The carnival was in town, and of course Emma and I had to go. We strolled around for a while nibbling on cotton candy and sneaking kisses, and then I didn’t win the teddy bear at the milk pail toss, and the guess-your-weight guy guessed my weight on the nose, 177, “because you were wearing shoes,” Emma said, although there wasn’t a scale involved—it was an honor system, and then Emma tried the milk pail toss and won a teddy bear with her first throw, though it seemed to me her baseball didn’t hit anything, but when you’re as cute as Emma good things happen.

The sky was turning a lurid pink, with lightning in the distance, but the Merry-Go-Round with two dozen silver steeds beckoned. Before mounting her stallion, Emma handed me her sandals. “Because last time I was on a carousel I lost them,” she said. Then she asked if I wasn’t going to ride. I told I couldn’t, what with holding her sandals and teddy bear, and anyway I’d rather watch her.

The lights flashed, the calliope churned, the horses went up and down, Emma went round and round, grinning and waving and blowing me kisses. She was fun to watch. Then one time as her horse galloped right at me her dress flew up and underneath I could see Emma was bare.

A revolution later the ride ended. I helped Emma off her horse. “That was so fun!” she said.

“Exciting to watch, too,” I told her. “Did you go panty-less as a preemptive measure?”

Emma’s eyes twinkled. “You had your hands full with my shoes and my teddy bear,” she said, “and anyway I prefer to ride bareback.”

The wind freshened. We could hear thunder now. “Want to know a secret?” Emma asked.

I did.

“Much as I like riding carousel horses, I’d rather ride you.”

A moment after this announcement, the rain came hard and fast. Everyone sought shelter. Everyone but Emma. “Whee!” she said, whirling around.

“Your teddy bear is going to get soaked.”

She took the bear from my hands and handed him to a little girl riding her dad’s shoulders toward the parking lot. Then she took my hand, and in my ear she whispered, “Ever had a Ferris Wheel fuck?”