crowds running to cars
Ferris wheel turning beyond
gold wheat bent by rain
The Ferris wheel is halfway to the
top when the rain starts. I’m strapped into one of the chairs by myself,
dangling, swinging, sulking as the wheel halts, listening to my stomach growl.
I was too busy arguing with Dad about something dumb to eat lunch. Down below
the carnies are letting people out, but we are just getting started. We’ll be
here a long time. I’ll shrivel and float away from starvation probably.
My hair is dripping down into my
eyes, and I’m trying to keep my phone dry beneath my blue jacket. Some girls
were screaming, but they must have worn out. The tinny organ carnival music
rises up against the rain, up from the bright lights of the corndog vendors and
ice cream stands. On the paths, people run to the exhibit halls and to their
cars to get dry. Wimps. I am loving the rain. Not, but I can pretend I’m tough
until the smell of fried dough drifts up all around me.
The chair lingers at the top and I
look out at our wheat fields on the other side of the road. The ripe golden
heads bend beneath the wind’s strokes, beneath its voice, swaying in the
lashings of rain. I watch them bowing in the afternoon gloom, wondering if we
can finish the harvest. Dad sold most of it to a distillery and it would be
cool to have some of the vodka.
Dozens of quilts hang in the exhibit
halls below. My mom’s is there, my aunt’s, Jannie who cuts my hair. Everyone
around here quilts. They like the ones with a thousand little pieces that fit
together like puzzles, like lives on a farm never fit together. I like the
quilts with stories in them, the ones with the Knik River and Pioneer Peak,
with the ravens and auroras. People are sentimental about their quilt patterns.
Right now I’m thinking about the one with appliques of salmon on it that won the
big purple Grand Champion ribbon.
I can see the barn where the farmers
and 4-H kids take their giant pumpkins and cabbages to be admired. My pet
zucchini grew fat this year – twenty-five pounds, but all crookedy. No reason
to even enter it. The summer was too hot for zukes, but perfect for the wheat. If
it doesn’t go all soft, I’ll carve a vampire zucchini for Halloween.
The rain lessens as the wheel
lurches to the bottom. The Saturday afternoon crowd drifts back into the
Midway, and the carnies beg them to toss the ball, throw the dart, bet on the
racing rats (they’re really gerbils). The sun breaks through the clouds. Dad
will be happy when he can run the combine through the wheat, happy when it’s
already vodka, happy when he can worry about what kind to plant next year. Then
he’ll forget about me.
I head straight for the fried butter
stand, already tasting that crispy brown batter, and feeling the hot butter
running down my chin. Then I’ll head over to the big barn to watch the 4-H
turkeys being auctioned off.
too hot for huge squash
and no prize wheat at this Fair
but fine crop of quilts
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