"I Knew I Should Have Picked The Ferris Wheel Instead!"
A day or two has passed since Mel's blow-out with her Dad & his girlfriend (though it was mostly with her Dad's girlfriend, and mostly her, not Mel's, fault), and things are returning to some semblance of equilibrium. While she's still not her usual self, she's at least recovering and letting the psychological wounds heal as best she can.
Myself, I'll stick to tenderly nursing a slow-burning grudge, thank you very much. And while I've since discovered that half a bottle of
Hakusturu Sake won't hit you as bad if you stretch it out over 3-4 hours, at least I know that at her worst moments Mel was able to be among friends--a very comforting thing since I couldn't be there for her due to my work shift (and as a result, me discovering what happened after the fact).
So it's been no small miracle and relief to me to have seen her bouncing and smiling again tonight. For the most part, all it took was some cotton candy. Not a block away from our apartment complex, a very small carnival opened shop earlier this past week. It's been here before, leasing part of a large parking lot usually devoted to the sale of new & used Fords. In past years, the carnival's lasted through a good chunk of the summer.
In the past, we've never checked it out because of time constraints, hectic schedules and general disinterest. But tonight at Mel's request we walked over and checked out the carnival. It's the standard fare. You know the kind: over-priced, not a lot of rides to choose from, games where you can win a small toy and proudly walk away...before moments later realizing you've just blown $20 getting that small toy.
We had just enough cash onhand to go on one of the rides. It came down to the tried-and-true Ferris Wheel, and a sit-down ride that had you going up & down & around in circles before reversing and doing all that backwards. Mel let me choose. I asked her if she this was really a wise idea she had thought through. Mel then said she trusted me.
Halfway through going up & down & around in circles, Mel shouted to me the words that have since become the title for today's little bit of nowhere. She also shouted a few choice vulgarities when our carriage began swaying back and forth.
But she was rewarded in the end with a very large bag of cotton candy.
I don't know what I enjoyed more about tonight: the temporary adrenaline rush (adrenaline junkie that I mostly am), or seeing Mel giggle profusely as she skipped home and gorged on sugar. Tonight's carnival may have been only a temporary distraction, but it was still exactly what she needed. I haven't seen Mel this happy in days, and it's good to see her smile again. The smiling suits her much better.
Seeing her messily devour an enormous handful of cotton candy like she was a Viking warrior attacking a large chunk of meat, however...
Today's Lesson: if you casually and quietly stand around on the fringes of a movie set, it's remarkable how easily you can get mistaken as one of the crew.
posted by Phillip at 12:33 AM
