The King of Heights

Melody has never been a thrill seeker.

Unlike her siblings, she dreads the days when the family goes to the traveling carnival. She agrees with her little sister’s sentiment that there is something beautiful about driving down the road and slowly seeing in the distance the lights of the Ferris wheel and other mechanical rides against the night sky. That feeling quickly dissipates the closer they get, as it mingles with the realization of the speed and height carnival lovers venture into. Dangers such as connecting cables and screws that could come loose at any moment.  

This carnival is especially dangerous. Famous for its out of the ordinary rides.

While lined up at the ticket booth, her older brother points out a sign that describes the history behind this specific carnival. They learn that it opened in 1947, founded by Joel Martinez, known as the King of Heights, because of his tendency to create rides that stood up like giants.

‘You are getting on a ride with me today,’ says her brother.

‘Not in a million years,’ replies Melody.

After buying their ticket, she follows her usual routine of taking her sister on the small rides. In one instance, they enter a fun house, with moving floors and a room of mirrors. Her little sister’s hand sweats against hers.

‘What if I get lost?’ she says.

‘If you get lost,’ says Melody, ‘Trace your steps back to the last place you remember.’

At one point, they get separated and they both follow the wisdom they shared and trace their steps back to where they last saw each other. Quickly they are together again and through the maze.

Her brother approaches, aiming up into the sky.

‘Check out that ride!’ He says.

Melody had spotted it since the drive over. A roller coaster, tall as what felt to her like a skyscraper, speeding an excited group of passengers at top speed. It makes Melody nauseous just to look at it. Its named The Flashback, being a recreation of the ride that gave Joel Martinez, the founder of the carnival, his acclaimed fame. The carny in charge of operating it gives the name a whole different meaning though, telling crowds that the roller coaster is so fast it can take you back in time.

Melody thinks the joke is silly and looking at her brother she simply says, ‘I pass.’

‘One day you ought to face that fear of yours,’ he says making his way to The Flashback.

Melody turns away then her face goes white, as she notices her sister let go of her hand and is now rushing past the employees and getting on the front seat of the The Flashback. She runs after her, not thinking of another thing but getting her sister out of danger. Upon reaching her, the ride operator is already leading the little girl out.

Melody cannot easily shake off the fear of what could have happened if the ride had started with her sister on it. She catches her breath against the seat. At that exact moment, the automatic safety bar comes down over her lap, locking her in.

‘What?’ she says in horror, ‘Wait no! I wasn’t getting on. Wait!’ but the operator is too far to hear her. She looks over at her brother, who is carrying their sister, and waving a mischievous smile at her. A kid is seated next to Melody, eagerly swinging his legs.

‘Any last words?’ He says.

‘I’m scared!’ is all Melody can muster as the roller coaster begins to move.

She closes her eyes and holds on to the bar for dear life, feeling her hands become sweaty against the metal. The ride slows as it climbs to the highest peak. Her stomach turns knowing what’s next. Reaching the top, it suddenly drops over the lift hill. Unable to control her fear, she faints.

When she opens her eyes, she sees an angry man looking at her.

‘Are you here alone?’ he asks annoyed.

Her eyes take a while to focus. She looks around for her family. There is something different, but she just can’t point out what it is.

The man, becoming impatient, repeats himself, ‘Are you alone? I got work to do. If you kids can’t handle a ride, why get on it?’

‘I didn’t get on it in purpose,’ she defends herself, but the man goes back to managing his post.

She looks for her family, still feeling like something is off. Everything about the situation makes her feel extremely lost. She cannot recognize anything.  The roller coaster The Flashback is still there, but it looks distinct, and nobody is riding it. She realizes everybody around her seems odd. They wear dresses, suits, and old-style hats.

Seeing a ticket on the floor, she picks it up and reads the information written on it.  Her stomach turns as if she was still midway through The Flashback. The ticket reads ‘Grand Opening Week’ and is for the year 1947.

‘Did I die?’ she yells, ‘I’m dead!’

She panics backing herself up against a carnival tent and falls right into it. Inside, she sees a man distractively talking to himself.

‘Can you imagine that? The speed! The height!’ He notices Melody looking at him, ‘Hi! How are you enjoying my carnival? You don’t seem very excited. Have you tried the carousel?’

She gives him no response.

‘How about our magic show?’

She keeps quiet.  Another man comes in.

‘It’s almost time. Get it together, Joel.’  The man says and exits again.

‘You are the King of Heights’ she says realizing this was none other, but the inventor of the many carnival rides she’d been terrified of for so long.

‘That’s a nice name.’ He says, as if he had never heard the title before, ‘My name is Joel Martinez. I’m the founder of this carnival.’

‘The roller coaster is ready for you. Let’s go!’ the man enters again.  

‘We are going to have to postpone it for later today,’ says Joel, ‘I would like to take my friend here to enjoy the carnival.’

‘Sure thing, boss’ says the man, and Melody catches an annoyed sarcastic tone in his voice.

‘What is your name?’ Joel asks her.

‘Melody.’

‘Come, Melody. There is plenty to see.’

Melody, unsure of what to do, follows Joel outside. They walk by the Ferris wheel, ‘Check out this marvel. Beautiful, isn’t it? George Washington would be proud.’

‘The first president of the United States?’ Asks Melody.

‘I’m talking about George Washington Gale Ferris,’ says Joel, ‘The inventor of the Ferris wheel. The line is too long to ride it though.’

Melody looks over confused at the short line of about four people.

‘Let’s get on the carousel,’ says Joel.

The carousel moves at a calm pace. A loud horn startles her and looking back she sees a train moving slowly past them.

‘We use the railroad to take our carnival all over the country,’ says Joel, ‘Both my grandfather and my father worked at the very first traveling carnivals. My grandfather was at Chicago World’s Fair back in 1893. The very first carnival! This runs in my blood, you see. One day, I thought it was about time we owned our own traveling fair.’

Melody can’t help but to find this story fascinating, and her mood lightens up a bit, but not enough to yet produce a smile.

‘You don’t like it?’ asks Joel, worried, ‘Kids love the carousel. Follow me! You’ll love this show,’ he says pointing at a stage with a magicians hat drawn on it.

Joel checks up backstage and a worried young man approaches him, ‘Joel, I’m glad you’re here.’

‘Is there a problem?’

‘A big problem. Our Illusionist can’t make it today. He called in sick.’

‘Again!’ Joel says upset. He thinks the problem over, ‘You fill in for him.’

‘Me?’ says the young man, ‘But… but…’

‘Isn’t this what you practice all those tricks for. You are as great a magician as he is.’

‘Joel, you know I have stage fright.’

‘This is your time, friend. I’ve seen your amazing tricks and the audiences will be awed by you. You will now be responsible for putting on our next greatest show. I know you have it in you.’

The man nods. Melody and Joel take a seat in the crowd. The man enters the stage and Melody can see the sweat droplets raining down his forehead. Upon delivering his first trick, an act of making a selected card disappear and reappear, the audience is wowed, and his confidence slowly gives in. By the end of the show, the crowds are roaring with applause and he even receives a standing ovation.

‘I think I found my new lead magician,’ says Joel.

Leaving their seat, the man who had been calling Joel earlier approaches him, seemingly worried about something ‘We can’t keep putting it off. That’s what people came to see.’

‘Are you hungry?’ Joel tells Melody, ignoring the man, ‘Lets have some fresh popcorn.’

They approach a stall, ‘Two bags of popcorn and a sticky apple. Big appetite. Do you want one?’

‘Nervous, boss?’ the employee serving the food smiles.

‘What is wrong you,’ Says Joel, ‘Why would I be nervous?’

They enter a circus show through backstage, which gives melody a chance to come up close to the circus animals. An elephant, a monkey dressed in human clothes, and a sleeping lion she does not want to bother.

A girl cries by the dressing rooms.

‘Are you okay?’ asks Joel.

‘I can’t do it, Joel,’ she says.

‘Of course, you can.’ He soothes her, ‘You are one of our best acrobats. So many come just to see you.’

‘I know I’m good at this. It’s what I’m best at. But the swinging across the ring challenge. What if I fail? Nobody will ever want to come see me again. I’ll be the laughingstock.’

A man with clown make-up comes in, ‘If that happens then we ought to trade positions. Boss,’ the clown says to Joel, ‘I don’t think I’m funny anymore. I told seven jokes today to passing crowds and did not get a single laugh! I’m not good at this anymore. I’m losing my spark! I’m afraid that if I tell another joke and receive silence again, I’ll lose all my motivation for good.’

‘What am I? A fool?’ Says Joel, ‘Would I hire you if you were not talented? You are here because of your skill. Just look at how far we have gotten. Think of all we have been through. How long it took us to put together the money to build this carnival. Now it is here. I know how scary new things can be. But remember, how good you are at this. What we need is a good laugh to break the ice. Tell us a joke.’

The clown seems excited to take the spotlight and says, ‘What’s the bat that does the most stunts. The Acro-bat!’

This pulls a laugh from all of them, including Melody.

The clown, regaining his confidence, returns to his post. The acrobat hears her name announced and wipes off her tears.

‘Go get them,’ Says Joel. She goes to the ring. Melody is amazed at her performance. She wishes she could show her family everything she is seeing. She can only imagine how scary it would be to jump off from that height. But there is no fear in the acrobat. It is as if she dances with the air. When her moment to swing through the hoop comes, she does it with such grace, you could never imagine how terrified she had been.

‘Everybody is afraid of something.’ She tells herself out loud, and Joel catches her words.

‘Everybody fears something. Sometimes fear is a fair warning, but it becomes a problem when we let it get the best of us. We fear because we are afraid of losing something. Whether it be our hopes, our friends, perhaps even our lives. Yet there is always a way to help us out of our fears.’

‘You know a lot about fear.’

‘In a place like this,’ says Joel, ‘You walk hand-in-hand with fear.’

Hearing Joel’s words she recalls the advice she’d given her sister earlier, of what to do when you are lost. ‘Trace your steps back to where you last remember’. If she traces her own steps, that takes her to The Flashback. She knows what to do. She must go on the terrible ride again to get back home. Once back outside she aims at the gigantic structure.

‘I want to go on that ride,’ she says.  

The man who had been trying to get Joel’s attention was approaching, but hearing her words he gives a smile, and simply says, ‘Can’t run away from it anymore, can you, Joel?’

That is when Melody realizes, ‘You have been trying to avoid that ride haven’t you?’

Joel’s eyes can’t hide the truth.

‘Why?’ asks Melody.

‘That is my greatest invention. It will revolutionize carnival rides. The only problem is that I’m expected to ride it for its grand opening.’

‘What’s the problem with that. Don’t you trust it?’

‘Trust it? I designed it. That roller coaster is as thrilling as it is safe. There is just one tiny problem. I’m afraid of heights!’

The irony does not escape Melody.  

‘I know what you are thinking. See, ever since I was a child helping my dad at the fair, I could not tolerate getting on the rides. My first time getting on a Ferris wheel, I was paralyzed with terror. So you see, that is why I create these giant rides. Because I’m so afraid of them. The only way to control my fear is to confront it. Being so afraid is what pushes me to make sure my rides are as challenging as they are safe. Except that this time… I have really outdone myself on the challenging part.’

‘But you don’t need to be afraid,’ says Melody, ‘I’ll go on it with you.’

‘What?’

‘Yes. Sometimes things are less scary when you don’t have to do them alone. All the workers here overcome their fears because they are not alone. You believe in them,’ she thought back to her brother, who believes she can confront her phobia. Joel smiles realizing something.

‘You are wise,’ he tells her.

‘It’s time, Joel,’ The man calls him again, ‘Now or never.’

She pulls his hand and leads him to The Flashback. The crowd gathers up to see it operate for the first time. Looking at it loom over them brings the fear right back into her gut. But she knows that the way back home is on the other side of that fear.

‘I see you brought a friend,’ the carnie says, the same who had awakened her, ‘You’re the girl who fainted. These kids never learn.’

‘It’s scary,’ Joel says distractively.

‘It’s a marvel,’ says Melody.

‘It is, isn’t it?’

‘You made it to be scary, but you also made it be safe, remember. This is your ride.’ She is surprised with herself at comforting somebody about the very thing that terrifies her.

‘Your right. This is my ride.’ Joel says with commitment.

The operator looks over at them, ‘Any last words?’ he asks.

‘Let’s go!’ says Melody and the roller coaster begins moving.

This time Melody doesn’t shut her eyes. She feels the world rush by her. They reach the lift hill, and this time Melody feels excitement to reach the top. At the highest peak they come to a stop, a moment meant to give the passenger a chance to look at the world around them. Melody is amazed at the view. The sun in the clear sky feels as if she could touch it.

‘This is incredible,’ she says. She is surprised to see Joel has his eyes closed, ‘Hey! Look where you brought us, King of Heights.’

He opens his eyes and sees the wonder before him. He begins to laugh with her. A laugh of celebration.

‘I am the King of Heights!’ he yells proudly. Eventually they move again as the roller coaster dives at full speed, but this time neither of them is afraid. The world around her begins to vortex, change, as she returns to her own time. At the end she jumps out and runs to her family. She gives them all a big hug.

‘I’m sorry,’ says her brother, ‘I didn’t tell them to stop. I’ll never do that to you again.’

She looks over at a picture of Joel standing by the roller coaster. His hair is a little undone and Melody can tell this picture was taken right after riding it. A little girl stands at his side. A winning smile on both of their faces.

‘Let’s go again,’ she tells her brother.

‘Are you sure?’ he asks.

He is surprised, but he doesn’t let the opportunity pass.

‘Did you know that the first carnival opened in 1893?’ She says.

‘Really?’

‘Yeah. They used the railroad to carry them all over the country.’

Together they go from ride to ride, not missing out on a single thrill.