Daddy brought me to the carnival that day.
The warmth of the air was gently kissing our cheeks,
apologizing for the rage of its heat earlier in the afternoon.

The light of the sky
was slowly dying out for the night,
and its understudies were beginning to take over,
trying endlessly to live up to the amazing performance given by the star of the show.

These understudies helped to guide us to the
machines that sang songs
and created the echoing noise of laughter.

The machines were as intimidating as a first crush,
So I held onto my Daddy’s hand a little tighter,
because I knew he would hold mine back.

Finally,
there it was, looming,
reaching, and inviting us over.
I turned my head upwards to catch my Daddy’s eyes with mine
asking them if we could go and say hi.

At first there was no reply.
But then came along a reluctant sigh saying “fine.”

My nerves and excitement danced
all over the dance floor of my arms and legs
forcing my body to jump up and down.

The machine held out its hand.
And together we sat down,
stuck to each other’s sides.

As the machine began to wrap its fingers around us
so that there was no escape,
my excitement stopped dancing.
And instead dread began to rush through me,
knocking down all of my nerves along with it.

Daddy felt it too.
He squeezed my fingers
with a grip as strong as a child’s hand
around the handles of a bike
when they are learning
how to ride it without the training wheels
for the first time.

The metallic monster
whipped us around in the air,
flinging us like a pillow in a pillow fight.

Daddy’s words told me,
“Don’t worry, it’ll be over soon.”
But his voice revealed
that he really didn’t know.

Eventually, the hand released us,
as we shakily tried to reintroduce ourselves
to the steady ground beneath our feet
that we used to take for granted.

Daddy was still holding onto my hand,
because he knew I would hold his back.

And from there we decided one adventure
Was enough for one night.

And I decided that my Daddy’s shoulders
were the best carnival ride there ever was.