Joyland(66)

"Is this usual?" Annie asked.

"Sure," I said, a trifle giddily. None of it was usual.

I drove through the gate and onto Joyland Avenue, pulling up next to the park bench outside the Wiggle-Waggle Village where I had once sat with Mr. Easterbrook after my first turn as Howie.

Mike wanted to get out of the van the way he'd gotten in: by himself. I stood by, ready to catch him if he lost his balance, while Annie hoisted the wheelchair out of the back. Milo sat at my feet, tail thumping, ears cocked, eyes bright.

As Annie rolled the wheelchair up, Fred approached in a cloud of aftershave. He was . . . resplendent. There's really no other word for it. He took off his hat, bowed to Annie, then held out a hand. "You must be Mike's mother." You have to remember that Ms. wasn't common usage back then, and, nervous as I was, I took a moment to appreciate how deftly he had avoided the Miss/Mrs. dichotomy.

"I am," she said. I don't know if she was flustered by his courtliness or by the difference in the way they were dressedshe amusement-park casual, he state-visit formal-but flustered joyland





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she was. She shook his hand, though. "And this young man-"

"-is Michael." He offered his hand to the wide-eyed boy standing there in his steel supports. "Thank you for coming today."

"You're welcome . . . I mean, thank you. Thank you for having us." He shook Fred's hand. "This place is huge."

It wasn't, of course; Disney World is huge. But to a ten-yearold who had never been to an amusement park, it had to look that way. For a moment I could see it through his eyes, see it new, and my doubts about bringing him began to melt away.

Fred bent down to examine the third member of the Ross family, hands on his knees. "And you're Milo!"

Milo barked.

"Yes," Fred said, "and I am equally pleased to meet you." He held out his hand, waiting for Milo to raise his paw. When he did, Fred shook it.

"How do you know our dog's name?" Annie asked. "Did Dev tell you?"

He straightened, smiling. "He did not. I know because this is a magic place, my dear. For instance." He showed her his empty hands, then put them behind his back. "Which hand?"

"Left," Annie said, playing along.

Fred brought out his left hand, empty.

She rolled her eyes, smiling. "Okay, right."

This time he brought out a dozen roses. Real ones. Annie and Mike gasped. Me too. All these years later, I have no idea how he did it.

"Joyland is for children, my dear, and since today Mike is the only child here, the park belongs to him. These, however, are for you."





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STEPHEN KING


She took them like a woman in a dream, burying her face in the blooms, smelling their sweet red dust.

'Til put them in the van for you," I said.

She held them a moment longer, then passed them to me.

"Mike," Fred said, "do you know what we sell here?"

He looked uncertain. "Rides? Rides and games?"

"We sell fun. So what do you say we have some?"

?

I remember Mike's day at the park-Annie's day, too-as if it happened last week, but it would take a correspondent much more talented than I am to tell you how it felt, or to explain how it could have ended the last hold Wendy Keegan still held over my heart and my emotions. All I can say is what you already know: some days are treasure. Not many, but I think in almost every life there are a few. That was one of mine, and when I'm blue-when life comes down on me and everything looks tawdry and cheap, the way Joyland Avenue did on a rainy day-I go back to it, if only to remind myself that life isn't always a butcher's game. Sometimes the prizes are real. Sometimes they're precious.

Of course not all the rides were running, and that was okay, because there were a lot of them Mike couldn't handle. But more than half of the park was operational that morning-the lights, the music, even some of the shys, where half a dozen gazoonies were on duty selling popcorn, fries, sodas, cotton candy, and Pup-A-Licious dogs. I have no idea how Fred and Lane pulled it off in a single afternoon, but they did.

We started in the Village, where Lane was waiting beside the engine of the Choo-Choo Wiggle. He was wearing a pillowtick engineer's cap instead of his derby, but it was cocked at the Joy land





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same insouciant angle. Of course it was. "All aboard! This is the ride that makes kids happy, so get on board and make it snappy. Dogs ride free, moms ride free, kids ride up in the engine with me."

He pointed at Mike, then to the passenger seat in the engine.

Mike got out of his chair, set his crutches, then tottered on them.

Annie started for him.

"No, Mom. I'm okay. I can do it."

He got his balance and clanked to where Lane was standinga real boy with robot legs-and allowed Lane to boost him into the passenger seat. "Is that the cord that blows the whistle?

Can I pull it?"

"That's what it's there for," Lane said, "but watch out for pigs on the tracks. There's a wolf in the area, and they're scared to death of him."

Annie and I sat in one of the cars. Her eyes were bright. Roses all her own burned in her cheeks. Her lips, though tightly pressed together, were trembling.