By Rob Darnell
Copyright ©2024
The giant Ferris wheel rotated beyond the trees up the road. Andy smiled to himself. At thirty-eight, he was a lonely soul, but all that would change tonight.
Traffic got tight near the gate, as vehicles stopped briefly so money could be handed to the gatekeeper for parking. At last Andy made it to the gate and handed over a five-dollar bill. The gatekeeper waved him through and guides with glowing sticks directed him to a parking spot.
Andy got out and walked toward the fairground. The noise was everywhere, music, rides, chatter. Andy thought back and realized the last time he had been to a carnival was fifteen years ago. He had been twenty-three and with a girlfriend. They’d broken up two weeks later and Andy hadn’t been in a relationship since.
He looked at his cell phone. There were three text messages; one was from a co-worker asking for a certain file. Andy wrote back promising to send the file when he got home later that night. The other two messages were from Sid, the woman he was meeting here. The first message said she was getting out of the house later than she thought she would. The next message said she was on her way.
Andy wrote back, telling Sid he would wait and she could send him a message when she arrived.
He walked over the bridge that separated the fairground from the parking lot. He went right to the hotdog stand and bought a Coke, and then sat down on a wooden bench near the bridge.
His phone chirped and he looked at it. It was another message from Sid. The first two words of text, I’m sorry, sent a shock through his heart. He blinked away the tension and made himself read the rest of the message.
Sid was still on her way, but it would be a while yet. She was just pulled over by a cop. Her taillight was out. Andy wrote back indicating that it was not a problem. He sipped his Coke and leaned back on the bench.
Andy met Sid two months ago on the internet and they had become friends. Though they both lived in the county, this was the first time they would meet in person.
Andy was nervous.
For fifteen years he had avoided relationships. Candace broke his heart and since then he had been wary of women. For fifteen years he had planned to grow old and die alone.
But things chang ed when he met Sid.
Andy got up from the bench and tossed his empty cup into a trash can. He looked at the clock on his cell phone. It was a half hour past the time he was supposed to meet Sid here. The night before, Sid had told him she would be here twenty minutes early.
Though his phone hadn’t chirped, he looked to see if there was another message from Sid.
There wasn’t. Andy sent Sid a message to see if she was okay. His phone chirped a minute later.
The message was from Sid. She was on her way.
Andy walked along the riverside. He reached the end of the fairground and turned around. As he walked back toward the bridge, he saw a man and a woman come out of the beer tent. The man had his arm around the woman. The woman laughed and smiled mischievously as they walked toward the bridge.
Andy wouldn’t have looked twice at the couple, except the woman looked familiar.
He brought up a picture of Sid on his phone. The man and the woman were crossing the bridge now. Andy compared the woman with the picture. She was a match.
Both, Sid and the woman, had long brown hair, though in the picture, the hair hung past Sid’s shoulders. The woman on the bridge had hair that reached just above her shoulders, but it looked as if it had recently been cut. Both had the same short, curvy figure. Sid’s eyebrows were thin and so were the woman’s. The woman also had the same angelic face, the same high cheekbones and the same sly smile.
Andy followed the man and woman over the bridge, but stayed back far enough that they weren’t likely to notice him. In the parking lot, the woman gave the man a long passionate kis s, and then they went their separate ways.
Andy followed the woman.
As the woman approached a blue Honda Civic, she dug a cell phone out of her pocket. She looked at the screen a moment, and then got into her car.
Andy stood several paces back from the Civic. The woman had not started the car yet, but in a moment Andy’s phone chirped. He looked at the screen. It was a message from Sid.
I’m here, the message said. In the parking lot. Where are you?
Andy looked to the Civic. The woman still had not started her car and he could see her tinkering with her phone.
His phone chirped again. He looked at the screen.
Do you want me to meet you at the bridge?
Andy barely registered the message before looking at the Civic again. The woman in the car was still playing with her phone.
Andy’s phone chirped.
Hello? the message said.
Andy put the phone in his pocket, turned away from the Civic and crossed the parking lot to his Monte Carlo.
He lowered himself into the driver seat and jammed the key into the ignition. But before he could start the car, he glimpsed someone standing near the bridge.
It was a woman. She hastily tapped her cell phone’s screen, and then held the phone to her ear.
Andy’s phone rang, but he didn’t answer it. He studied the woman. She had brown hair and it was the same length as Sid’s was in the picture. The woman also had the same figure and face. She was a more accurate match than the first woman had been.
Andy opened t he door and climbed out of the car.
“Sid?” he said as he approached the woman.
The woman turned and looked at him with wide eyes.
“Where were you?” she asked. “I thought you backed out.”
Andy smiled, stepped closer to Sid, and they hugged..
“Come on,” Andy said. He took hold of Sid’s hand and led her over the bridge. “We’ll talk on the Ferris wheel.”
About Rob Darnell:
Rob Darnell likes beer, baseball and rock n roll.
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