Read Online Funland by Richard Laymon - Free Book Online Page B

secure.
    With a jerk that made the basket tip, the wheel carried them upward. It stopped, and the next passengers boarded.
    Harold was clutching the safety bar with both hands.
    Joan put a hand on his thigh. He looked at her. He gasped as they were suddenly lifted higher.
    “There’s nothing to be afraid of,” Joan said. “The Ferris wheel’s safe. So am I.”
    “Sure,” he muttered.
    The wheel abruptly lifted them once more. Harold squeezed his eyes shut. He sat there gripping the bar, feet planted on the floor panel, back rigid, eyes tightly shut, teeth gritted.
    Joan patted his thigh. “Loosen up, would you? You’re making me nervous.”
    “I’m sorry.” He managed to say it without moving his jaw.
    “Hey, you’re not going to capsize us if you open your mouth.”
    He sucked in a quick breath as the wheel moved again. When it stopped, they were near the top.
    They were damn high.
    Joan felt as if her insides had been left at the previous level.
    “Jesus,” she muttered.
    The boardwalk was way down there.
    If this damn thing tips over…
    “I’m not the kind of man,” Harold said, “who has a woman like you.”
    “Self-fulfilling prof…Uh!” She grabbed the safety bar with both hands.
    When the wheel stopped, they were at the very top. Their gondola swayed back and forth.
    She realized that this position, though higher than the previous one, was considerably less unnerving.
    Because, at the pinnacle of the Ferris wheel, the ground was out of sight. She could see the distant wooded hills of the coastline range, and the headlights of cars on the highway, but nothing of the boardwalk.
    Nothing directly below.
    Nothing of what she would land on if the contraption fell apart or tipped over.
    Not without leaning forward or sideways and peering down.
    They started down and she could see the boardwalk again. To avoid the view, she turned her head and looked at Harold. He still sat rigid with his eyes shut.
    The man, she thought, is a coward.
    I’m scared too, she reminded herself.
    But not like that.
    And she realized that she had learned nothing new here tonight. She had confirmed her suspicions, nothing more. Maybe that was why she had brought him here—to take him out of his safe academic world and…put him on trial. Not a conscious plan, certainly. But maybe in the back of her mind that was why she’d insisted they skip the film and come to Funland.
    The Ferris wheel moved, dropping them lower. This time it didn’t stop after a few feet. It swept them down close to the ground and lifted them toward the heights, and Joan’s fear slipped away. They flew over the crest and swung downward.
    This is all right, she thought. Just takes some getting used to.
    I just take some getting used to.
    Get him into bed just once, he’ll be fine.
    Right. Fine. That little piece of him will be fine, the little piece that’s scared of me. But what about the rest of him?
    She knew that she would never be able to count on him, lean on him, be comforted by his strength. She would have to be the strong one, the leader.
    More like his mother than his lover.
    I don’t need that.
    Soon the Ferris wheel stopped. They were gradually lowered toward the ground. Not until the attendant stepped up to their gondola did Harold release his grip on the safety bar. They climbed down.
    On the boardwalk, Joan said, “You can take me home now.”
    “You’re upset with me,” he said.
    “No. It’s all right.”
    “I rode the damn ride.”
    “I know. That was very brave.”
    “About the other thing…”
    “That’s all right,” Joan said. “I understand.”
    She took his hand. They walked out of Funland and into the parking lot, and he opened the door of his car for her. She leaned across the seat and unlocked the driver’s door. He climbed in without looking at her.
    He drove out of the parking lot.
    “I knew we should’ve gone to Macbeth,” he said.
    Joan said nothing.
    “Would you like to stop someplace for a