Big Wheel Keep On Turnin'

Big Wheel Keep On Turnin'


"What's that over there, Dad?"

"I'm not sure, son.  The light's almost gone and we've got a bad angle.  Say, mister," he called to the figure in the gas station's open doorway, "what is that over there?  It almost looks like a Ferris wheel."

The attendant was silent for so long, the father began to think the guy was being rude, just because they were from out of town.  At last, he spoke.

"Well, sir, that Ferris wheel's all that's left of the Wapello County Carnival and Fair of 1989, a leftover from the last time we had a fair here in Ottumwa; after '89, the fair moved over to Agency."

"Why's that?"

A look of remembered pain flashed across the man's face, and he took a deep breath before speaking again.

"Because 23 people--kids, 14 of 'em--died the last time that wheel went around."

The young boy's eyes went wide.  "Gosh, mister," he exclaimed, "how'd they get killed?"

"Joseph!" his dad admonished.  "I don't think that's anything a boy of ten needs to hear."

"It's up to you, of course, him bein' your kid and all," the attendant allowed, "but, after all, it did happen over twenty years ago."

"Please, Dad?" Joseph begged.  "I'll be okay--honest!"

He hesitated.  Then, a little doubt still evident in his voice, he said, "I guess it won't hurt to hear the story."

Eager with anticipation, the boy looked at the man and waited.

"It was June of '89," he began.  "It was a beautiful summer night, and the pitchman had his patter going: 'Step right up!  Step right up!  Just two coupons gets you a ride on the biggest traveling Ferris wheel in the country!  Step right up!  Step right up!'

"There were lines for all the rides, but the one for the Ferris wheel was the longest.  Overlapping cries of "I wanna ride, Mom!", "Let me go one more time, please, Daddy!" and the like could be heard over the laughter, chatter and other sounds of a carnival in full swing.

"All of a sudden--from out of the blue--a bolt of lightning struck the Ferris wheel, wrecking the brake and the motor's speed governor.  The wheel began to speed up, spinning faster and faster.  Everyone was screaming--kids, their folks...me."

"You were there?" Joseph asked in hushed tones.

The man looked him right in the eye.  "I was on the wheel with my little girl, Emma.  She was crying and holding onto me, and I was holding onto her as tight as I could, while trying to keep us both in our seat.  Right about then, people started flying off the wheel.  Dependin' on the angle, they either flew way up into the air and then crashed to the ground, or shot out kinda straight, only to hit the ground and roll a ways.  Some of 'em crashed into stuff.  Sometimes it was canvas, sometimes it was wood or steel; I hit steel, myself.  It was about the most awful thing you could imagine.

"They started packing up the rest of the carnival gear right then and there and, as soon as the law let them, they left.  The roustabouts and carnies left the wheel, though, refused to even touch it.  Carnival folks may be superstitious but, in this case, I can't say as I blame 'em.  Anyway, the town didn't want to have anything to do with it, either, so it's just sat there ever since.

"I was all busted up inside, my left leg was all mangled, and I was losing buckets of blood.  They had two teams working on me: one dealing with my internal injuries, and the other amputating my leg; no choice, really.  I was one of the lucky ones.  I never regained consciousness."

"Yeah," the father began, "I guess you were lucky at-- Wait a second!  What did you just--"

His exclamation was interrupted by a blinding flash and earsplitting boom!

When he could see something besides the lightning's afterimage, he saw that the gas station was dark and that the attendant had disappeared.  Seconds later, like a radio coming back on after a power outage, they could hear overlapping musical tunes start up--the distinctive and merry tunes of multiple carnival rides.  There was a flicker in the darkness, and then the twinkling lights of a Ferris wheel could be seen making circles in the air as the wheel started going faster and faster.

"Look, Dad!" the boy cried.  He was pointing across the field at the Ferris wheel now spinning madly in the night.

"Get in the car, Joseph!  NOW!" his father yelled back.

The old station wagon raised an impressive cloud of dust as it sped away.


[780 words]