Chapter 7: Fireflowers and Screamers

Every year the town where we resided threw a big party for the Fourth of July. When the holiday fell on a weekend, like it did that year in 1981, the community put together enough events to fill the entire weekend. A traveling amusement park set up, the firehouses had water hose fights, there was live music and a food fest, and, of course, fireworks. Almost everybody in town attended something in the park by the lake over the weekend, and the place was always packed for the fireworks.

That year, walking around the park, I could see that all the little kids were being carted around by their parents, riding the merry-go- round and the kiddie cars, watching the magicians and the clowns, and eating gallons of ice cream. The teenagers tended to clump together at the faster rides, and sometimes hanging around the beer tent, hoping for a chance to sneak inside.

On Friday, Jake and I were supposed to meet a bunch of our friends at the carnival. Jake's parents had been lulled into thinking that Jake and Jaimie were no longer meeting up, even though, as determined and sneaky kids will tend to do, they had managed to get together occasionally over the past several months. Jaimie was going to the carnival with Kayla and a bunch of their friends, too, so I fully expected to see them there, looking for Jake. It was a hot day, and the principal of our school, Dr. Osgood, was going to be sitting in the dunk tank, part of a fundraiser for the foundation that Skip Horvath's family had set up in his memory. So, of course, about half the school was there, taking a turn at trying to dunk Dr. Osgood at a dollar a throw.

We got bored watching, and the line was way too long for a chance at the booth, so we all just started hitting the other rides. Jake, Jaimie, Josh, Andrea, Becky Steinman, and I kind of stayed together as a group. Others joined us for a ride or two and then split off; sometimes there were as many as fifteen friends of ours in line, particularly for the Gravity Drop. This was a ride where everybody stood up inside a big cylinder. Once the ride was full, the cylinder started spinning you around, acting like a centrifuge, until you were pinned to the metal wall. At that point the floor dropped out, and you were literally stuck to the wall. It was a fun ride, especially when I got to be opposite a cute girl, because their tops would be plastered to their bodies, and sometimes would even creep up, revealing a wonderful width of bare skin at their stomachs. One lucky time, a girl's t-shirt literally flew up into her face, showing her pink bra to everyone on the ride. It was half the thrill of the ride, wondering what would be revealed each time you rode on it.

Just before dark we headed toward the food concession stands, and pigged out on corn on the cob dipped in a big vat of melted butter, and hot dogs, and cheeseburgers, and pizza, and fries, and onion rings, and sodas, and ice cream bars for dessert. We all moaned and groaned, too full to move from the picnic tables we had commandeered for our feast. Finally, we tired of doing nothing, so we wandered off again, in search of more carnie thrills.

One time, we were waiting for the Ferris wheel, and Jorge and Kristina came over by us. They were taking their four younger brothers and sisters around the carnival, so they all got in line with us. Since the Ferris wheel could sit two adults and one child, Kristina divvied up her younger siblings among us, so all of them would be accompanied by someone they knew. As we were getting ready to board the ride, Jorge suddenly stepped aside, effectively positioning me in line to get in the seat with Kristina and her younger sister, Lina. I was a little embarrassed by Jorge's maneuvering, and Kristina looked a little uncomfortable, but she accepted graciously when I gestured for her to get on ahead of me. We sat down, Lina between us, our hands in our laps, as the wheel lurched and moved so that the next seat could be loaded.

By the time we had stuttered our way to the top of the Ferris wheel, Lina had broken the ice for us. She was so excited to be so far above the rest of the carnival and the park, that she could hardly contain herself. She started pointing out landmarks to us, screeching and waving to friends she spotted far down on the ground, and turning around to laugh with Jorge, Becky, and Emilio, another of the Mendoza kids, in the bench behind us. As the ride launched for its prescribed time, Kristina finally smiled, and we took turns searching for other people and places throughout the park to point out to Lina, chatting and laughing like friends once again. Kristina even spotted my younger brother Stephen, running in a pack with a bunch of his buddies, as they raced toward the Tilt-A-Whirl. It was an easy pattern to fall into, and I remembered with a rush just how much fun Kristina and I had been having, just a few short weeks prior. Maybe our friendship could be salvaged. I hoped so.

The carnival stopped the rides at 11:00 PM, and by then, there were just the high-school kids left. The younger kids had all gone home, and the older ones found someplace else to have their fun. I was pretty tired from being outside all day, eating junk and sloshing it all around in my stomach from so many rides. Jake was ready to pack it in, as well. Jaimie had already left to meet up with the friends she had come with to the park, so we waved goodbye to our friends and headed back toward our neighborhood.

The next day, it was more of the same. Most of us were pretty much burned out on the rides at the carnival. Besides, Saturday afternoon the entire place was going to be overrun by all the little kids and their parents, so a bunch of us decided to hit the beach, instead. I met up with Eric, Keisha, Becky, Trent Abbott, and Danielle Nickerson, who was Trent's new girlfriend, and we spent the afternoon being slothful in the sand and in the water. Keisha, of course, looked sensational and exotic, with her glistening dark skin and bright red bikini. Danielle was kind of plain looking, with mousy brown hair she kept cut fairly short and hips that were a little wide, but she was one of the nicest people I knew, and I was glad to see that she and Trent had found each other.

Becky and I had known each other since about the second grade. She was slender, with shoulder-length dark blonde hair that she nearly always tied back. She played recreational soccer, but wasn't confident enough in her abilities to try out for the school team. She normally dressed pretty conservatively, but I guess that didn't carry over to beachwear, since she was wearing a very small purple bikini. I couldn't keep my eyes off her. This was a brand-new Becky to me, and she was happy to hang out with me at the beach, which was just fine with me.

After spending a couple of hours on the beach, we all grabbed t- shirts and strolled up to the concession stand to get something to eat. We ordered greasy cheeseburgers and fries, all except for Danielle, who got a limp and sorry-looking salad with a virulent orange dressing. We crowded in around a wooden picnic table in the shade and dug in.

"What is that stuff?" asked Keisha, eyeing Danielle's salad warily as she gingerly picked up a wilted shred of lettuce and dipped it into the paper cup of dressing.

"It is disgusting, isn't it?" replied Danielle. "It's really good for my diet, though. One look at it, and my appetite disappears."

"Well," said Trent between mouthfuls, "this burger hits the spot."

"Thass 'cause you never met a hamburger you didn't like," retorted Eric.

"Hey, I can't help it if I'm a carnivore," replied Trent.

"Carnivore?" asked Danielle. "How about omnivore?"

"Yeah, there's very few things I won't eat," said Trent, giving Danielle his best Groucho Marx eyebrow wiggle.

He had to duck as Danielle threw a shriveled radish at him. "Pervert!" she said. Meanwhile, Keisha, sitting next to him, started pummeling him on his arm for the remark.

"Do you kiss your mama with that mouth?" derided Keisha as she pounded him.

Ducking his head and tucking his elbows to his sides to cover up against the assault, Trent replied, "Yeah, and she really likes it when I do."

"Ewww. That's completely disgusting!" cried Keisha as she renewed her attack. Trent had to finally slip down off the seat and slide under the table to get away from the two girls, laughingly apologizing from his hideaway.

Becky and I just watched the exchange with amusement. Her bare thigh was resting against mine, a warm and smooth, surprising connection between us.

After lunch we wandered back down to the beach, feeling full and lazy. Trent and Danielle decided to walk around the lake, so they slipped their sandals on and strolled along the shoreline. Eric and Keisha sat down at the water's edge and drew doodles in the sand, watching the waves lap up and erase their lines and drawings as they lazily talked.

Becky and I flopped back down on our towels spread out on the hot sand. She had her sunglasses propped up in her hair as she rolled over to lie on her stomach. She reached up and flipped her sunglasses down onto her nose as she turned to me.

"Put some lotion on my back, Sean?"

"Sure," I said, reaching for the sun block. I squirted a dollop across her shoulders. The skin pebbled a little as she squirmed.

"Oh, that's cold," she complained.