The Ride of Your Life by P.J. Night

Author:P.J. Night
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Simon Spotlight

Tyler had been right. It was easy to talk in the booth at the merry-go-round. He was a good listener, too. He asked both girls lots of questions about themselves, and he didn’t talk about himself too much. In fact, he hardly talked about himself at all.

“You said you noticed we were new here,” Gabby said at one point. “Does that mean you come here a lot?”

“I practically live here,” Tyler confessed. “Or that’s what it feels like sometimes.”

“Well, I’ve lived in Trouble Slope for a whole year,” said Sydney, “and I can’t believe I never knew about this fair until tonight. Is it open all summer?”

For some reason, Tyler looked uncomfortable. “Not all summer, no. I think it’s kind of a special-occasion thing.”

“You mean for things like Kids’ Week?” asked Sydney.

“Uh-huh,” said Tyler.

Sydney pressed on. “It’s crazy that no one knows about Kids’ Week, though. I haven’t seen anyone from my school here. Gabby and I were downtown this morning, and there were no flyers or posters or anything. If we hadn’t been—uh—investigating this afternoon, we would never have found out that the fair was going to be open. It’s not as though there’s a lot to do here in the summertime. They need better publicity!”

“Yeah, I guess,” Tyler said unenthusiastically.

“And if it’s just open once in a while, they should have more people working here,” Sydney added. “Look at that ice cream place over there. It’s empty! Don’t they want to sell stuff?”

There was a short, uncomfortable silence before Tyler said, “It’s Kids’ Week. I guess they want us to help ourselves. I don’t know.”

Either he was bored, or he didn’t like talking about this. So it was probably lucky that before the conversation could disintegrate any further, another boy their age strode up to the merry-go-round.

“Where’ve you been, Ty?” the boy called, loping alongside them. “Danielle says to—” Then he caught sight of Gabby and Sydney. “Oh. Sorry. Who are they?”

“This is Gabby, and this is Sydney,” Tyler said. “It’s their first time here.” To Gabby and Sydney, he said, “This is my friend Austin.”

“Hey,” Austin said. Panted, really. Keeping pace with the merry-go-round was starting to take a toll on him. His face was red, and he was all sweaty.

Tyler must have noticed. “Stop chasing this thing, dude! Wait and get on with us for the next ride.”

“How ’bout if I just get on now?” And before they knew what was happening, Austin had leaped up and grabbed the railing that encircled the platform of the merry-go-round.

He’d obviously meant to swing himself up, but he missed his footing. Instead of vaulting aboard, he ended up hanging on to the rail with both hands and dangling over the edge of the platform with his feet in the air.

“Whoa. This isn’t good!” he gasped.

Tyler had jumped to his feet. “Just let go!”

“No, don’t! Keep holding on! If he lets go, he’ll fall underneath the platform and get pulverized!” wailed Sydney. Now she stood up too, reaching forward to grab Austin’s wrists.

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