It Happened on the Ferris Wheel

Today's muse: A rewrite of an old piece from my other blog.

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It Happened on the Ferris Wheel

“Single rider!” shouted the Carney.

Mary Sue cringed in the corner of the ride’s metal bucket, felt her cheeks blaze in humiliation. Just put the bar down and go, she prayed. All she wanted was a ride on the Ferris wheel, to see the lights sparkle from that great height. To feel, for just a few moments, as though she owned the world. And she wasn’t alone.

“Right here,” came a deep voice.

Mary Sue stared. Boy oh boy, there was Billy Wilson, and he was going to sit with her on the Big Wheel. Didn’t he look like a dream with his hair slicked back and his jean cuffs rolled up?

“May I?” He gestured beside her.

She gathered her skirt to make room. Billy climbed in next to her and pulled the bar down, trapping them together. Mary Sue felt her heart pounding beneath her sweater, wiped her damp palms on her skirt.

Billy grinned. “I’ve been watching you, you know. Waiting for the right time to say something.”

Her heart skipped. “Really?”

Billy nodded. “Really.”

The wheel began to turn. Slowly at first, then faster and faster. As the chair swayed back and forth, they talked. About nothing. About everything. When the Carney slowed the ride to let them off, he saw the way they gazed at each other and he hit the lever to send them around again. By the third ride, they were holding hands.

“So when did you know?”

Mary Sue blinked, stared down at the mixing bowl nestled in her arm. “What?”

“When did you fall in love with Grandpa? How did it happen?”

Mary Sue smiled at her granddaughter, continued to mix the brownie batter.

“It happened on the Ferris wheel.”