Bedtime Story (7/6/2017)

On the day that I'm writing this story, I'm currently awaiting a trip to the funfair with my friend and her son.  I'm a big kid when it comes to things like this; I love going on rides, seeing the stalls and having lots of fun!  So, this story seemed appropriate to write, today...

A podcast version of this week's bedtime story is also available by clicking here.

Tessie At The Fair

Tessie had barely slept on Friday night.  She was much too excited about what the next day was going to bring!  A few days earlier, a funfair had come to town and her parents had promised that on Saturday, they would take her there.  

Tessie had never been to a real funfair, before.  She'd heard lots about them and she'd seen pictures, but she had never been and she could hardly wait!  Mum had told her that there would be loud music, bright lights and lots of rides to try.  Dad had said that there would be a sweet smell of candy floss and popcorn in the air, and that she might even win a teddy on one of the stalls.  It sounded amazing!

On Saturday morning, Tessie washed, dressed and ate her breakfast quicker than she had ever done it, before.  She could hardly wait to get out of the house and go off to the fair.  Luckily, it wasn't too far to walk.  All the way there, Tessie was full of questions:

"What will the rides be like?  Are we going to eat candy floss?  Can we stay all day?!"

Tessie heard the funfair before she saw it.  She could hear people excitedly screeching and laughing.  There was thumping music, blasting.  Strange noises she'd never heard before echoed down the road.  And then there was the smell!  Tessie could smell hot dogs and fried onions.  Then, just as Dad had promised, she got a waft of something sweet, too.

Finally, the funfair came into view.  Tessie gasped; she'd never seen anything like it!  

Brightly coloured rides, with fluorescent lights and pretty painted pictures all over them, filled every space of the usually empty land.  There were rides that span, rides that swung, rides that went up and down and, right in the middle, a big, rectangular structure, with a metal floor and a grid-like ceiling, but with no walls.  On the metal floor, lots of shiny, glittery cars were being driven around by happy, laughing people.  They were bumping into each other and shrieking.

"Those are the dodgems," Tessie's mum explained.  "Some people call them bumper cars - you drive around and bump into each other.  It's lots of fun!  Would you like a go?"

Tessie began to frown, as she watched the cars whizzing around and bumping into one another.  Wouldn't it hurt, to crash your car into another one?  Wouldn't you get bumped around in your seat?  Suddenly, Tessie felt rather unsure.  She shook her head and didn't say a word.

"Alright," Dad said.  "Let's try something else.  What about the Chair-O-Plane ride?"  He gestured across to a strange carousel, with lots of chairs hanging from long, metal chains.  Tessie watched, as excited people clambered into the chairs and were strapped in, before the chairs rose up high into the sky and the top of the carousel started to spin, causing the chairs to swing round and round.

Tessie swallowed.  It looked rather high up.  And wouldn't all that spinning make you dizzy?!  Again, she quietly shook her head.

Suddenly, Tessie wasn't as excited about being at the funfair.  Everything looked scary.  The music was too loud and there were too many people.  She clung to her mum's hand and her feet seemed rooted to the spot.

"What would you like to go on?"  Dad asked, crouching down to her level.  "The swing boats?  The carousel?  The helter skelter?"

Tessie's lower lip began to tremble.  She could hear spooky sounds coming from a nearby ghost train and people were screaming on a ride where they were being spun round and round.  She blinked back at him and said nothing.  She almost wished she was safely back at home.

"You don't have to go on any of the big rides, if you don't want to," Mum assured her.  "Maybe just look at the stalls for a while, or like Dad said, try something like the helter skelter?"

Tessie frowned.  "What's a helter skelter?"

Dad pointed to a large, brightly painted tower, with a slide running around the outside.  "It's just a big slide," he explained.  "You climb up to the top of the tower, then you sit o n a mat and slide back down."  He smiled at her and gave her hand a squeeze.  "I can go with you, if you like?"

Tessie thought for a while.  She liked the slide at nursery school...  Maybe a bigger one wouldn't be so bad?  It did look very high up, though...

They began walking towards the helter skelter, with Tessie dragging her heels and feeling rather unsure.  When they got to the entrance of the tower, Dad turned to her.  "Shall we give it a try?"  

A friendly looking lady held out a mat, with little handles to hold onto.  It looked prickly; a bit like a doormat.  Tessie bit her lip.

"If you get to the top and you decide you want to go back down, that's fine," Mum assured her.  

In a very small voice, Tessie heard herself reply: "Okay."

It seemed like a very long climb up to the top of the tower.  Dad carried the mat in one hand and held onto Tessie's hand with the other.  The inside of the tower was dark and echoey; it made Tessie feel even more nervous.  When they finally reached the top, the shock of the fresh air hit Tessie's cheeks and made them all rosy.  She felt her breath catch in her throat; it really was very high up!  

"We can turn around and walk back down, if you like?" Dad promised.  "You don't have to go down the slide."

Tessie peered down the side of the tower.  At the bottom, she could see Mum, holding up her phone to take pictures.  She took a deep breath.  "I'll do it," she said.

She and Dad sat close together on the mat, and Tessie gripped onto the handles.  Dad counted to three, then pushed off down the slide.

The fresh air hit Tessie's cheeks again as they picked up speed.  Butterflies darted around her stomach as they rounded each bend.  Her eyes watered from the fast pace of the slide.  But, to her surprise, she found herself laughing.  It wasn't scary after all - it was fun!  Really fun!

When Tessie reached the bottom, she was grinning from ear to ear.  "That was amazing," she squealed.  "Can we do it again?!"

"Of course," Mum replied, giving her a big hug for being so brave.  "It's my turn to go on it with you, now!"

After that, Tessie stopped feeling frightened of the funfair.  She still felt like some rides were too big and scary for her, but she was determined to have as much fun as she could.  She laughed and shrieked as she and Mum crashed into Dad's car on the dodgems.  She felt like she was flying as she soared through the air on the Chair-O-Plane.  She picked the most beautiful horse to ride on the carousel.  She even felt brave enough to go on the ghost train!

By the end of the day, Tessie was very tired, but delighted.  She could hardly wait for the funfair to come back to town again.

When she went to bed that night, she fell asleep quickly and disappeared into a noisy, sparkly, exciting world that smelt like popcorn and candy floss.  She'd loved her day at the funfair.  She'd loved the dodgems, the carousel and the bouncy castle.  But her favourite ride would always be the helter skelter.

THE END