s the hair.”

  “At least we’ll be in air-conditioning.”

  “That’s what my roommate says.”

  “What did she get assigned?” Patti asked.

  “One of the kiddie coasters.”

  “Lucky girl.”

  Although I wasn’t sure how lucky it really was. I mean, dealing with tired kids on a hot day? Ross would be working at Jet Scream, a ride that went straight up and spiraled down, and had a puke factor of ten. They even had a special cleanup crew for any “incident,” as our tour guide had so politely referred to it.

  Working inside a gingerbread-designed gift shop was sounding better all the time. And, at least, back home I would never run into anyone who saw me this summer, so the embarrassment factor was lowered.

  After Patti and I changed back into our regular clothes, we took our costumes to a window. A middle-aged woman named Jeannie (no city, no state) was working behind it. She took our costumes, scanned the bar codes that were located on tags inside them, then swiped our park ID badges through the machine.

  “All righty. You’ll pick these up in the morning before work, change in the locker room, then drop them off after work so they can be washed for the next day,” she said briskly.

  “Wouldn’t it be better if we took them with us and just washed them ourselves?” Patti asked.

  “Weren’t you paying attention during orientation, honey?” Jeannie asked. “Everything is computerized. I’ll swipe your badge in the morning, and I’ll know exactly where your costume is on the rack. Runs like clockwork.”

  “Sounds great,” I said, not at all disappointed that I didn’t have to wash clothes every night.

  “What now?” Patti asked me as we turned away from the window.

  “I don’t know.” I thought about joining Jordan for the sailboat ride, but I didn’t feel like being a third wheel.

  I ended up spending the afternoon lounging out by the pool. Nothing too exciting. I could hear the rumble of the roller coaster nearest the dorm. Magnum Force. It was a steel roller coaster, so it didn’t have all that clacking noise, but still it sounded fast. And of course, I could hear people scream.

  I just so didn’t get that.

  When I got back to the room, a note from Jordan was resting on my computer.

  Dear Gretel:

  Ha! Ha! Very funny, I thought.

  Sorry we didn’t connect.

  I’m going to have dinner at Parker’s.

  Be back late! Don’t wait up!

  Your Roomie, Roller Coaster Gal

  That was interesting. Dinner with Parker after spending the day with Ross. I thought Ross was her boyfriend; maybe Parker was just a friend. Not that it was any of my business.

  I was in the shower when the bathroom door burst open.

  “I got it!” Alisha cried.

  “Got what?” I called back.

  “A part in the stage production! Hurry up! Lisa and I are going out to celebrate, and you have to come with us!”

  We ended up at the food court, each celebrating in our own way: me with a burger, Alisha with a chef salad, and Lisa with pizza. When you’re working a summer job, celebrations are as inexpensive as you can make them.

  “So what exactly will you do?” I asked.

  “I’m not sure. They’ll start teaching us the routines tomorrow. Basically, we come out on stage and sing and dance. You’ll have to come watch a performance sometime.”

  “You must be really talented,” Lisa said.

  Alisha shook her head. “I don’t think so. I think everyone else was just really bad. Some people just don’t have a clue about how hard it is to perform.”

  “How long have you been dancing?” I asked.

  “Since I was four.”

  “Wow! That’s a long time.”

  “I really want to go to Hollywood someday. You have to commit early. So what job did you get?”

  I stuck a French fry into ketchup, swirled it around. “I’m working in the gift shop.”

  “Oh, no,” Lisa said. “Which gift shop?”

  “Pick the worst one.”

  “Hansel and Gretel’s?”

  “Yep.” I shook my head. “I got my costume today. How about you?”

  “Carousel ride.”

  I was jealous. “That’s my favorite.”

  “I figure after an hour of listening to that music, i
t won’t be mine.”

  “Want to switch positions?”

  She laughed. “No, Gretel.”

  Gosh, was that going to become my nickname? If so, I was already tired of it.

  After dinner, we went back to our rooms. Jordan wasn’t back yet. I watched a little TV, thanks to the fact that she’d brought one. Checked my e-mail. Read the joke about rednecks that Nick had forwarded to me. Sent a reply, “Ha-ha! Miss you.” Then wrote a letter to Sarah about my day. Tried not to be disappointed that no one was online to flash me an IM.

  I sat in my desk chair, looked out the window over the lake, and watched the way the moonlight sparkled over the water.

  So tomorrow I’d pick up my costume and report to the Hansel and Gretel gift shop inside Storybook Land. It was a good thing I had a boyfriend, because the only hotties I’d be seeing were overdressed tourists who were literally hot and sweating. I might work with a Hansel, but his costume would be as bad as mine, and would definitely ruin any to-die-for factor that might have been evident before said costume was put on. We’d be surrounded by munchkins and their parents. No young cute guy tourists would ever show their faces at H & G’s. Come to think of it, no girls my age would show up, either.

  I told myself that it didn’t matter. I was there to work, after all. But part of the appeal of coming here was the opportunity to experience new things, meet new people. And just as I was feeling really sorry for myself, I realized that I’d met a lot of new people already. So I was being silly.

  The phone rang. Had to be for Jordan, but since she wasn’t here…let it ring.

  But I was too weak. I picked up on the third ring.

  “Hello.”

  “Hey, Meg.”

  Parker. Gosh, I didn’t like the way he sounded. Like there were secrets shared between us.

  “Megan,” I corrected him.

  “No, that voice doesn’t go with a Megan.”

  The nerve of this guy. He didn’t even know me and here he was…I couldn’t deny that I was flattered.

  “Jordan’s not here.”

  “I know. She’s on her way back.”

  “Then why did you call?”

  “Your voice. It’s been haunting me. What do you look like?”

  “Listen, I have a boyfriend.”

  “Does he work at the park?”

  “No.”

  “Where are you from?” he asked.

  I stared harder out the window. Why was I answering this guy?

  “Dallas.”

  “He’s there. You’re here. That has to be hard.”

  “Are you offering to fill in for him?”

  He laughed, that deep rumble that shimmied through me. “If I were that obvious, I think you’d lose all respect for me.”

  “You’ve made the mistaken assumption that I had any respect for you to begin with.”

  He laughed again. Then he quieted suddenly, and all I could hear was the pounding of my heart.

  “Dark hair,” he said quietly.

  “What?”

  “You have dark hair.”

  “What does it matter?”

  “Your voice sounds exotic.”

  “Well, I’m not. I’ll tell Jordan you called.”

  “No, don’t tell her. Like I said, I called to talk to you.”

  There was a strange shift in his voice that I couldn’t quite identify.

  “You don’t want her to know you called me?”

  “Let’s just say that it would be better if she didn’t know.”

  “I hear the key going into the lock.”

  “Then that’s my cue to hang up. Sweet dreams.”

  And as quickly as a heartbeat he was gone.

  I dropped the phone in the cradle just as Jordan walked into the room. My hands were shaking, and I didn’t know why. I hadn’t done anything wrong, but I felt like I was betraying my roommate and my boyfriend. How dumb was that?

  “How was dinner?” I asked.

  “Great. I love Parker so much. He’s the best.”

  She loved Parker? I thought she loved Ross. Maybe she could love more than one guy at a time.

  “He called.” I couldn’t stop myself from saying it. I didn’t owe the guy anything and if she loved him but he was flirting with me…but then she had Ross…

  “Parker?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I wonder why he didn’t call on my cell. I recharged it.” She pulled her cell out of her pocket and for some reason I panicked.

  “He just wanted to know if you got home safe. As soon as I heard your key in the door and told him you were here, he hung up.”

  She closed her phone. “Crazy guy. He worries about me so much. Overprotective. That’s what he is. I’m going to take a shower and go to bed. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.”

  I was beginning to feel like it was going to be a long summer.

  Only 54 Nick-less days to go, and counting….

  Chapter 6

  “Remember: The customer is always right. No matter how old, how small, how grumpy.”

  Nancy (St. Augustine, FL) pressed the tips of her fingers against her cheeks, and twisted until her lips curled up. “And we always smile. It’s hard to get upset with someone who’s smiling at you.”

  Nancy managed H & G’s. She had red hair, braided on either side of her head. Not even managers were exempt from the tortures of the theme park. And here in Storybook Land, we were all in costume. We actually had one Hansel in the store, and I decided it was way worse for a guy to be Hansel than for a girl to be Gretel. He had to be on someone’s hate-this-guy list.

  I cast a glance over at Patti. She rolled her eyes. I so agreed with that assessment of our situation.

  “Follow me and I’ll show you how to work the register,” Nancy said.

  Pointing a scan gun didn’t require a lot of skill. Neither did making change or bagging souvenirs. This was going to be an easy gig and no doubt boring as all get out. Patti and I spent the morning doing imaginary sales, then voiding them; practiced making change; and learned to run credit cards.

  Around one o’clock, Nancy cut us loose. Patti and I changed out of our costumes, dropped them off, and started walking back to the dorm.

  “Hey, since we only have a couple more days before things get crazy and we’re working full shifts, you want to spend this afternoon with me on the rides?”

  I grimaced. “I’m not really into thrill rides.”

  She stared at me. “You’re kidding. Why are you working here, then?”

  “Because I wanted to get away from home.”

  “But the whole point in being here is that you can ride the rides for free.”

  I shook my head. “I like the antique cars. And the carousel.”

  “Oh my God, I’ve heard of people like you.”

  “People like me?”

  “Yeah, people who are irrationally afraid—”

  “I’m not irrationally afraid. I just don’t enjoy doing it.”

  “They have a guy, some famous psychiatrist who comes here every Wednesday and helps people get over their roller coaster phobias. You should sign up for a session.”

  “Why? I have no desire whatsoever to ride one, so why bother learning to do it?”

  “Because you’re afraid and you need to conquer your fear.”

  “I’m not afraid.” Afraid was too tame a word for what I felt at the thought of even getting on a roller coaster. I’d ridden one once, with my dad. I’d buried my face against his arm and screamed during the entire ride. I was twelve. Hadn’t been on one since.

  I didn’t like the heart-in-my-throat feeling, the sensation of plummeting. And I absolutely hated the cranking sound as the car went up the incline.

  “Then go riding with me,” Patti said.

  We stepped out of the building into the sunshine.

  “I can’t. I really have a lot of stuff that I need to do.”

  “Like what?”

  “I need to call my boyfriend before his shift s
tarts tonight.”

  She narrowed her eyes. “Yeah, right. Well, I’m going to go ride Magnum Force. The guy who manages the controls there is totally hot.”

  I smiled. “So it’s not that you’re a roller coaster fanatic. It’s that you’re hoping to hook up with someone.”

  “You know it. Later, girlfriend!”

  I watched her walk away. I guess it did seem a little insane for someone who didn’t like thrill rides to work at a place known for them.

  I was going to head to the dorm, but then changed my mind. I would do a ride after all.

  I went to the carousel. I don’t know what it is about carousels. I love the old-time feel of them. The mirrors, the gold, the glitter. The music. And I always ride on a horse that goes up and down. Of course, I was probably the oldest one on the carousel that afternoon, but what the heck. I could live dangerously every now and then.

  I actually stayed in the park until it closed, which for two more days would be seven in the evening. When I got back to the room, Jordan was dressed to kill in low-rider jeans, spike-heeled boots, and a clinging spaghetti-strap tank top that revealed her belly button ring. Her hair was spiked out in all directions.

  “Hot date?” I asked.

  She slapped her forehead. “I am such a dunce. I forgot to tell you. Parker is having a party tonight. Wanna come?”

  “No, thanks.”

  “Why not?”

  I thought about the phone call last night. The fact that he spent time with her, she loved him, then he called me…

  “I’m exhausted. I spent the afternoon on the rides.”

  “Oh!” She squealed. “Did you ride Magnum Force?”

  I don’t know what possessed me not to confess that my rides had been the three different carousels, the taxis, and the teacups. “You bet.”

  “Isn’t it awesome?”

  “Totally.”

  “Did you ride in the first car?”

  “No.” Don’t know why I chose at that moment not to lie.

  “Oh, you have got to ride in the front. It is a totally different experience. No one to block your view as you’re hurtling along the rails.”

  “I’ve got all summer. No sense in doing everything at once.”

  “That’s true. Sure you don’t want to come with me tonight?”