The Day I Almost Died

  Every single last person I am friends with has told me at one point in our friendship, that I'm dramatic, some have even said I'm overly dramatic, and would say so again with one glance at the title of my post, but no, this time I'm not simply being dramatic (at least not too much) last evening, I truly almost died, but, I'm here to tell the tale.

  I believe it was last Saturday when the fair came to town, and my family was properly excited about it for we have never gone before. We had originally planned to go this Monday but it was pouring down rain, so we postponed our visit till yesterday. We hustled to the fairgrounds which happened to be very muddy, and after getting our wrist bands, and parking, we began our trek around the premises.

  Since this was my first fair,  I was extraordinarily excited when I discovered that all the rides were free,  Diane and I, as well as Mum and Sean, all rode the Ferris Wheel, which was fun and definitely a good choice for our first ride. The couple that sat in the cart next to us was very busy, the girl was taking selfies, and the guy was smoking, which wasn't pleasant at all because at every turn of the Ferris Wheel I got a face full of his smoke. At the top of the wheel I could see all the other rides which looked pretty intense to my typically timid self. The one ride that scared me above all others was this great almost roller coaster like capsule that people buckled into and went flipping and spinning upside down in. I told myself that there was no way I'd do that ride, no way.

  After getting off the Ferris wheel my Mum and Sean went to my Dad who was reserving seats for us at the bull riding event/rodeo. Eldon stared up at the capsule of doom and declared he would never ride it, so instead we three made our way to the flying car ride, which wasn't the most fun.

  It was after that ride however that Eldon seemed to have found his adventurous side and declared that us girls would ride with him in the capsule of doom.  I won't say that I was against the idea completely but I shuddered at all the piercing screams that sounded every time the monstrous thing flipped. Diane and I shared one compartment, and Eldon sat right behind us, offering comforting words prior to the ride.

  We were all supposed to pull a shoulder guard over our heads, and latch our seat belts, which we did. Unfortunately, my shoulder guard didn't lock, and I knew that when the capsule started flipping I'd be hanging upside down only by my seat belt. No words can describe the terror, and perhaps even the beginning of hysteria that took over me when the guy in charge flipped down the side gate to the capsule and started it up.
  I have always been really sensitive to motion sickness and I do believe that I might have barfed if I wasn't so busy being terrified out of my wits. The capsule started swinging up one side and then went down the other, it was a mild thing, like as if I was swinging. and then slowly I could feel us ascending and finally in a flash of speed we went hurtling up and up and the capsule starting flipping to the other side. Also known as a brief period of hanging upside down. Diane and I shrieked hysterically and as I hung up there kept from a plummet to my doom only by a measly seat belt, I knew, I just knew that this was it, I was going to die.

  Every time I watched a movie, and someone was about to die they seemed to fight for life, and in the comfort of my living room I thought that if I was ever in  a dire situation I'd just up and die, and spare me all the trouble of trying to stay alive. Not true.

  Over and over that horrendous capsule flipped and over and over I screamed and fought for my dear life , clinging to the rails and banging my wrists into the bars as I hung suspended by nothing other than my flimsy seat belt, the safety guard being utterly useless.. My flip flops constantly threatened to fall off and I'd only catch them when the capsule had finished a flip.

  There are many books out in the world, where the main characters are said to be Christians, and they pray only when they are about to die, I always thought it was ridiculous to save prayers for just those times, and while it is true that I still think along those lines, I myself, was praying fervently every time the capsule flipped so I shall not judge such books too harshly anymore.

  Finally, after what seemed like a lifetime of hanging, the capsule flipped a final time and stood suspended upside down for such a long period of time, that I thought for certain that the operator had no heart. Eventually the ride was over and I stumbled out with swollen knee caps and bruised wrists, and praying prayers of thanks for surviving that malfunctioning seat of horror. I'm not sure what all I was hitting during that awful ride, but I'm still sore this morning, and still have visible bruise marks from it.

  While it is true that the rest of the fair was absolutely splendid heaps of fun, and that I got to have more enjoyable rides, I shall never again ride such a thing again, especially not one with a faulty safety device, and I'm certain that roller coasters and I would not be friends.