Body Rides

  And noise.

  Carny noise.

  The tooting tune of a calliope, somewhere a strumming banjo, the clatter and roar of a rollercoaster, shouts and squeals, the spiel of a barker, the bam bam bam from a shooting gallery, bells clanging . . . other sounds, too many for Neal to separate or identify.

  Carny noise.

  And the carny smells of cigar smoke, cotton candy, popcorn, booze, perfume and suntan lotion . . .

  And the people.

  Not the mobs that would normally be found at Disneyland, Magic Mountain or Knotts Berry Farm, but a great many more people than Neal expected to find at a place like the Fort. They couldn’t all be locals. Neal supposed that some must come from Reno, Sparks, Truckee, Lake Tahoe . . .

  They looked like cowboys, truckers, carpenters, waitresses, students, mountain hikers taking a break from the wilds, school teachers, middle-aged hippies, and spritely retired folks. There were young married couples. Babies in strollers and backpacks. Little kids running around shouting. Clusters of teenage guys trying to look cool and tough. Clusters of teenage girls snapping gum, smirking, whispering and giggling. And teenage couples roaming around hand in hand, looking enthralled by each other.

  Not a gangster in sight, Neal noticed.

  He saw cowboy hats, tight jeans and boots. No baggy trousers hanging at half-mast, no bulky shirts or overcoats worn to hide the bulges of a 9mm semi-auto, a sawed-off shotgun or a Uzi.

  ‘Well, Tonto, we ain’t in L.A. anymore,’ Neal muttered.

  ‘Aren’t,’ Sue told him. ‘And I never have been. In L.A. But yer gonna take me there tomorrow, right?’

  He smiled and shrugged. ‘I don’t know. I just might want to stay here where it’s nice and safe.’

  ‘S’pose it’s safe on the Pony Express?’

  ‘I doubt it,’ Neal said.

  The enormous, white framework of the rollercoaster loomed above all the other rides and attractions at the far end of the midway. It looked like a railroad bridge built by a madman, the tracks climbing into the dusky sky then swooping down, steep as a cliffside, banking into hairpin turns and climbing again.

  All of it festooned with lights like a Christmas tree.

  As Neal stared at the distant structure, a train of half a dozen cars crested its highest summit and plunged straight down. He saw many of the riders raise their arms high as if surrendering. He heard faint, faraway screams of terror and delight.

  ‘Lordy,’ he said.

  ‘Still wanta go on it, don’t ya?’

  ‘We owe God a death.’

  ‘Nobody’s gonna die.’ They started walking toward the distant ride. ‘If yer scared,’ Sue said, ‘ya can always stay behind on a bench, or somethin, kiss yer bracelet and go along on the ride with me.’

  ‘I’m not scared.’

  ‘Liar, liar, pants on fire.’

  ‘At least I’m wearing pants.’

  She bumped him gently. ‘Ya don’t have to tell the whole world.’

  ‘You there!’

  Neal turned his head.

  A guy in a cowboy hat and a red apron, standing behind the knee-high counter of a game booth, held up a softball. He seemed to be staring straight at Neal.

  ‘Yeah, you! Step right over here! Win the little lady a fabulous prize! One ball for a dollar! Knock over all three bottles, and win! Step right up, duke! Show her what you’ve got!’

  Neal smiled sheepishly, shook his head, and kept on walking.

  ‘Don’t ya wanta show me what you’ve got?’ Sue asked, grinning.

  ‘I’m not much good at games like that. Would you like to try it?’ he asked

  ‘Me? I wanta go on the Pony Express.’

  So they kept on walking down the dusty lane between game booths, snack shops, souvenir stands, a variety of rides and funhouses – looking but not stopping. With every step Neal took, the Pony Express seemed to grow higher.

  By the time they reached the far end of the midway, it towered above them – a colossus of rickety, white-painted beams strung with colored lights.

  They took their place at the rear of the line.

  Sue tilted back her head, shook it from side to side, and said, ‘She sure is a big booger.’

  ‘There’s no law that says we have to ride it.’

  ‘Sure there is. Sue’s Law. “Don’t worry ’bout it, just do it.”’

  ‘That law could get a person into loads of trouble.’

  ‘I’ve done okay by it.’

  ‘Well, I imagine we’ll probably survive.’

  As the line became shorter, however, Neal started to imagine otherwise. He pictured a whole string of cars leaping off a high stretch of tracks and flying out over the park – himself and Sue in the front car.

  Plunging through the night, crashing through trees . . .

  It’s not going to happen, he told himself.

  But what if there’s an earthquake . . .?

  Or a mad bomber blows up a section of tracks . . .?

  ‘Ya okay?’ Sue asked.

  ‘Fine. Just a small case of the jitters.’

  ‘Ever been on any rollycoasters before?’

  ‘Oh, sure. Lots of them.’

  ‘Not me,’ Sue said.

  He couldn’t believe his ears. ‘You’ve never been on a roller-coaster?’

  ‘Nope. Never been to a place that had one, till now.’

  ‘You’ve never been to an amusement park?’

  She grinned. ‘Ain’t I amazin?’

  Neal shook his head. ‘It’s awful,’ he said.

  ‘Well, it ain’t the enda the world. I’m here now, right?’

  He put a hand on her shoulder. ‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘You’re here now. And if we miss anything tonight, we’ll come back tomorrow.’

  And when we get back to L.A., he thought, I’ll take her everywhere. Disneyland, Knotts, Magic Mountain, Universal Studios . . .

  Universal was a motion picture studio, not exactly an amusement park. He wanted to take Sue there, anyway.

  And the Venice boardwalk.

  The Hollywood Walk of Fame.

  The L.A. County Fair, though it wouldn’t come along until September.

  The Gene Autry Museum . . .

  Take her everywhere, show her everything, share her delight.

  Maybe not the Venice boardwalk, he thought. Might have to spend the day dodging bullets and knives.

  Don’t want our fine time wrecked by one of us getting killed.

  And what about Marta? he wondered.

  She’ll come, too. We’ll be a threesome. Marta and I, we’ll be the couple. Sue and I, we’ll be like brother and sister.

  Like Karen and Darren?

  ‘What’s the matter?’ Sue asked.

  ‘Huh? Nothing.’

  ‘Ya just sighed and shook yer head like yer pet dog got run over and squished.’

  Neal couldn’t help but smile. ‘Actually, I was wondering how Marta’s going to react when she meets you.’

  ‘She’s gonna be charmed outa her socks.’

  Neal laughed. ‘You might be right.’

  Suddenly, they were at the front of the line. A worker in a cavalry uniform beckoned them forward. Neal followed Sue through a turnstile. As they walked across the wooden platform, they were told by a girl in a fringed buckskin outfit to stand at number one.

  The numbers were painted near the edge of the platform floor.

  Lower numbers to the left.

  It came as no surprise to find that number one was the first number.

  To Neal, however, it came as a shock to find that they would be sitting in the front seats of the lead car.

  He groaned.

  ‘What’s the problem now?’ Sue asked.

  ‘We’re first.’

  ‘Cool!’

  ‘Aye-yi-yi.’

  Laughing, she squeezed his arm.

  The Pony Express hadn’t yet arrived. Neal could hear it, though. He heard its clatter and rumble, heard its passengers shrieking. He felt the pl
atform tremble and shudder under his feet.

  Oh, God, I don’t want to do this! It’s gonna crash!

  He felt as if his insides were falling and shriveling.

  No reason to be scared, he told himself. Nothing is going to go wrong. It’s a rollercoaster. It’s a ride. It’s not really dangerous at all. It’s make-believe danger.

  His legs felt weak. Goosebumps crawled all over his skin.

  Just tell her you don’t want to do it. She can go by herself.

  And look like a chicken?

  I faced Rasputin! Shot the bastard! I can’t be scared of a stupid rollercoaster.

  Which suddenly arrived.

  It lurched to a halt, the front seats of the lead car just below the edge of the platform in front of Sue.

  After the safety bar swung forward, a man and a small boy started to climb out the other side. The boy, no older than ten, wore a grin like Dr Sardonicus.

  ‘Oh my God,’ Neal muttered, ‘it drove the little bugger mad.’

  Sue squeezed his arm. ‘How safe is this thing?’

  Amazed by Sue’s unexpected nervousness, Neal felt slightly less frightened himself. ‘If it went around crashing,’ he said, ‘it wouldn’t be here.’

  The answer seemed to reassure her. ‘Yeah, reckon yer right.’

  ‘We’ll be fine,’ Neal said, feeling even better.

  ‘Okay.’

  She went first. Neal followed. All too soon, they were seated side by side and the safety bar swung in toward their chests.

  ‘Are you ready?’ Neal asked.

  ‘I don’t think so!’ Grimacing, Sue clutched the bar with both hands.

  The rollercoaster jumped forward and immediately began to clitter-clatter its way slowly up the main slope. It climbed higher and higher. The steep angle pinned Neal against the seat cushion at his back. Ahead, the tracks seemed to rise forever.

  ‘I don’t liiike this,’ Sue sang out.

  ‘The fun hasn’t even started yet,’ Neal told her. ‘Just wait till we get to the top.’

  ‘I’m scared!’

  ‘You’re supposed to be.’

  As they neared the top, Sue began muttering, ‘Oh jeez, oh jeez, oh jeez!’

  They reached the crest.

  Neal couldn’t see the downhill side. He could see nothing straight ahead except distant mountains.

  ‘Here we go!’ he shouted.

  ‘Shhhhhiiit!’ Sue yelled.

  They both clutched the safety bar to brace themselves for the plunge.

  It didn’t come.

  The ride jerked to a sudden stop.

  They went nowhere.

  Thirty-Two

  ‘Uh-oh,’ Neal said. He felt sick. He sat rigid in his seat, half expecting the odd stop at the summit of the ride’s first and highest hill to be followed up by another surprise: maybe the whole structure would topple.

  Sue turned her head toward him and bared her teeth. ‘This isn’t s’pose to happen?’

  ‘I’m afraid not.’

  ‘What’s it mean?’

  ‘A malfunction?’ Neal suggested.

  ‘Oh, dear.’

  ‘I’m sure they’ll have it fixed in a minute or two.’

  Except that maybe everything’s already starting to collapse . . .

  ‘Weren’t them lights on before?’ Sue asked, nodding toward the low wooden railing a few feet to the left of the tracks.

  A strand of colored lights was wrapped around the railing.

  The lights no longer glowed.

  Neither did the lights that were strung around the railing to the right.

  Neither did the thousands of lights adorning the ‘Stagecoach’ Ferris wheel at the other side of the park.

  Neal spotted the upper stories of the Apache Inn way off in the distance. All its windows were dark.

  Keeping his tight grip on the safety bar, he leaned to the left and peered down. The park below them, earlier so gaily lit, was cloaked with the gloom of late dusk. He saw people hurrying about, down there. And groups standing motionless, their heads back, staring up at the stranded rollercoaster.

  Most of the carny noise was gone.

  He heard alarmed voices, a few faraway shouts and screams, birds . . .

  Facing Sue, he said, ‘It’s gotta be a power outage.’

  ‘Oh, boy. How’d that happen?’

  ‘I don’t know. An accident at a power station somewhere?’

  ‘What’ll we do?’

  ‘Wait, I guess.’ Neal saw a wooden walkway at the edge of the structure. A walkway with a railing two feet high, and a godless drop at the other side. It apparently became a stairway just ahead, where the tracks sloped down.

  My God, what a stairway that’s gotta be!

  Neal had heard that it was a common practice at amusement parks for someone to ‘walk the rollercoaster tracks’ before the first run every day. To make sure everything looked ship-shape.

  What kind of nut would walk on that?

  Such a narrow walkway. Such steep slopes. Nothing really to hold on to. Such a long way down . . .

  The very sight of it made Neal feel giddy.

  The idea of using it as an escape route horrified him.

  Maybe as a last resort.

  I’ll stay right here and starve in my seat, if it comes to that.

  ‘We’re awful high up,’ Sue said.

  She had a tremor in her voice.

  ‘It’s all right,’ Neal told her. He unfroze his right hand from the safety bar, slipped his arm across Sue’s shoulders, and snuggled her in against his side. She was shaking. ‘It’ll be all right,’ he said. He caressed her upper arm.

  She hunkered down lower against him and tried to bury her face in his chest.

  ‘If you think we’ve got it bad,’ he said, ‘how would you like to be in one of the cars behind us? At least we made it to the top.’

  ‘They still there?’

  Keeping his arm around Sue, Neal twisted himself toward her as much as the safety bar allowed, and gazed over his right shoulder. The second car hadn’t reached the top of the grade. He couldn’t see it at all.

  ‘Hello back there!’ he called.

  ‘Howdy,’ a woman called. She sounded elderly, and had a cheerful voice.

  ‘Everyone okay back there?’ Neal asked.

  ‘So far. And how about yourselves?’

  ‘Okay.

  ‘It’s a grand view of the sky,’ called a man. From the sound of his voice, Neal figured he was probably sitting beside the woman – likely her husband.

  ‘Does this happen often?’ the woman inquired.

  ‘I don’t know. We’re just . . .’

  ‘Attention,’ boomed a voice through a megaphone. ‘May I have your attention, please?’

  ‘Ya got it, ya got it,’ Sue muttered.

  Neal turned forward. Looking over the side, he spotted a husky man far below, head tipped back, a battery-powered megaphone at his mouth.

  ‘We are experiencing a temporary loss of electrical power. We regret any inconvenience or discomfort this may be causing you. However, you are in no danger whatsoever. I repeat, you are perfectly safe. So long as you remain seated. Please remain in your seats. Do not attempt to exit the ride. The situation will be rectified shortly, and you will be returned safely to terra firma.’

  ‘Terror firma?’ Sue asked. ‘What the hell’s he talkin about?’

  ‘The ground.’

  ‘How come he didn’t just say so?’

  ‘He wanted to be fancy about it, I guess.’

  ‘Think we’re really safe up here?’

  ‘Sure.’

  If nothing else goes wrong.

  ‘It don’t feel safe. Feels high.’

  Neal turned toward her as much as he could. The side of his right leg pressed against the side of her left leg. She put a hand on his thigh and rested her face against his chest. He reached across with his left hand and stroked her hair.

  ‘Are you okay?’ he asked.

  ‘Ju
st scared,’ she said. Her mouth was touching his shirt front, and he could feel the heat of her breath. ‘I don’t like gettin stuck this high up in the air. I just don’t.’

  ‘There’s a way out,’ Neal said.

  ‘Like what?’

  He dug the bracelet out of his pocket and showed it to her. ‘Put it on, kiss it, and take off. You can be safe on terror firma in about two seconds.’

  ‘I reckon I could,’ she said. Then she gave his thigh a couple of playful smacks with her open hand. ‘Tryin to get rid of me?’

  ‘We might be stuck up here for hours. I know how scared you are. So, really. Go ahead and use it. There’s no good reason for you to suffer through this. Just take off and have a good time. Visit some of the folks down on the ground. You could even go on back to the hotel and find yourself someone having a nice meal or some drinks at the bar . . .’

  ‘I could find me a gal gettin laid.’

  Neal blushed and let out a nervous laugh. ‘Yeah. Or that.’

  Sue raised her face from his chest. Even in the near darkness, he could see her smile. ‘You ever done that? Gone in somebody doin it?’

  ‘Nope.’

  ‘How come?’

  ‘Just hasn’t come up. I’ve hardly had a chance to use the thing. Besides, I’m not really big on sex with strangers.’

  ‘Ya could make it with anybody. Any old time ya felt like it. There’s likely somebody doin it someplace all the time. Just have to catch ’em at it.’

  ‘I suppose that’s true,’ Neal said.

  ‘Don’t tell me ya ain’t thought about it.’

  Though blushing, Neal had to smile. ‘I guess it’s crossed my mind.’

  ‘Ya wouldn’t even need to worry about catchin AIDS, or nothin, either.’

  ‘I’m not all that worried now.’

  ‘How come?’

  ‘I’m careful who I sleep with. Nobody but Marta since my last physical.’

  ‘Might catch it from her.’

  ‘Nope. She’s perfectly healthy.’

  ‘Think so?’

  ‘I know so.’

  ‘What if she fools around?’

  ‘Marta doesn’t fool around.’

  ‘What makes ya so sure? Use the bracelet on her?’

  ‘No. Of course not. And I have no intention of using it on her.’

  ‘I’ll do it for ya.’