The Chapter Ends by Poul Anderson (which ebook reader .TXT) 📕

I turned to look at her. Her boyfriend Devon had one of her hands and was gazing at the carousel. “It’s pretty cool,” he said.

“Let’s get in line.” I motioned to them and we made our way through the crowd and around to the side where red velvet ropes formed a queue for the line.

We waited in line for half an hour for a turn while the high school choir went through their repertoire of Christmas songs. When we were given the go-ahead, we hurried onto the deck of the carousel and found horses to ride. The deck held three horses across, so Christy and Devon got on horses in front of us.

“I hope you two don’t mind me taking the horse next to you,” someone said.

I looked to my left and saw Brittany Wilson, an old classmate. I grinned at her. “Of course not. Isn’t the carousel wonderful?”

She nodded. “It’s beautiful. I told Sam he did a terrific job restoring it.”

I reached across and grabbed Ethan’s hand as we waited for the rest of the horses to be filled up. After what seemed like forever, the carousel finally started up, playing Jingle Bells as it got up to speed.

“This goes kind of fast,” Ethan said. “I’m surprised.”

“It’s pretty cool, huh? Christy and I used to ride this thing every chance we got when we were little,” I said. “But it never looked this good. Sam did a great job restoring it.”

Christy looked over her shoulder. “Right? The colors were pretty faded back then, and the paint was chipped.”

“I don’t think it went this fast, either,” I said, raising my voice over the music and the crowd.

“I heard Sam put an entirely new engine in this thing,” Devon said over his shoulder. “Everything was pretty much rusted out.”

I nodded. “I don’t doubt that. It’s so old, I’m surprised he could put it back together and make it work.”

“I love this carousel!” Brittany called out.

The crowd blurred as we went around, and I had to look away when I got dizzy. It was surprising how fast this thing could go. I hadn’t put the leather belt around myself to hold myself on, and I wondered if I should have. I gripped the pole that came up out of my horse tighter as it went up and down.

The ride was over before we knew it. I sighed and dismounted my horse and we exited the carousel.

“That was fun,” I said and grabbed Ethan’s hand. “What else is there to do?”

“I heard there are some carnival games at the other end of the plaza. I think there might even be some stuffed animals we can try to win,” Ethan said, with a raised eyebrow.

“Oh yes,” I said. “Let’s go see what kind of stuffed animals there are. If there are any cute ones, you can win it for me.”

“Aren’t you too old for stuffed animals?” he teased.

I shook my head. “I will never be too old for stuffed animals.”

He chuckled. “Of course not. What was I thinking?”

“I want a stuffed animal too, but I want to get some cocoa first,” Christy said. “The Girl Scouts are selling some over there.” She pointed to a table across the way.

“Cocoa sounds good,” I said.

We headed to the table and bought some cocoa before going over to the carnival games. The night sky was black and sparkled with twinkling stars. We had gotten some snow over the past few days, but the city had shoveled out the area around the booths and carousel. The white of the snow turned the town into a winter wonderland, but now there was a slight breeze that carried an icy chill on the wind.

I pulled my coat tighter against my body as we paused in front of the high school choir and listened to a couple of songs. They were singing Up on the rooftop, one of my favorite Christmas songs from my childhood, and then Here Comes Santa Claus. The kids were dressed in red and black. The girls wore red and white berets while the boys wore red and green plaid scarves.

“They’re doing a great job,” Christy said, leaning toward me so I could hear her. “I used to love choir.”

“Me too,” I said, nodding. “It makes me wish I was still in high school.”

We listened to two more songs while sipping our cocoa and then headed to the carnival games.

“I wish the candy store was here on the plaza,” Christy said as we walked. “We’d get to see the carousel every evening during Christmas while we worked.”

“Not to mention how much business these stores are doing tonight,” I said, glancing at the jewelry store. Through the windows, I could see all the customers shopping inside.

The carnival area was packed with people playing games or milling about. There were vendor food carts with funnel cakes, popcorn, soft drinks, and a taco cart.

I inhaled. “Those tacos smell good,” I said, glancing at the cart. “Maybe when we’re finished playing games, we can stop and get something.”

Ethan nodded. “That sounds good,” he said. “I love tacos.”

We walked down the path that led through the game booths, trying to decide what we wanted to play. And then I spotted it. “You need to play that game,” I said, pointing at the booth. It was a bushel basket ball toss game, and hanging above the play area were the stuffed animals.

Ethan glanced at the prizes hanging from the roof. “Oh, let me guess,” he said chuckling. “You want me to win that black cat for you, right?”

I grinned at him. “It’s like you can read my mind.” I had a black cat named Boo and he had one named Licorice and I couldn’t resist getting the stuffed cat. We headed over to the