Melissa’s Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge #268

Melissa’s Rules:

Hello! Welcome to Melissa’s Fandango Flash Fiction Challenge. Each week I will post an image I grab off the internet and challenge bloggers to write a flash fiction piece or a poem inspired by the image. There are no style or word limits.

The image below is from Grace Ho on Unsplash.

The image depicts a swing ride in colors of bright yellow, blue, and red. There are people in many of the swings, riding the ride. Behind the swing ride, we see a white Ferris wheel with blue bucket seats. The background is blue sky with a few clouds.

If this week’s image inspires you and you wish to participate, please write your post and use the tag #FFFC. Please create a pingback to this post and/or manually add your link in the comments. I hope it will generate some great posts. Don’t forget to stop back and read/comment on the posts of others. Thank you for participating!

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My piece:

Ferris Wheel

By Tessa Dean May 2024

The traffic was backed up to the highway from the amusement park, and the cars were at a dead stop. We came early to hopefully avoid the traffic jams, but obviously, everyone else had the same idea. We hadn’t moved for at least half an hour or so. We watched the large blue Ferris Wheel in the distance and saw it move, load, and unload. We knew the park was open, so why weren’t we moving?

The kids were getting restless in the back seat of the minivan, their complaints becoming more frequent. We assured them we would arrive soon, but their constant whining only added to our frustration. 

I wasn’t looking forward to this. As an adult, it had become harder for me to ride the rides at these places, and so we were mainly here for the children. I remember the days when I couldn’t wait to go on the roller coaster, which was my favorite ride. Now, I could only manage the Ferris Wheel and the carousel. 

Finally, the car ahead of us moved one space up. At this rate, we would be in line for half an hour or more. We moved up one space and warned the kids that if they didn’t shut up, we were turning around and going home. 

Just then, the line began to move. We pulled into the park and headed for the parking space that the attendant showed us. We unloaded the kids, put the baby in the stroller, and headed toward the park entrance. 

The lines were long, and we knew we would be standing in lines most of the day. We headed to the roller coaster for the older kids. We told them they were to meet us at noon for lunch at the food court, and then we took the younger children to the children’s park. 

We found a ride with the shortest line and waited for our turn. They would probably get to ride a few rides before our lunch break. After lunch we would head to the Ferris Wheel and the Carousel. By that time, the younger kids would be tired and ready to go, which would cause a fight since the older kids wouldn’t want to leave that early. We couldn’t blame them, but we had to consider the younger ones too. We would bring the older ones back one day by themselves so they could ride everything late into the night.

Tessa – 

Advocate for mental health and invisible illnesses

New Author’s Website – http://www.tessadeanauthor.wordpress.com

Author – Old Writing –  http://www.finallyawriter.wordpress.com

About my life –  http://www.tessacandoit.wordpress.com