Thrill Ride Read online

  I was assigned to the Hansel and Gretel gift shop, otherwise known as H & G, or as I was beginning to think of it: hell and god-awful. Because, of course, since this was a theme park—theme being the operative word here—I was scheduled to show up in wardrobe for sizing at two o’clock. And I didn’t have to ask what my costume would be.

  “At least the gift shop is air conditioned,” Jordan said, swirling her French fry around in a glob of ketchup. “I mean, I’m going to be standing out in the hot sun all day saying, ‘Please exit to your right. Watch your step.’ Can you believe they gave me a script for this?”

  They’d given everyone a script of things to say and not say. Rules and regulations to follow. We’d been given a mission statement, a purpose, and a rousing pep talk.

  Then we’d walked through the entire park, while its history was revealed to us by a very energetic guy named Bill (Waterloo, Ontario).

  The most fascinating of all the rides to me were the carousels: original pipe organs, original wooden horses—restored by artisans. They actually had three carousels in the park, and I wished that I’d been given one of them as my assignment. Those who took care of the rides wore cargo shorts, red shirts, white socks, tennis shoes, and red baseball caps. They could wear their hair however they wanted. Me? I was going to have to wear braids on each side of my head. I was seriously contemplating a major haircut.

  Throughout the tour, Ross had stuck to Jordan like paper to glue, but not in an overtly romantic way. They realized that they were at work and not on a date, but still it made me miss Nick all the more to see them together.

  The park was open but hardly crowded, since the “season” hadn’t officially started.

  When the tour was over, we broke for lunch. Now the three of us were sitting at a table in the food court area of the theme park.

  “So what are we going to do this afternoon?” Ross asked.

  “Wanna go sailing?” Jordan asked.

  He grinned. “Sure.”

  Jordan looked at me. “Wanna come with us?”

  “You have a boat?” I asked.

  She laughed lightly. “No. Down the lake a ways they have rentals.”

  “I’d love to but I need to go to costume.”

  “Oh, right. Gretel. Wonder how long it’ll take.”

  I shook my head. “No idea, but since everyone is getting fitted this afternoon”—I wrinkled my nose—“you probably shouldn’t wait on me.”

  “Okay, but let me give you my cell phone number in case they cut you loose quickly. We can always come back for you.”

  That was so nice. As we exchanged numbers, I was thinking that maybe things were going to work out with my new roomie after all.

  I stood in front of the mirror in costume, fighting back my strong urge to yodel. My costume had a white blouse with short puffy sleeves, a short black skirt with a bib that came up the front and straps that went over the shoulders and crossed in the back, and a petticoat. Oh, yeah. And white knee socks and black shoes.

  “The only thing that could be worse than this is to be Hansel,” said Patti (Weed, CA). She was tall like me, but not as slender. Healthy, my grandmother would have called her.

  I bit back my laughter. “I don’t know. This is pretty bad.”

  “Do you think we got this gig because we have long hair? I mean, give me a break. Tomorrow we have to braid it.” Her hair was long, blonde, and wavy.

  “I’m thinking of buzzing mine tonight,” I confessed.

  She laughed. “I always thought of Gretel as being petite. We’re both pretty tall.”

  “I think you’re right—it’s the hair.”

  “At least we’ll be in air-conditioning.”

  “That’s what my roommate says.”

  “What did she get assigned?” Patti asked.

  “One of the kiddie coasters.”

  “Lucky girl.”

  Although I wasn’t sure how lucky it really was. I mean, dealing with tired kids on a hot day? Ross would be working at Jet Scream, a ride that went straight up and spiraled down, and had a puke factor of ten. They even had a special cleanup crew for any “incident,” as our tour guide had so politely referred to it.

  Working inside a gingerbread-designed gift shop was sounding better all the time. And, at least, back home I would never run into anyone who saw me this summer, so the embarrassment factor was lowered.

  After Patti and I changed back into our regular clothes, we took our costumes to a window. A middle-aged woman named Jeannie (no city, no state) was working behind it. She took our costumes, scanned the bar codes that were located on tags inside them, then swiped our park ID badges through the machine.

  “All righty. You’ll pick these up in the morning before work, change in the locker room, then drop them off after work so they can be washed for the next day,” she said briskly.

  “Wouldn’t it be better if we took them with us and just washed them ourselves?” Patti asked.

  “Weren’t you paying attention during orientation, honey?” Jeannie asked. “Everything is computerized. I’ll swipe your badge in the morning, and I’ll know exactly where your costume is on the rack. Runs like clockwork.”

  “Sounds great,” I said, not at all disappointed that I didn’t have to wash clothes every night.

  “What now?” Patti asked me as we turned away from the window.

  “I don’t know.” I thought about joining Jordan for the sailboat ride, but I didn’t feel like being a third wheel.

  I ended up spending the afternoon lounging out by the pool. Nothing too exciting. I could hear the rumble of the roller coaster nearest the dorm. Magnum Force. It was a steel roller coaster, so it didn’t have all that clacking noise, but still it sounded fast. And of course, I could hear people scream.

  I just so didn’t get that.

  When I got back to the room, a note from Jordan was resting on my computer.

  Dear Gretel:

  Ha! Ha! Very funny, I thought.

  Sorry we didn’t connect.

  I’m going to have dinner at Parker’s.

  Be back late! Don’t wait up!

  Your Roomie, Roller Coaster Gal

  That was interesting. Dinner with Parker after spending the day with Ross. I thought Ross was her boyfriend; maybe Parker was just a friend. Not that it was any of my business.

  I was in the shower when the bathroom door burst open.

  “I got it!” Alisha cried.

  “Got what?” I called back.

  “A part in the stage production! Hurry up! Lisa and I are going out to celebrate, and you have to come with us!”

  We ended up at the food court, each celebrating in our own way: me with a burger, Alisha with a chef salad, and Lisa with pizza. When you’re working a summer job, celebrations are as inexpensive as you can make them.

  “So what exactly will you do?” I asked.

  “I’m not sure. They’ll start teaching us the routines tomorrow. Basically, we come out on stage and sing and dance. You’ll have to come watch a performance sometime.”

  “You must be really talented,” Lisa said.

  Alisha shook her head. “I don’t think so. I think everyone else was just really bad. Some people just don’t have a clue about how hard it is to perform.”

  “How long have you been dancing?” I asked.

  “Since I was four.”

  “Wow! That’s a long time.”

  “I really want to go to Hollywood someday. You have to commit early. So what job did you get?”

  I stuck a French fry into ketchup, swirled it around. “I’m working in the gift shop.”

  “Oh, no,” Lisa said. “Which gift shop?”

  “Pick the worst one.”

  “Hansel and Gretel’s?”

  “Yep.” I shook my head. “I got my costume today. How about you?”

  “Carousel ride.”

  I was jealous. “That’s my favorite.”

  “I figure after an hour of listening to that music, i