Carousel

Round and round the brightly colored machine turned on its axis. Horses, Unicorns, Lions and even several Dragons endlessly chased one another on the deck of the wondrous contraption; perhaps being inspired by the cheerful sounds of the automated calliope. The beasts always carried bright eyed children on their backs, but not today, or any day during the frozen winter months.

The carousel, seemingly unimpressed by the biting cold of the January night air, steadily turned circle after circle without a care in the world. A crowd of townsfolk formed around the carousel, unable to ascertain why the machine was running and who had turned it on. Most of the city council and the mayor, having just adjourned an evening meeting, joined the expanding crowd. It had been unanimously decided that the tract of land used as a park and everything on it, including the carousel, was to be sold to a developer. The sale would revitalize the city coffers along with many of the council members’ personal bank accounts.

The land and the carousel were donated to the city over 150 years ago by a wealthy benefactor to be used in perpetuity as a park for anyone to come and enjoy. He did this in memory of his only daughter, Stephanie, who loved riding the carousel’s unicorn. She died on her sixth birthday from a childhood disease. Now the last vestige of her memory had just been sold.

The mayor’s daughter was the first of the town’s children to slip away and hop aboard the slowly circling carousel—many of the other children in the group followed her lead, climbing aboard and mounting one of the wooden creatures. Only one animal was left without a rider, a white and pink unicorn adorned with a golden horn. A young girl emerged from the cover of darkness, strode to the carousel, climbed on and mounted the unoccupied steed. The ride’s revolutions increased as the music intensified, until everything on it became a blur. The children’s shouts of delight turned into screams of terror, finally being blotted out by the roar of the wind being generated by the out of control ride. Several of the parents attempted to rescue their children but were rebuffed by the wall of wind that surrounded the carousel.

It was the mayor who meekly approached the ride, and in a terrified voice called out, “We are canceling the sale. It was wrong to want to remove you and sell this land. Please forgive us and return our children.” The ride continued to whirl at a breakneck speed for a minute longer as if contemplating the offer, then slowly decelerated.

Once it was safe, the parents climbed aboard and retrieved their kids. All the children stood by their parents, safely on solid ground, except for one little girl mounted on a golden horned unicorn. She scanned the crowd, sat up as straight as her small frame would allow and spoke to the crowd.

“My daddy gave me this carousel and I like to let everyone ride it, but it’s not yours to sell. I’m going back home now but I’ll be back to ride my unicorn from time to time so please take care of this ride for me.”

Later that year the town built an amusement park around the carousel and erected a plaque in Stephanie’s honor.