Entrusting My Life to Electrical Tape

Hannah and I had arranged to meet some of Danny's female English student at a large park near our home. It was women's day, one of two days a week when the park is mostly closed off to men. Hannah and I strolled around the park once, looking for our friends, before we realized that we'd better call them. When we tried, one's phone was turned off and another had decided not to come. What to do but take a bathroom break Then one of our friends called us. "Where are you?"

"In [the park]. Where are you?"

"We are here by the dog."

"By the wha--?"

Um, I hadn't seen any dog, let alone one that might be a landmark.

It took some halting communication, but they finally came and found us--three of them, one with little sister in tow. Turns out that the regular park was too mild for them. They were in the connecting amusement park. We returned there with them. Next question: Did we want to ride rides? Um, well, I didn't think so. I remember Mary H. telling me that her dad never let her ride traveling carnival rides, and I shared that conviction. Not only were these carnival-style rides, but in a country where safety laws and awareness is minimal. I mean, at least the traveling carnivals get inspected occasionally. This place probably didn't know what an inspector was.

But Hannah was braver than I, at least in the moment. "Whatever you want to do, we'll do," she told our friends. Gulp. Talk about sacrificing for the G. The girls led us over to one ride, the whirling chair one where the chairs are affixed by chains and go higher and higher the more the thing spins. I watched the people riding with my heart in my throat. One of the chairs looked like cable had been spliced into the chain holding it for reinforcement. Our friends handed us tickets, assured us that the ride was fun, and we made our way to our chairs. Hannah's was next to mine, and I eyed it suspiciously. My fears weren't allayed when I spied electrical tape holding her chain together in more than one place. Um? I looked up to see electrical tape on mine, too.

"I'm glad my mom doesn't know I'm here right now," I told Hannah. Then, mischievously, "What if we brought our friends' kids here to ride rides?!" Our friends are super safety conscious, the kind that don't eat at local restaurants to avoid all potential food poisoning. "[The mom] would kill us," I said. "No, [the dad] would kill us," I realized.

"Either way, we would be dead," Hannah added.

"I ride the biggest, fastest roller coasters at home," I continued. "Why am I so scared about this?"

"This is a different kind of risk," Hannah pointed out. Yeah, right. Like, we actually could die.

The ride started moving, the chairs started rising. I comforted myself a little at the though that, should one chain on my chair break, three others would still be holding it. If I could hold on tight enough, I might be okay. Then I calculated whether I would die being thrown from this height, or this. The fall probably wouldn't kill me as much as being thrown into the barbed wire that topped the fence around the ride. Nice thought. I decided to enjoy the free feeling . . . a little. Then I got a little dizzy and couldn't decide whether to open my eyes or not.

As the chairs descended, I decided that I wasn't going to die and that the ride had been fun. So, on to ride the "train." We weren't sure what the train was until we neared it. Oh, a kiddie roller coaster designed like a dog. This must have been the dog landmark, which would have made more sense had we been in the amusement section of the park. Since I had defied death once already, I was game to try the roller coaster. The highest point was probably 15 feet off the ground, and it didn't go upside down, so it didn't seem a big risk. The roller coaster groaned as we approached it. Doesn't sound too good, I thought. This time Hannah got cold feet. "This really is tempting fate," she said.

"Don't do it if you don't feel comfortable," I encouraged her. I eyed the coaster. "Imagine the headlines: Two A. girls killed in S. . . . on a roller coaster ride." What a glorious way to go out. The guy running the ride looked disinterested, to say the least. I bet myself that he would laugh if someone fell off the coaster. Shudder.

But we both rode, and we both lived. As we climbed in, one of our friends told Hannah, "I have bad memories of this ride." Turns out that her cousin got her teeth knocked out on it, or some such. Glad I didn't hear that until afterward. We rode the little track around four times or so, and I wondered what the people would think of the Superman roller coaster. It would probably give them all heart attacks.

We finished up with bumper cars, which was tame after the dangers we had braved. I made one of the girls drive, despite her protests. She did great, even though she doesn't know how to drive. At one point, two of our cars bumped into a young kid's car. It sure sounded like he shouted in English, "It wasn't my fault!" but it had to have been my imagination. It would have fit, though.

Our friends bought us cotton candy, and we ate that with our dirty hands that had grabbed the safety bars on our rides. Probably the germs exposed us to as much danger as any other. But I savored the cotton candy, and the fact that I could eat the whole thing myself. The last time I had cotton candy was probably at Disney World, when it cost so much that my parents would buy one or two to share with the whole family!

I asked one of the girls how much the ride tickets cost. Each ride figured to be around 50 cents. Yikes. The same would have been $4 at home! I contemplated returning, just for the satisfaction of saving so much money.

We parted ways as it got dark, after I exchanged numbers with one of the girls. "We're friends now," she had told me earlier. Well, yes, since we risked our lives together, I guess we are.