The night continued on, the air
smelled like fresh apples and pastries. The cool breeze blew through the Autumn
Carnival. Wyatt and Felix walked through the east root, the eastern side of the
carnival. They left their father to stare at the beautiful autumn tree at the
center of the carnival.
Wyatt walked over the smooth
cobblestone path that led through the east root. A circle of cobblestone
surrounded the autumn tree at the center and then branched off into every
direction. Wyatt remembered the feel of the stone beneath his shoes. He
listened to the sound of the bells and whistles that would go off every time
someone won a prize at a game in the east root. The cold air took him back to a
day when he was still small enough to ride the little kid rides. The rides like
the autumn leaf ride, where little kids would sit in these leaf shaped carts
and they would slowly go up and down, gently moving in a circle like leaves in
the wind. He remembered being on that ride when he was very small and he felt
like he was flying when the leaves took off. Now at the age of seventeen, Wyatt
realized the ride wasn’t fast at all and the leaves barely left the ground, but
to a child it was like floating through the air. Wyatt remembered going on all
of his favorite rides and then feeling a sense of joy when he got to see his
younger brother ride he old favorites but also experienced new rides that Wyatt
never got to experience.
The Autumn carnival was a yearly
tradition and to keep things feeling fresh would often swap out the least
popular rides for new rides that might be more fun. Wyatt’s favorites still
stood tall after all of these years. As the two brothers walked by Wyatt smiled
when he saw a small boy with the look of wonder in his eyes when the leave ride
took off.
If Felix was asked what he
remembered he would say that he remembered the ‘bug ride’ a tiny roller coaster
where children would ride a bug cart as he whizzed through a wide, oddly
shaped, plastic tree with tracks. The bug roller coaster ride was installed
years after Wyatt was too big to ride the children’s rides so Felix felt
special that he was able to experience it. There was something in this park
that was his and not a ‘hand me down’ from his older brother. If you asked
Felix what he remembered he would tell you all of this and more, but Felix
wasn’t prone to reminiscing or nostalgia because he was too busy by how excited
he was by the carnival.
Wyatt walked at a slow pace as he
took everything in but Felix kept rushing ahead then running back. “Why are you
sooo slooow? Felix asked Wyatt, putting emphesis on his ‘O’s to show his
frustration. Wyatt smiled and hurried his step. Soon the two boys reached the
games. The boys walked past the ‘Shoot every bell with a pellet and win a
prize’ game, the claw machine games and bobbing for apples, which Wyatt didn’t
think was sanitary. Finally they reached two games, the cider drinking
competition and a game where you have to catch apples as they fall from a large
tree. Felix paid a ticket, grabbed a woven basket and went for the apple tree
game. Wyatt decided this year he would win the apple cider drinking game.
Felix
and four other children around the ages of 10-15 ran around the large apple
tree as bright red apples tumbled from its branches. Wyatt smiled as he watched
his little brother run around like a maniac. Wyatt was waiting for the cider
drinking competition to begin. The cider drinking started every hour on the
hour. The clock soon struck nine and a loud bell rang out nine times. The bell
sounded large, like it came from a full sized bell tower. The small hand wound
clock by the cider drinking table certainly didn’t make that noise.
Wyatt pulled up a chair at the
cider table. Three wooden cups were set in front of him. Everyone that sat down
had three cups. Before Wyatt could ask “what are the rules” a man in a red
shirt shouted “GO!” And blew a whistle. Wyatt began chugging the cups of cider.
After he finished one he placed it to his left and grabbed the next cup. The
cups to the left were piling up but Wyatt always had three cups of cider in
front of him, no more, no less. He figured someone came by and quickly gave him
another cup while he was distracted. He chugged cider till he felt sick but he
wanted to win. He had played a different game every year and he never found a
game he was good at. He hated to lose and he felt like he let his little
brother down. Every year Wyatt would promise to win Felix something and every
year Wyatt lost. Felix never got upset at Wyatt for losing but Wyatt wanted to
win something at least once.
Time passed and Wyatt could see
Felix staring with wide eyes of amazement at how much cider the table of people
was drinking. Wyatt finished another glass, slammed it down and fell off of his
bar stool. He laid on the cold, soft grass as he fought the urge to throw up.
The cool grass felt nice on his skin. After a moment he stood up and turned to
Felix. “Come on ya Butt, lets go find dad” Wyatt said to Felix with a smile.
“wait kid!” Said the man in the red shirt. “You won! Everyone else had stopped
by the time you fell over. Even after everyone left you kept drinking. You won
by five cups! That’s either sheer determination or a hearty love for cider!
Either way you are a champ in my book” Said the Ref in the red shirt. “Whoa! Wyatt
you did it!” Felix said. Wyatt turned to accept his prize. “What did I win,
Sir?” Asked Wyatt. “You won our biggest jug of homemade, fresh apple cider!”
Said the man in the red shirt. Wyatt smiled and promptly threw up.
Back in the center of the carnival
also known as “The Tree”, Nathan was sitting under the tree smiling. His smile
widened when he saw his boys return with a blue ribbon and a jug of cider.
“Heh, You won the cider drinking game! Just like yer old man. I won that game
too when I was young, couldn’t drink cider for a week after that” Nathan said
as he reminisced the good times. “uhhrg” Wyatt groaned. “Hey, how about I just
buy you a souvenir instead? Felix and I can get a snack and I will get you
anything you want from the gift shop” Nathan said. Wyatt smiled “Thanks dad”
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