by Anthony Megna

Created on: July 04, 2008   Last Updated: May 05, 2012

Remember the smell of cotton candy and candied apples when you were a kid? Saltwater taffy being stretched and pulled until all the colors merge. The thumping sound of generators. What am I describing? Got it yet? The clicking tracks and creaking wood. Donovan's Hurdy Gurdy Man playing on the radio. You must have it now. That's right, it is an amusement park in the summer. My favorite memories are entrenched here. It is the decade of the "60"s and I have just entered the gates of Paragon Park in Nantasket Beach in Hull, Massachusetts.

Here I am, at least in my mind. I am just tall enough to ride the "comet" rollercoaster. This is something I have waited for all year. I would dream of riding this monster since I could remember. Looking up to my brother and sisters and admiring their courage on riding this behemoth and now it is my turn. A mixture of fear and excitement courses through my being like lightening. Watching the tattooed park workers loading people on and strapping them in while I wait in line. And the line moves again. It is hot, the summer sun melting the discarded ice cream cone some infant dropped on the ground. I believe it is vanilla, but it is melting so fast and I am laughing as some of the parents step in it. What a sticky mess. Okay, I am moving in line again. Man, am I scared! I really want to turn back, but there is no way I can. No one is going to call me a baby anymore. Besides, this is something I have waited for all year. Daydreaming in school when I am supposed to be learning math.

What a cute girl I just saw! I wonder if she is in my grade or is she older. It doesn't matter now because I am soon to be strapped in to my death. I am part of the next bunch of condemned when that roller coaster car pulls in. Here it is! Cripes! I don't believe it, I got the front car. My cousin and I can't believe our luck. Boy, the seats are hard. The handrails are piping hot from the previous bunch of prisoners and the summer sun. Here we go....

Clack-Clack-Click....Clack-Clack-Click...thump...Cla ck-Clack-Click...We are going higher and higher. Nice and cool up here. I can see the boats out on the ocean. In fact, I can see for miles and miles and oh my God! This first drop is steep and AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

This is one of my fondest memories from childhood and I will never forget it. When I am down all I have to do is remember what I did that summer. How I felt when I reached my manhood by riding on the wild one. Wait until I tell my friends back home that I finally did it. Will this make me more popular in school? Will all the girls flock to hear my story? Maybe, but somehow I think it will only catch their attention briefly. This is one of those rites of passage every kid has to experience on their own.

There are some memories that are infused into your being. They attach themselves to your hard drive and never escape. That amusement park is a motley cauldron of fond memories and I will always miss it. But all I have to do is dream about it and there it is, just like yesterday.....

Learn more about this author, Anthony Megna.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.