I lost my girlfriend to the Sunshine Valley Super Coaster.
Up to that point, it had been a fun day at the park. We had enjoyed some other rides, played some games, even watched a sidewalk magician... half-way around the park, before she was willing to stand in line for as long as it would take to get on the coaster. She swore she hated coasters, even as she admitted she'd never been on one. But I beat her at a boat race, and I promised I would win her something at the skee-ball, so she relented and checked her phone as we waited in line, until it was our turn to board.
She was audibly nervous, especially when they sat us in the front cab. She double-checked her restraints (and mine), while I kept trying to reassure her, telling her stories about other coasters even bigger and faster than this, so this won't be a problem. But as soon as the coaster pulled out, and the clacking and hissing began, she started muttering in hyperspeed, "idon'twannadothis,idon'twannadothis..." I laughed off her anxiety, raising my arms up and whooping with others in anticipation. She told me how much I owed her for putting her in this predicament, and probably getting her killed, while everything left our field of vision but sky...
...and then we plunged. And the screaming began.
At first, it was hilarious, all of us screaming as we plummeted, and her the loudest. Not just screaming, but cussing, digging her fingers into my leg, holding on for dear life...
By the end of the first dip, she was hyperventilating, cussing in tongues, while we were twisted and titled at breakneck speed. By the second dip, her yells were deafening.
On the third incline, most of us were catching our breath, laughing - and so was she, but more so. Her hands were tight on the armbars now, and her eyes were barely open. That's when the thought entered my head, remembering the screams she made the night she heard something bang up against the front door, or when she startled a mouse in her kitchen. This moment was different.
When we returned, she couldn't get out of the cab by herself. I was her crutch, as she wobbled her way to the exit. She asked to go again, but I told her I had a prize I promised to win her. I ended up winning her a polar bear as big as she was; she asked me to hold it while she went on the coaster again. When I caught up with her later, she was waiting at the exit with a cigarette.
Things were not the same after that; two weeks later, it was over. I lost her to the Super Coaster. She left me the bear.
inspired by Discover Magazine article, "New Evidence for Flavor-Switching Neutrinos"
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