Enchanted Carnival : A Summer Sleep Story

 It’s almost time for complete darkness to fall. It’s summertime so it takes a bit longer than the previous months.  You leisurely sip your iced coffee, knowing you can’t begin work until it’s dark enough for the stars to shine against the sky like dropped ice cream sprinkles on pavement.  

A faint bell rings in the darkness gathering behind you. “Not yet,” you say with a smile, not turning around. The bell quiets until darkness settles over the forest clearing. It rings excitedly “Another new arrival,” you confirm. “Let’s turn on the lights for them.” 

You turn towards the bell as the darkness erupts with light, a carousel, a Ferris wheel, several carnival games, a hall of mirrors, all illuminate the night. The bell is joined by a calliope; it’s crashing drums and jaunty music play in time to the spinning carousel. They do not match in color scheme or even theme.  They are not even originally from the same park. The calliope that once resided in the carousel's center has long since been removed by vandals before it came to rest here. The calliope once stood next to its matching carousel until their park was closed. The carousel was sold; the calliope was left abandoned.  But the two mismatched pieces found each other in this space, and it’s like they were always meant to be together. 

That’s what this hidden carnival is, not a graveyard of discarded rides and stalls, but a rest home, an afterlife. You took the job as carnival caretaker not entirely knowing the full details until a waterlogged tilt a whirl from a nearby flooded park just arrived at the sound of a bell. Far from frightening you, it inspired you even more to keep showing up night after night.  

You move to a flat cement pad and begin cleaning away the leaves and mud from the day’s rain. Soon, it’s clean enough for the new arrival. You gather some other supplies from the caretakers shed, and by the time you return a rusty, children’s spinning plane ride is there.  You clean away the grime of neglect and the graffiti of vandalism, before sanding away the rust.  You can’t tell exactly what the original colors were, so you simply guess. The magic takes care of any other repairs you cannot manage. You don't know how it works, only that it does, and soon the new arrival will be right at home in your little carnival.  

Sweet Dreams  

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