Page 58 of Fast Forward

“Actually, Mum, I think I’ll be all right with just Jason. I was scared before, but I feel better now I’m in hospital,” Diora said.

“And she’s only a few centimetres dilated, so the baby probably won’t be here till morning,” the nurse added.

“She’s right,” Diora said. “You should go and get some sleep, you’ve had such a big day. When you wake up, you’ll have a grandchild. That is, if he or she cooperates and doesn’t decide to break a world record for the longest birth ever.” She managed a tired smile and my hand instinctively cradled her face.

I glanced at Will and he nodded. “Okay, well if you’re sure?” Diora nodded and Jason pulled up a stool next to the bed. “All right, but call me straight away if you change your mind, or if you need anything, okay?” I eyed the nurse as well as Jason. “C’mon, Superman, let’s go.”

Will took my hand and we walked down the corridor and out of the hospital doors.

“There’s a taxi stand over there.” I pointed around the corner, but Will had his eyes in the other direction. “What are you looking at?” I followed his gaze to the spectrum of city lights, flashing and merging into a colourful swirl as a Ferris wheel slowly turned.

“The fun fair is on near the harbour tonight. Fancy a detour before we head home? Like old times?” He shone a lopsided smile and held out his hand.

“Why the hell not?” I slipped my hand in his and we walked towards the lights.

Chapter 18

Fun and Games

“If the swing goes forward it will go backward too.” – Sri Lankan proverb

Will was right at home at the fun fair in his Superman costume, having already been asked for six photographs with tourists. “I’ve never had this much attention in my life,” he said.

I chuckled, then pointed at the moving clown heads. “Oh look! I haven’t had a go of them for years.” I tightened the knot in the large scarf Will had bought me to wrap around my waist and hide the rip in my dress, which was nice of him to suggest as I’d completely forgotten about it.

What had gotten into me? Normally I’d be terrified of anyone seeing such a wardrobe malfunction, but somehow seeing Diora about to bring a new human being into the world put things in perspective.

The attendant at the clown game had me swipe my e-pad and I stood with my hand at the ready, waiting for the perfect moment to drop the ball through the clown’s mouth and land in (hopefully) the number one position. Then I’d win a large fluffy teddy bear and could give it to Diora’s baby. My hand hovering, I traced the clown’s movement with my eye, before pushing the ball through its mouth. Damn! Number four instead.

“Here you go, madam,” said the attendant, handing me my prize – a multi-coloured glitter tinsel wig. It was ridiculously bright and would totally draw attention to myself, but I was beyond caring. I placed the wig over my head, messing up my chignon and shook my head side to side, the tinsel strands shimmying around my face.

“What do you think?” I asked Will.

“It suits you,” he replied, tousling my hair with his fingers.

“And here’s your prize, sir,” the attendant said after Will’s clown delivered the ball to number three.

Will slid the googly eye sunglasses onto his face and the bloodshot eyeballs sprung up and down, looking the way my eyes felt during the bungy jump this morning. A laugh spluttered out of my mouth and Will set his e-pad to the camera function and turned the holographic screen around to face us, so we could see ourselves. “Ready? Smile!”

Click! A memory captured forever. Or would it be?

“Now, let’s see if we can win one of those big bears for Baby Bellows.” Will tugged on my hand and we walked over to the ring toss game.

“Step right up, win a prize, five turns for every game!” The attendant spoke in a traditional sideshow voice, attracting visitors to the game. “Toss a ring onto a lily pad and win!”

It looked pretty hard, considering the lily pads were floating on a bed of water. It’d be hard enough to get the ring to land on one that was still, but maybe Will had better aim than me. We’d soon find out.

Will handed me his googly eyes and pushed up his Superman sleeves, holding on to the ring and pinning a lily pad with a laser stare.

“Look, folks, this is a first. Superman attempts the ring toss! Will he succeed, or will he fail? Come and watch, folks!”

Talk about pressure! A crowd of onlookers gathered, mostly teenagers and older couples, as it was obviously too late at night for young children.

“Okay, here goes.” Will gently threw the ring towards a lily pad, but it rebounded off the edge and landed with a slight plop in the water. Will clicked his fingers in disappointment. “Damn!”

“Four more turns, anything can happen, folks. Let’s see if he can live up to his costume and be a Super Winner, huh?”

Geez. Even more pressure. Poor Will. Another toss. Another fail. Third time lucky? Nope. Plop.

---