Carnival of Souls by Jazan Wild

Author:Jazan Wild [Wild, Jazan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781631026560
Publisher: Jazan Wild
Published: 2014-03-02T05:00:00+00:00

Love comes in all shapes and sizes. Mine came in extra, extra, extra large. The small town where I grew up sat in a valley between two mountains. Atop the mountain to the north sat the home of a not-so-little, little girl. Atop the mountain to the south, sat my home.

Every summer the carnival came to town; our twin peaks provided the best seats in the house. The valley filled with the glow of fireflies and the flickering lights of the Ferris Wheel, all the rides and games visible. The pipe music of the merry-go-round floated up, knocking at our doors and rattling the windows. What child could show even an ounce of restraint?

“Hurry, I don’t want to miss it!” said the not-so-little girl. “Come on, Ma, Pa. I can’t wait to get on the rides.”

“Slow down, Sugar,” Lula Marie, her mother, said. “The carnival ain’t going nowhere. You have all week.”

“I wish it’d stay forever!”

Sugar’s feet barely touched the ground as she raced down the hill, dragging her parents by the hand. Her eyes grew larger and larger still as they neared the wondrous vision.

Their steps slowed as they entered the endless buffet of eye-candy. There was also an endless buffet of real candy - and Sugar had a bit of a sweet tooth.

“So these are the lights that keep sneaking into your dreams,” said Lula Marie. “And there’s the Ferris Wheel, your favorite.”

After tasting the top scoop of her three-tiered ice cream cone, Sugar lifted her head. The wheel’s lights had stood out the most as she lay awake looking out her window. Sleep was slow to visit as the wheel spun round and round. When her eyes became too heavy and she drifted off at last, in her head, the wheel continued to spin, covered by the face of a happy, laughing clown.

Gaze fixed skyward, Sugar slowly walked toward the metal giant, until something on the ground beckoned.

“Hey, good lookin’, whatcha got cookin’?” a handsome, slim young fellow said. Yep, it was me.

With Sugar the sweetest thing I’d ever seen, I dug deep into my bag of tricks, desperate to catch her eye. Juggling three apples in one hand, I stretched out the other, a good seven or eight feet, to shake hers. You know, showing off for the lady.

“Stretch is the name. Meeting you, is my aim.”

“Oh my,” Sugar said, but she didn’t seem to bite. Before she told me to get lost, I did. She was clearly there for someone else - someone tall, metal, circular and full of dream lights.

“All aboard!” Jexter said as he manned the line at the Ferris Wheel.

Sugar tried to get into the same cart as her parents, but they didn’t fit. Some of the folks on line took notice.

“Ricky, can you believe how fat she is?” Cecil said.

“She’ll break the frikkin’ wheel!” Frankie replied.

“Mom, they’re laughing at me,” Sugar said.

When she started to cry, the clown tried to make things better, in his own way. “Easy, kiddo. The next cart’s all yours.

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