The Risk at Rye Playland

By Elijah Meltzer

I saw the big purple spaceship. It was spinning so fast I was getting dizzy. The lights on the sign “R.S. 2000” were blazing so brightly I couldn’t see for a few seconds. I heard that a guy had thrown up on the ride. “I definitely don’t want to go on that ride!” I said to my friends next to me.

Rye Playland is so cool! What a way to spend the first day of summer vacation! A man came up and talked about how cool the ride was. It did look sort of intriguing. I decided that it was worth the risk. I tried to persuade my friends to go, but they wouldn’t budge. I told them that I was going to go on the R.S. 2000, but that they could try a different ride and tell me about it. I headed for for the line.

The line was super long. It was 15 minutes before I could tell I was going on the next ride cycle. But as soon as the giant spaceship started spinning, it didn’t start again. They told us that another kid had thrown up while the ride was spinning. I really wanted to get off the line. Unfortunately, this was after I tried to persuade my friends; so I couldn’t chicken out.

I could practically see myself on the floor of this purple spaceship with multiple broken bones. There was an ambulance with lights flashing, and horns honking, and the sirens were blazing. And I would be on the floor with an injury that would last the whole summer. It seemed so realistic. At the back of my mind I knew it wouldn’t happen, but the front of my mind sure didn’t agree. I kept on going back to that image of me on the floor of the R.S. 2000. It was awful.

I nervously waited for it to start. If I get hurt on the first day of summer vacation, that would be the worst thing that ever happened to me! I shuddered at the thought. I saw my friends get off the ride. What!? I thought. They already got of the ride?! I hadn’t even gotten into mine. They waved to me and I waved back. One of them gave me a nervous smile that basically  said “good luck”.

Finally, they opened the doors. I walked inside. There were no seatbelts, or seats at all for that matter. They told you to stand and lean back on the wall. There was a big control panel with a woman sitting in front of it in the middle of the ride. There were a lot of colorful flashing lights too. When everyone had gotten onto the ride, it started to spin. The woman and the control panel were not spinning. It spun faster and faster until I couldn’t feel it spinning at all. I felt a force pushing me against the wall. The force was so strong that I could climb the wall without falling down because the force was pushing me into to the wall. It was like gravity had suddenly started moving sideways and gotten ten times stronger! It was so cool! I wasn’t touching the floor at all! I lay down on the wall.

This was the coolest thing that ever happened to me! The force got even stronger. I could barely move now. I lifted my head up off the wall and the force slammed my head back down against the wall! (Luckily: the wall was padded). The force then got weaker as the spinning slowed down. Now I could move again. I crawled down the wall. About a foot from the ground, the spinning stopped completely and I fell down to the ground. But the floor was carpeted so it was fine.

When I got outside, it felt really weird to walk. It kind of felt like my insides were made of helium. I waddled around until I found my friends. I told them how cool the ride was. They looked really surprised at first. It was like I had just told them that the Tooth Fairy existed. After a while, they agreed to come on the ride with me. We went on it again and they loved it. I am so glad I took the risk to go on the R.S. 2000.

The End