I stared up at the huge steel structure towering over the crowded park. The bright shining sun was making my eyes water, but my gaze was locked in on what seemed like a skyscraper. “You’re doing it” commanded a voice behind me. My gaze finally broke free from the object that was casting a shadow stretching as far as I could see. My eyes settled on the person who spoke to me, my dad.

“What? No way!” I responded. The thought of even strapping into that ride made my stomach churn, riding it was out of the question.
“Come on buddy, it’ll be really fun!” To me, that wasn’t very convincing because I wasn’t sure of his opinion, but I knew I’d rather keep my lunch down than have a “really fun” time for few minutes.

“Dad, I’ll puke before I can even scream!”

“If you do it I’ll buy you a funnel cake with a freshly made lemonade.” This caught my attention, in addition to my eyes watering from the sun, my mouth had also been watering from the moment I spotted the funnel cake stand when we had arrived. The lemonade would also provide an excellent pair with the sweet cake, all while washing it down into my freshly emptied stomach. It still didn’t sound worth it to me as I glanced back to the soaring metal frame. I was about to turn down my dads offer when my nose caught a familiar scent. It was the glorious aroma of a fresh batch of funnel cakes, fresh out of the oven. I almost drowned myself in drool just filling my nostrils with the funnel cake fragrance. This was the moment that influenced me, that tipped me over the edge, to accept his deal.

“Okay, deal.”

I’ve experienced some pretty scary moments in my life, but none came even close to the park worker strapping me into my seat. I thought of all the other people that sat in that seat, the scared little kids that worked up enough courage to try the ride, the terrified wimps that got bribed by their dads like me, or the insane people that did this simply for pleasure. We were now airborne and were escalating to the top of the structure. All of the sudden the car stopped in mid-flight, I thought for a brief moment that the ride had broken down and I was saved.

WHOOSH!

The car hurtled toward the earth in a fraction of a second, my hair was whipped back and nearly uprooted from my scalp. My stomach plunged into my legs and I tried to let out at least a whimper of desperation, but my lungs were as empty as my stomach was about to be. The car then jerked upward as we reached the bottom of the hill we had just plummeted down. We were now ascending upwards at rapid speeds, and just when I thought we were going to plunge back down, we went completely upside down in a full three sixty degrees loop. The ride went on just like that for another forty-five seconds, jerks, loops, wind slamming into my face, I went through it all. The car finally halted into the same place it started. I dizzily found my way out of the car and I clenched onto the handrail with an iron grip on my way down from the ride. The ride had been a wild one, and I absolutely hated it. I had seriously doubted my decision while I was zooming through the sky, but when the doughy funnel cake met my desperate taste buds those doubts were no more.