52stories

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|| July 4, 1905 | State Fair | Raleigh North Carolina

Buck Craver ran to catch up with his sister, Elizabeth. She finished her sprint, and clutched onto a red metal frame. Inside the fence, children mounted on ponies, traveled in an endless circle, as “Pa” guided the whole affair. It was a penny a ride, and Elizabeth debated on spending so much of her pocket change in just one place.

“Why’d you stop here?”, Buck said after catching his breath. His sister was a full year older and she never let him forget it. Papa often told him he’s outgrow her one day, but Buck wasn’t so sure. He’d start school come Labor day, and then he’d see how much he measured up against the other boys.

“That’s Hazel Swicegood on yonder.” Her head nod indicated one of the girls riding a pony. Hazel smiled and cheered her steed onward. “Stupid. She wore a white dress. Stupid! She did stuff like that all the time in school.” If Hazel heard she made no indication of it, her focus was on her fun alone.

“You never ride bucket, back home.” Buck saw only the ponies making their loop. “These critters are shallow. Hardly get fed, and looky their hooves. They need some attention. I’m going to find the strong man hammer. Or the popped corn stand.”

Hazel finally turned her attention to Elizabeth, and Elizabeth showed her tongue before running off after Buck. Popped corn with real butter was sounding real delightful, right about now.

|| July 4, 1955 | State Fair | Raleigh North Carolina

“Pleased to meet you, Cousin Barbara.” Benny Hinkle held out a hand. His mamma had warned him to be on his best behavior today, or their visit to the fair would be cut short. Mamma made threats like that all the time, and on the few times Benny pushed her on it, she did keep her word. Today also marked the first time he would meet this particular cousin, but that paled in comparison to the fun he could today. Barbara was pretty enough, like him she had blonde hair, and stood a few inches higher.

“Oh, look at the horses!”, she ignored his hand-shake. “I want to ride that one. I’ll call him patches.”

“That’s not a horse, it’s a pony.” Benny corrected. “We have lots of them on our farm. Dumb animals, stubborn too, like mules.”

“You live on a farm?” Barbara actually turned her attention for the first time to Benny. “With goats and cows?”

“Sure do, down in Davidson County. My Paw’s lambs are going to win first prize this year, I know it!”

“Do you have to get up early to milk the cows?”

“Well, five isn’t all that early. But yeah, gotta milk the cows, feed chickens, check on the goats, the dogs, the lambs. And summertime is especially busy with the tobacco crop to get in.”

“That sounds like fun.”

“Cousin Barbara, you clearly ain’t done it then.” Benny laughed. “Hey it’s your turn for a ride.”

“Aren’t you coming?” Barbara’s voice sounded torn. She really wanted the ride, but somehow Benny’s lack of interest devalued the whole thing.

“Naw, I wouldn’t trust them, look at their little sticks for legs. They’d throw me off. But you’ll be alright, and I’ll watch.” He couldn’t bring himself to explain he didn’t have money for things like this. With school starting up again in a few weeks, money had to go to things like shoes and groceries. Maw said her men ate like horses, but Paw said it was a ‘come-plow-mint’ what ever that meant. Usually it mean Paw would get a second helping.

|| July 4, 2005 | State Fair | Raleigh North Carolina

“My turn! My turn!” Alex and Brooke demanded as soon as the pony ride came to a stop. Ignoring the current passenger’s needs to get off, like most people did at elevators, the brother and sister team wanted to ride, and wanted to ride now! The actual act was great for Brooke, she lovingly patted the pony before and after the ride. Alex got bored within a minute, and whipped out his DS. He dropped it in the act, and the pony crunched it beyond all use. This of course brought on the tears.

‘Pa’ apologized, but of course made no offer to replace the expensive toy. The rules clearly said to hold on tight the entire time, and Alex had ignored those rules at his own peril. It was a good thing Alex himself didn’t fall off. Of course the parents grumbled something about legal action, and animal abuse but nothing would come of their bluster.

“Come on kids.” Dad said. “I’ll buy you a treat. Who wants a fried Twinkie?” That got their little minds off the afternoon’s disaster and refocused on something fun.

|| July 4, 2055 | State Fair | Raleigh North Carolina

“Why are we wasting time here?”, Li asked her younger brother, Yui. He had wanted to see the animals, specifically the ponies. Now they had seen them, it should have satiated his drive, but still he lingered.

“I heard these are REAL.” Yui explained.

“Of course they’re real, don’t you see those kids riding on them? Hologram shows are so last year.”

“No, I mean bred from other animals, not tubes and plastic wombs. REAL animals.”

“No difference, except you can’t dial their traits. How boring is that?” Li rolled her eyes. “I’m going to go get a caffeine and sugar tattoo, you want one?”

“Oh, yeah, let’s go. Do you think they have the chocolate-banana fusion?” Yui had now all but forgot the ‘real’ animals trotting around the metal framed circle. He was now off for some real fun - to sear flavors on his tongue, and chemicals one dermal layer under his skin.

|| July 4, 2105 | State Fair | Raleigh North Carolina

“Jak, come see this one!”, Jil touched the rotating display of ride cartridges. “These have the emo-chips version 6! We’ve got to try this.”

“Animal rides? Why? The thrill rides over in the midway actually make you excrete real adrenaline! I rode one guy’s memories and nearly pissed myself!”

“Eww! Would that have been real or in-live?”

“I don’t know.” Jak considered this, but had no real answer. Before he knew it, (and before he could protest) his sister had purchased two cartridges, and put his on the connect slot of his shirt. Instantly his body went inert, as a protection, and maintained the status quo of breathing and living.

His vision went to that of one child’s ride on a four legged animal, back when animals were larger than cats and frogs. It clopped behind another, a total of seven, each tethered to a spinning red metal frame. Jak of course could not look around freely, but could take in each of the sense. Sure there was a bad smell, as if defecation lay on the ground nearby. The ponies themselves smelled offensive. Lights came and went in the periphery, but above all was the joy. Liquid, pure, and wholesome, this child was having the time of his life. There was constant giggling and when the ride came to it’s inevitable end, Jak truly felt sad at having to end this experience.

“Come on, I want to try the inverter.” Jil said, “Apparently you can re-splice your DNA.”

“Sounds good, I’ll catch up.” Jak said and waited for his sister to disappear from sight, before crediting the vendor another dozen virtual dollars, and taking another two copies for later.