It’s a rite of passage in everyone’s life: an amusement park ride that will forever be imprinted on your psyche. 5 year old Losiah is not on a death defying coaster here… this is a kiddie ride. And while his dad Carlos gives every bit of encouragement he can, the ramping up of excitement turns into a one minute trip to hell and back. Despite all the coaching, the reminders – the Isn’t this fun? No? It’s fun! It’s okay! kind of stuff, there is little to change little Losiah’s mind. A person he trusts has hand held him onto a carriage that will lead to his certain death.
Ah, memories:
For me, it was a pirate ship ride with no side doors. I was convinced I would go flying out into the atmosphere – I scrunched down in that boat – with the open air blasting beside me – as my mother stood screaming on the sidelines. There were no seat belts on this ride at the time. There was, in fact, a pretty good chance I would fall out of that thing. (See how the trauma still haunts me?) The incident went on to taint my enjoyment of future rides for many years. Those shrill screams from the Trailblazer coaster? That wasn’t a girl – that was me. Forget any kind of going upside down. It would be many many years before I would get my amusement park mojo back.
Now, I eagerly get on any ride that will throttle, spin, and whirl me around – but the the faint call of death still haunts me… is this the one time this ride is going to kill someone like you read on the news?
Oh, and for the record, I am an ardent opponent of those cameras that take snapshots of you on roller coasters so you can see how ridiculous you look at the end of the ride. NO ONE looks good in those.