ears to the –verse until she was back to normal. Sally thought she felt her skin tingling, but she’d heard that it was all in her mind.
The amusement park rose out of the dusk. Night was falling, the sky red and yellow with purple hues. The rides, especially both roller coasters, were studded with lights. Sally felt a tinge of excitement upon seeing the sheer size of the roller coasters. She knew that one was Magic Mountain and the other was Magic Dragon, but which? Water was everywhere. It glowed a bright green from radiation-spawned algae. Larger-than-life robotic animalifications roamed the concourse. Colorful and cheerful, they were a bit scary.
Her parents invited Amy to spend her time with them. Sally didn’t really understand why, but didn’t see the harm. Soon, they were spinning around in teacups, riding a boat down a thin river with attacking robotic hippos and alligators, and herky-jerking up and down on giant mechanical arms. In between rides they walked along the concourse, robotic giant mice with elephantine black ears ran to and fro, trying to hug every child they could find. When they came to Sally, she closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, understanding why the girl walking in front of them broke into tears when it happened to her.
They didn’t eat or drink anything, as was the rule. But they did spend some time in the smell museum. Both Sally and Amy loved the smell of something called pepperoni pizza. They couldn’t’ decide if they liked the hotdog with mustard, relish and ketchup, but found themselves oddly drawn to it. The most interesting was the smell labeled “Ambient Pollution 2015.” They gagged from the stench. Unbelievably this was how the air smelled like back then. The last smell was the best, and was promised to have been a yester-year staple of amusement parks. They called it cotton candy and the merest whiff made the girls grin from ear to ear. They ran back to it seven times before Sally’s parents convinced them to move on.
Finally it was time to go. The time had passed far more quickly than Sally would have thought. Amy from Arkansas Agro had a practical side that made her the perfect foil for Sally’s jokes. By the time they’d left the cotton candy, they were walking hand in hand.
Sally’s mother had defined joy as that feeling you get when you attain that which you most desire. At the time, all Sally could think of was her own hair. But gone were all thoughts of her long locks, replaced by the happiness of being in the moment with Amy. She hadn’t really known what she most desired until she had it. Their differences aside, they were both girls whose daring understanding of the qualities of life created a bond that had cemented over the course of two hours.
But then the bell rang, announcing it was time for everyone to return to the train.
Sally felt a tug on her arm. Amy refused to go.
“Come on. You can’t stay here, silly.”
Amy smiled, then frowned, then smiled again. “Of course I can.” She tried to pull away again, but Sally gripped harder. “Now look who’s being silly,” Amy said.
Sally noticed that those wearing yellow weren’t making any move towards the train. In fact, many of them were turning around and heading towards the Magic Dragon. Sally, her parents and Amy had ridden Magic Mountain four times and had felt their hearts leap and dance inside their throats. She’d reached such heights of joy, she felt her smile would never go away.
But it did.
“Mom, tell Amy to stop playing around. Tell her it’s time to go.”
A group of bald, yellow-suited women stared at her, their whispers lost in the sound of the train’s alarm. They pointed at Sally, gathering like a conspiracy of crows. Sally wanted to scream for them to stop staring at her, but she couldn’t make her mouth work any more. Her throat ached with the effort.
Soon her mother had her by the arm and was pulling her away from Amy, the park and the joy she’d so recently felt. When she was in her seat and the door was shut, Sally realized that Amy wasn’t ever coming back. She realized that Amy had come here to stay.
***
Sally took the orange water with a lot more bravery than when she’d arrived. She’d never thought to ask about the colors of suits. She never thought about not coming back. The orange water cleaned