Tilt-A-Whirl

L

Layne

Guest
Original poster
Standing there on the side of the road at 2am, Rachel wondered what was going to happen. She had run away in the middle of the night, having no plans other than to catch a ride as far as she could. Last night she hadn't slept at all, and the night before was only a few hours. She probably should have rested for a few hours before hitting the road, but she wasn't patient enough. It was time to get out of town before they realized she was gone. She sighed and hopped up and down a bit to warm herself up, annoyed that her sweater wasn't keeping her toasty. It was gray stripped, but thin. Beneath it she wore a plain black tank top, paired with snug jeans. Her black backpack was small but full, and her black hat kept her brown curls hidden and out of her face.

fafc5a4dd700898310f4dac7bc4c76f5_large.jpg



"Come on.. Come on.." she muttered to herself, trudging along the sidewalk. At this late hour in such a small town, the prospect of hitching a ride were slim. She sighed and hung her head, about to give up when she noticed her shadow changed. Whirling around, she saw headlights approaching. Sticking her thumb out hopefully, she was dancing around internally as the vehicle began slowing down. She could tell it was a truck, but she didn't bother examining what it was carrying.


"Where you headed?" the driver asked gruffly as she opened the door. He was an older man, with a full beard that was snow white and a big belly that made her think he loved to laugh.


"Anywhere but here," Rachel replied, settling into the seat and buckling up. The driver laughed and started driving again, following behind a truck that had passed them. Were they in some sort of caravan? She shrugged it off and spoke a bit to the driver, who she learned was David. Soon, the older man fell silent and turned up the radio. It wasn't to tune her out, they had simply run out of safe topics to discuss. Rachel yawned and settled back in the seat, asleep before she realized it.
 
The first time at the fair made him happy, He would continually visit it until he eventually started working for the fair. His love for the snow comb machine gave him the job for it. His parents had disowned him when he wanted to work for the fair and began to travel with the fair. They stay in an area for long periods of time which gave Frankie enough time to feel comfortable to leave. over the years the people would change but the longest fair member is David.

The lyrics of the song playing on the radio matched what Frankie was doing. Traveling the States with other people looking just to make ends met. It was strange that a song like this ended up on the radio. It didn't bother him, it was just, different. Frankie looked into his rear-view mirror seeing the small stand he has hitched up to his pick up truck. 21 year old Frankie Loved his job and his current life position. Meeting new people, traveling, and all the snow combs he could eat.

Davids car pulled over to pick up a woman. Typical David to help out a stranger, thats good for him. Frankie fix's his sweater because how cold he felt. Driving on they finally reached there destination and the people began to set up the fair grounds. Frankie's was the quickest because all he had to do was unhitch the stand from his car. David had walked over to Frankie and asked him to keep an eye on the girl he had picked up. Frankie agreed because he owes David big time.
 
By the time Rachel came around, it was light outside. She stirred and opened her eyes to see a bizarre sight. A Ferris wheel was being constructed right in plain sight. She blinked a few times and rubbed her eyes, but it remained there. Sitting up straighter, she realized that she had passed out in David's truck and had no clue where she was. Some fairgrounds, apparently. People were all over the place, setting up. Where did she know that was having a fair this week? Nowhere close to home, that was for sure. It had to be at least 50 miles away, if not 100 or more. Perfect. She nodded to herself and reached back, grabbing her bag and opening the door.


She slid out of the truck and shut the door, pulling off her sweater and her hat since it was warmer out now. After tucking both into her bag, she slung it over her shoulder and looked around again. There was a guy about her own age who was really close by, but she wasn't sure if she should talk to him or not. After all, she didn't work here, so she probably wasn't allowed to be here and she didn't want to get David in trouble for being kind enough to offer her a ride. That was when she finally turned and saw the big fair painting on the side of David's truck.


"Oh.." she said aloud to herself, shocked and a little annoyed with herself for not noticing that the night before. Getting a ride from a carny? That was a new one.
 
Walking through the fair had given him found memories of his past. Things were a little different like the workers but everything else was the same. All the stands where in the same spots, year after year, same breeze and smell. Frankie started his snow comb machine, scoping the frozen contents out of the machine and into a small cup. He got a sub flavor for the ice and carefully poured it into the cup for cherry flavor ice shard treat.

He walked to the car to look but from a distance the woman that was picked up by David didint seem to be in the car. There was a woman about his own age standing next to the truck. he couldent tell what she was doing but once he got closer he could tell that she had a bewildered look to her face. She must have just realized that David was a carni.

Frankie nervously walked up to the stranger and said in a low tone obviously nervous "Hey, you must be that girl old David picked up. My names Frankie, David asked me to check up on you."
 
Rachel turned at the sound of a voice and saw that it was the guy she had noticed a little earlier. She nodded and smiled a bit at his question. Old David. Well, that made sense. Her ride obviously hadn't been very young.


"Yes. Thanks for checking up on me, but I'm fine. I didn't expect to end up on a fairground is all," she said, looking around at the other rides going up, along with all of the booths. She glanced at the ferris wheel, then turned back to Frankie. "I'm Rachel. It's good to meet you, Frankie, you seem nice," she commented absently. She started thinking about the fact that she may have to stay in the area, wondering what excuse she could use and where she would stay.


"Hey, I'm going to be staying with my aunt here in town, but I could use something to do. How long are you guys going to be here?"
 
She noted that she didn't realize that she would end up on the fair grounds and this made Frankie think that maybe she didn't know she was being picked up by a carnie. Frankie began to look into the direction Rachel was looking at. "Its good to meet you two Rachel, yeah im nice i guess....you more nice than me." Frankie noticed that she looked a little lost but when she mentioned her aunt, it made him think that maybe she was looking for her aunt..but it didn't make since that she took a ride with David, this puzzled him. "Heh something to do? there's a lot of things to do at the fair, and were going to be here for about a week maybe a week and a half, that's if business is good here."

"Well one thing you could do is help set up or if you don't want to you can hang out with us members who finished setting up."