Worry, anticipation, fear, love13 May 2008
Click-clack, click-clack. The train clanged noisily up the incline. In the third car from the front, Paul gripped the lap bar nervously.
Belinda, his fiance, giggled on his right.
"Scared?" she asked. Her hair was in a ponytail and she looked sporty in a pink tank top. She was blessed with a carefree beauty.
"Terrified." He glanced over the side and gauged the height. Seventy-five percent of falls from heights greater than fifty feet are fatal, he thought.
"You're cute," she said.
He frowned.
The car rambled on, clicking and clacking happily. The other riders laughed in anticipation. Paul awaited the terrible accident that he knew would take his life. Who built this contraption, he wondered. Were they paid well? Who maintains this thing? Did they check all the safety systems this morning? Is everything working?
"This isn't so bad," he said. Yes it fucking is.
"Told you so," she said. "Look, there's downtown...and there's the airport...and there's the river. You can see everything from up here. There's the subdivision where our house is going to be."
He checked his seatbelt for the fourth time. The train was halfway to the top.
"I don't understand," he said. "How can you think something like this is fun? There is nothing about this that is appealing to me."
She sighed. "Everyone's scared, Paul. That's the whole idea."
"I guess you're right." Paul smiled weakly and turned his head toward the city skyline. "It is a nice view from the precipice."
"Precipice? Nice vocabulary word, Mr. Calculus teacher."
"Well," said Paul. "I've had a pretty good English teacher these last two years."
"True," she said. A mischievous grin appeared on her face. "Do you want me to hold your hand or do you think you'll be able to survive this thing on your own?"
He glared at her. He reached out his sweat-drenched hand and grasped her bone-dry fingers. Her fingers brushed his engagement ring. "Do you know how easily this thing could derail?"
"Oh yes," she said. "I heard that just last week, this very train went flying off the tracks and killed sixteen people. It's okay though; they just duct-taped everything back together and opened it back up today. I think we're the first train to go since the accident, too...which makes this even more exciting!"
"Very funny. I'm just saying, there's a lot of risk involved." Five percent of rollercoaster riders are injured in accidents, he thought. Fifty percent of marriages end in divorce.
"Yeah," she said. "That's the part I like."
The train was nearing the top of the hill now. Click-clack, click-clack.
"If you say so," he said. "Personally I'm not sure how I let you talk me into this."
"Like that's even a question," she said. She pushed out her ample breasts proudly. "No man can resist these babies!"
He grinned for the first time. "Using your body to trick a helpless man into something like this. Absolutely outrageous. How do you sleep at night?"
"With you," she said. Her wit was perhaps her best feature.
They were cresting the hill now and Paul could see the drop in front of him. Two hundred feet, straight down. I shouldn't have gotten on this rollercoaster. I shouldn't have asked this girl to marry me. The people in the front cars were putting their hands up for the ride. Everyone was smiling. What if we fly off the tracks? PaulŐs heart rose into his throat as he stared down the track laid out before him.
"Do you think we'll be okay?" he asked.
"I don't know," she said. "Hold onto me and we'll see what happens."
Did she understand the significance of the question?
He gripped her hand tightly as they plummeted together over the edge, into the unknown.