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of the warmth. But at night, things looked a little more daring, glitzy,
glamorous. The ferris wheel seems like an adventure, a risk intended
only for the brave. I know roller coasters are probably considered to be
scarier than the Ferris wheel, but it takes a different kind of courage. On
roller coasters, you have to be unafraid to move fast, at such tremendous
speeds that you can't even see where you are going. But 1 don't like that
dizzying blur. On the Ferris wheel, you must be able to stare directly at
your fear, to regard it for long periods of time as you rise again and again
to confront it. You can slowly absorb everything you see, savoring the
bright lights and cool breeze.

The wheel slowed to a halt as we neared the top, as the shifty
men with their drowsy eyes and bored expressions stopped the ride
completely to allow people off on quivering legs. Joe clutched the bar
and I wrapped my arm around him, laughing off my nervousness as I
tried to distract him. "Let's see if we can find your mom and sister down
there." Joe peered nervously over the cart, the cold metal pressed against
the backs of our legs, the bar in front of us a barrier against tumbling to
a bright, twinkling death. As we dangled there precariously, swaying in
the salty ocean wind, my eyes revolved over the panorama in front of
me. Across the inlet, 1 could see, with dazed eyes, the sparkling lights
of the city, shining like hot stars and colored sparks, the moving lights
of cars, like metallic ants weaving between the yellowy streets, all set
against the backdrop of the inky ocean mirroring the stars. The breeze
pressed against my cheeks and the Ferris wheel's fairy lights dazzled my
eyes, with all the world in all its brilliance laid out before me. 1 closed
my eyes to savor the breeze, and heard earnest voices above me, breaking
sharply into my musings.

"I mean it, David; I'm going to say something. We can't keep
going on like this."

1strained my ears to hear my brother's response, but his
low voice caught on the breeze and whipped away from me. His tone
sounded brusque, tense and angry. 1 tilted my head back, causing the
cartto lean dangerously. 1 couldn't see either of their faces, but their cart
was twitching crazily, as though they were shifting to look at each other,
straining to gain ground in an argument.

"You can't really expect ..." The wheel lurched into motion
again, and as we neared the ground the sounds of the crowds and the

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