Just the Boys, Part 2

When you go to the fair, you eat. A lot. Surprisingly, this was not something that I had to teach my son. It was something instinctual. Or maybe it was the dozens upon dozens of food vendors lining the walkways of the fairgrounds. Either way, the boy made it clear that he was there to eat. Between cries of, "I'm hungry" we consumed a few things fried, a few things made with dough and some lemonade (lemonade and more lemonade).

We plotted a course to the midway and I loaded up on tickets for the rides. The fair was stocked with plenty of kid-sized versions of adult amusements—the Spider, the Mix Master, two roller coasters, swings, a house of mirrors and a haunted house. But the Bean only had eyes for the Ferris wheel.

This is a good time to remind you that I am not a fan of heights.

Once again, I manned up and took my son on the ride of his choice. When we were back on terra firma, I bought him the ice cream cone that he had so desperately wanted. He ate voraciously while my nerves settled. When the Bean was done, he tilted his ice cream covered face toward the sky and pointed at the one thing that I was hoping he would not notice—the chairlift.

“I want to ride that!” he exclaimed gleefully.

“I’m not sure we can ride that, buddy boy,” I said, trying to sound convincing. “I think it’s broken.”

“But there are other people riding on it.”

Crap, I thought to myself.

I tried to divert his attention away from the chairlift. We saw a 3-D movie, checked out the farm animals and watched a cow being milked. We strolled past the elementary school art show, saw the agriculture exhibit and peeped at a working bee hive. After we watched the elephants, the Bean yawned a few times and for a moment I thought that I might get out unscathed.

I was on the verge of suggesting that we head home when he once again pointed upwards and said, “Now can we ride that?”

I stared at the handful of non-refundable ride tickets that I had bought. The Bean had steadfastly refused to ride anything else. I took a deep breath and made a decision.


Love makes you do crazy things. And I love few things more than hanging out "just the boys."