Inferno Park Read Free Page A

an old artificial-leather belt.
    Carter stopped where he was, trying to work up the nerve to approach her.
    “Go ahead,” Jared told him.
    “What do I say?”
    “You could start with ‘hi.’ Or maybe ‘hey’ if you want to be folksy about it.”
    “And then what?”
    “I don’t know, but you’re almost out of time...” Jared nodded toward Tricia, already buying her ticket.
    “Let’s go.” Carter hurried toward the star-studded front gate. He hoped to catch Tricia before she went inside, because admission to the park was twelve bucks. His mind was whirling, his nerves were jumping...but he was excited to go and talk to her.
    Seeing her out on this perfect August evening felt like a happy kind of fate to him. Not many kids from school were out on the Starwalk this late in the summer. As with swimming pools and the beach itself, the gaudy strip of games, rides, and flashing neon, this permanent beachside carnival redolent of fried sugar and car fumes, had grown too familiar to most of the local kids by late August.
    Carter never grew tired of it, though. This section of town was filled with magic. Even though he worked here every day with his family, and sometimes work was not fun, he never lost sight of the magical environment they were helping to create for all the tourists.
    He reached the front gate of Starland, but he was too late. He could already see her inside, walking up the midway between the food stands and the game booths, her back to him.
    “Tickets?” A gate attendant, dressed like a clown in a cop uniform with a Starland starburst logo in place of a badge, held out one hand.
    Carter backed off, watching the girl thread her way into the crowd inside the park. Soon he would lose sight of her.
    “Tickets,” the security clown said again, in a less friendly tone. “You’re blocking the way, kids.”
    “Let’s go to the beach,” Jared said.
    “No way.” Carter’s pulse was up. He had made his decision to reach out to the girl he liked, and he didn’t want to back down now. “Let’s go in.”
    “Sorry, hombre , I only got six bucks,” Jared said.
    Carter sighed. “I can loan you the rest.”
    “Sweet!” Jared’s face lit up. “And let’s ride Inferno Mountain this time, okay?”
    “Shut up.” Carter led the way back to the ticket booth, annoyed. Jared knew Carter was too scared to ride Inferno Mountain. The big devil face on the front of the ride had given him nightmares since he was little.
    They waited in line, which seemed to take forever. Jared chatted excitedly, happy to visit the amusement park on somebody else’s dime—Jared himself was always short on money. Carter’s impatience grew and grew. The park was growing crowded, and it would be hard to find one girl in that mob.
    When they finally stepped inside, the park had begun to glow with neon and flashing lights while the sun set over the Old West town of Fool’s Gold.
    They walked along the crowded pavement, past the glowing green marquee of the Whack-A-Frog, the Lucky Darts balloon game with its jolly trombone music and slide-whistle sound effects, and the Knock ‘Em Dead bowling game, in which the balls resembled skulls and the bowling pins looked like bones.
    Carter and Jared ignored the game operators trying to lure them with promises of huge prizes that were basically impossible to win. The smell of cotton candy, popcorn, and French fries washed over them, pushed by the warm, salty breeze off the ocean. For the rest of his life, Carter would associate those mingled scents with childhood and death.
    “Ride the world’s greatest Tilt-A-Whirl!” shouted a ten-foot-tall woman in a jester hat, her stilts hidden inside super-long pants decked with glittering stars and moons. She juggled glowing green balls as she barked her spiel, and little kids gaped and pointed while their parents snapped pictures. “See the future in Space City! Ride the Starland Express, Florida’s fifth-oldest roller coaster! Or visit the