If I had a... Carnival

The first thing you notice is the smell: hot cinnamon almonds and cotton candy… the fiery char of hamburgers. You can already imagine the towering ice cream cones and vats of fresh lemonade, hot dogs and funnel cakes and strawberries dripping in chocolate. The scent drifts across the parking lot, pulling you in like a warm arm draped across your shoulder.

You’re here! Welcome! 

Don’t worry about buying a ticket. My carnival is free. Simply step across the threshold and pay me with some laughter. Do you hear that? It’s everywhere. The sound of it mixes in the breeze with the clickity-clack of the roller coaster and the whirr of the ferris wheel. For a second it sounds like music, a tinkling chorus, a trill, a sweet symphony.

In front of you, the carousel twirls, red and blue and green and silver. But my horses aren’t the quiet kind. They whinny, tossing their manes as they carry you around and around, almost like a time machine. Is it the future or the past that blurs the edges of your vision, spinning past you as you ride?

photo credit: Jo Dooher via photopin cc