a boy and a girl ride the dark theme park rides
in my last week of 8th grade, a 7th grade student named carl asked me out,
apparently immediately after one of my best friends turned him down. sure, i
thought he was cute. however, i didn't really know him well enough to really
like him. but since i hadn't ever had a real boyfriend i said yes. and things
progressed through notes and phonecalls. i think i still remember his phone
number. the last i heard about him was that he was dealing drugs. that summer,
though, he was mine.
he lived a few miles away from me, but we'd never really get to see each other
for one reason or another until his family invited me along with them on a trip
to a theme park called king's dominion. young teenagers with pent up emotions
and hormones in dark theme park rides would not provide you with a theme for a
G-rated movie. i wore cut off shorts that were far, far too short in the first
place and to make matters worse, i'd rolled them up a bit on top of that.
he was awkwardly dressed and wearing long jean shorts. or short jean longs. on
the ride down to the theme park, we held hands and looked into each other's
eyes. i'd like to say that i remember good conversation, but honestly, i don't
think that we conversed about anything at all for the duration of our
relationship. as soon as we could tear ourselves away from his parents, we did
and snuck off to a dark theme park ride; smurf mountain. oh yes. smurf mountain
as in a ride that took you around the 'mine' where the smurfs worked. and oh
yes...the theme song to the smurfs television show played over and over and over
and over again in that ride.
it was such a wussy kiddy ride that you weren't even strapped in by a bar. you
just sat in a booth on wheels that chugged along merrily to the smurfs theme
song. there was no one in line for this ride. by that, i mean absolutely no one
except for the two of us. we sat down in one of the little booths and the ride
started. we both nervously looked at one another and then down at our shoes. in
my case, i think i was wearing sandals. then something happened and we both
pounced at the exact same moment. however, we'd each pounced differently. he'd
thrust his tongue immediately in my mouth and i'd gone in for a close-mouthed
romantic rhett butler+scarlett o'hara style kiss.
as much as i hate to say this, this same sort of thing still happens to me
today; the last time being late december 2000. where is my close-mouthed
electric never-ending kiss i've been waiting for ever since the summer after 8th
grade? certainly i've waited long enough. isn't there someone who'll pounce at
the same time i do who will pounce with the same approach that i do? i'm ready
to give lessons to any parties interested. applicants: this way -->