Marshall Ramsey

Jimmy Franks plopped down his $5, bought his ticket at the gate and walked slowly through it. His stomach already was turning. He hated the State Fair.  And for good reason.

When Jimmy was five, there had been a disastrous accident on the Midway. Sirens wailed, people screamed and newspaper front pages across the country ran the photo showing the crumpled steel and body bags.

Jimmy sighed.  His dad had been in one of those body bags.  The roller coaster had a hidden defect. The cars  derailed on the final curve.  Jimmy was too short to be on the ride with his dad. But was just tall enough to see  the accident happen.  Twenty years of nightmares followed that fateful day.  He could still hear his father’s scream.

He stopped right inside the gate, looked toward the Midway and felt a wave of nausea.  Jimmy’s girlfriend, Francine McCormick, ran up behind him and nearly knocked him down with a massive hug. “C’mon tough guy.  We’ll get you through this.”  Francine was as beautiful as she was caring.  She held his hand, squeezed it with a reassuring “I love you,” squeeze and pulled him toward the brightly lit rides.

The purple, red, green and blue neon could not light the darkness he felt in his heart. Jimmy would never tell Francine, but he was afraid. Deeply afraid.  Francine plopped down the $20 bill at the ticket counter.  “A book of tickets, please.”  She gathered her change and pulled him toward the Ferris Wheel.

The Ferris Wheel was the tallest ride at The State Fair.  You could see it for miles. And it completely horrified Jimmy.  Francine handed the man at the gate the proper number of tickets and said to the attendant, “One rider.”

Jimmy looked at her with horror.  “One?!?” He balked.  “Not only no, but HELL NO.”

No one said no to Francine.  They especially didn’t say, “HELL NO.” She batted her eyelashes and crossed her arms. “Jimmy Franks. I won’t marry a man who won’t overcome his fears.”

Jimmy knew that he would not win this one. Refuse to get on, he’d be a chicken. Get on, well, he’d be scared. The nausea boiled to the surface once again as he got into the swinging basket.

He looked at the attendant (a strange man) who smiled a strange smile at him.  All he could see in his mouth was a single gold tooth.  The ride jerked again and the baskets started to move. “Enjoy the ride, ” the attendant yelled.  Jimmy closed his eyes and sweat poured out of every pore in his body.

The ride was over before he knew it.  He stepped back out of the basket. He looked around and the world seemed different.  Maybe it was because he had overcome his fears? Maybe.  The attendant smiled and said, “See you again, soon.”

Right, Jimmy thought. Right.

He looked around for Francine.  The love of his life was nowhere to be seen.  Near where she was standing was a little girl — a cute kid — but not his girl of his dreams.  “I’m sure she’ll be right back,” he thought as he looked around.

Something seemed different.  The rides were different.  The sky was different. The skyline of the city behind them was different.  He looked closely at the cars in the nearby parking lot. They were different.  And older. Much older. He pulled out his cell phone and there was no service.

His heart started to pound. What was going on?!?  He rushed over to the Sheriff, who was standing nearby. It was a much younger version of the SHERIFF!  He asked as calmly as he could, “What’s the date?”

The Sheriff looked at him and said without a hint of a smile, “October 13, 1991, son.”

Jimmy’s heart sank.  It was the day his father had died. He ran toward a newspaper that was on the ground. He picked it up and nearly vomited. It was from 10/13/91.

Jimmy looked at his watch and began to run as fast as he possibly could toward the roller coaster. He shoved a woman eating cotton candy out of the way. He tripped a man carrying a big stuffed dog.  He came up to the line and punched a man as hard as he could in the mouth.  The man hit the ground and people began to scream.  Deputies started to chase him.  Jimmy ran has hard as he could back to the Ferris Wheel. The attendant tipped his hat and right as Jimmy got back on the ride, he heard a loud crash.

The roller coaster had crashed once again.

Jimmy closed his eyes as the ride started to move and tears flowed down his face.  Screams echoed in his head. And then they were silent.

The ride stopped and the attendant opened the door. “Welcome back, my friend.”

Jimmy glared at him and looked around.  The world seemed to have returned back to 2011.  “HEY HANDSOME!”  It was Francine. “I’m proud of you! Look what you did!  You overcame your fear!  And look who I found. I didn’t think I’d EVER find HIM here.”

Jimmy didn’t say a word.  There, standing next to Francine was his father. Grayer. With more wrinkles.  The man stood there and looked at his son and said, “I bet you didn’t think you’d ever see me here.”

Jimmy stared speechless.

“It has been 20 years since some fool knocked me out.  But you know, if it hadn’t have happened, I’d have gotten on that roller coaster.  It’s amazing how a single moment can change your life,” his dad explained.

Jimmy, in shock, looked over for the Ferris Wheel operator. He was gone.  Instead, standing before him was his father and his finance.

Jimmy Franks had experienced a miracle on the Midway.  And he came home from the State Fair with the biggest prize of all.

My sons looked warily at my Uncle Bill.  Sitting in his chair, thin and on oxygen, he must have been intimating to them.  Add to it that he is difficult to understand when he speaks  — well, I guess they just didn’t know what to think of him.

I wish they had met him when I was young.

Uncle Bill is a cool uncle. He’s the one who would tell you your first dirty joke. He has a twinkle in his eye and fears nothing.  And he loves my Aunt Shug (my dad’s sister, Lynn).  In my book, that’s all that matters.

Time stole his strength from him.  A few years before he became immobile, he ran a car wash that he owned. He was frail, hunched, shuffled when he walked and apparently an easy target for two criminals who thought they could rob him.

They thought wrong.

When  they came at him, he stabbed one of them in the chest with a screwdriver. The second one charged him and he promptly ran a power drill into his face.  As both men lay on the ground screaming in pain, Bill shuffled over their faces and promptly locked them in the closet until the police came.

The police ran their ID’s and found out that men were wanted criminals from Florida who had been responsible for several crimes in the area.  They were returned to prison where one of them died. The second is in for life.

My sons hung on every word of my Aunt’s story.  As we left that night, they hugged my Uncle in his chair.  At that moment, I realized they saw the man who I had come to love when I was a child.  They will always know how cool their Uncle Bill truly is.  And they learned to judge a man not by his appearance but by the courage in his heart.