Boris and the Maw
Boris never thought he would be on a coaster again, but as the chain clinked and the car climbed, he wondered if he made the right choice. The young man sitting next to him was awkward and quiet. And as much as he tried to get his own way with crossed arms and a scowl befitting a man going into his eighties, the young girl working the ride refused to let him sit alone. Boris sighed and questioned today’s young generation. Yet, continuing up the hill, the old man’s grumpiness began to fade. He could see the whole park from here. Screaming Timbers Amusement Park was busy and crowded, with the smaller rides whirling against the growing city beyond its fences. The forested areas that surrounded the park were replaced by shopping centers and parking lots. It would not be long before this park joined with the other parking lots.
The clinking stopped and was replaced with the anticipatory screams of the girls in the front as they peered down into the maw below. It was not a real maw of any sort, simply a façade of a wooly creature’s mouth stretched open over a wooden tunnel that sat at the bottom of the hill. And even with the warning signs that had littered Boris’s view of the park, the young people insisted on putting their hands up. Boris could only sigh again.
The train of cars tipped over the edge, gaining speed. The maw flew up to swallow Boris, and as he went into the darkness of the wooden tunnel. Sparks of blue flickered around him. He failed to feel the curve that would have led out back into daylight. Instead the car was empty, careening downward at an increasing pace. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, a sharp pain stabbing with each beat. He winced and squeezed his chest, but the tunnel lights kept swishing by.
Darkness enveloped him.
Boris awoke to a girl in her twenties shaking him. “Young man, you need to move so others can ride.” He chuckled at that. She was just being nice; he assumed. However, as he moved, something felt different. The ache of his body was gone. His hands were smooth and thin. He took it in, his eyes widening at the girl as she looked back at him. He noticed her attire. It was not the T-shirt and jeans that had been accepted as work uniforms but a pressed blouse and skirt with a hand-crafted hat that was pinned to her curled hair.
Before he knew it, he was up and out of the coaster. Confused and lost, his eyes wandered as he left the ride. The smaller rides that had once been there were replaced with older one from his memories. The shopping centers had been overgrown by trees that filled the air with the smell of outdoors again. He scrambled for a newspaper on a bench and his jaw dropped as he saw the headline.
