Lost in Coney Island 1

Lost in Coney Island

Once I was in Coney Island with my parents. It was a steaming August afternoon, and in those days Coney was a real family destination, so it was absolutely crammed with people.

It was still kind of innocent in those days, with lots of rides still operating, and a wholesome family atmosphere. The Cyclone was still the big attraction - in fact, it probably still is. The beauty of those old roller coasters was that they were made of wood. So when the train was rolling through, the sound they made was a terrific thunder of steel wheels on tracks, held in the air by wood supports which were bending and squealing under the strain.

In amongst these scenes of horror and deviance, were the wonderful old rides - the haunted house which really did send a shiver up your spine - especially if you were 8 years old. My attention was grabbed by a large animated head of a dragon outside the spook house. The huge puppet head swayed slowly from side to side, and it’s mouth opened to reveal a cloth flame inside. this apparition sent me into a dream, and I had that strange, recurrent feeling from my childhood of all the other sights and sounds being in soft focus and tunnelling away as if through the wrong end of a telephoto lens. That big fake dragon head was the only thing that seemed real to me.

When I finally snapped out of my private reverie, I looked around and realise that the rest of the family had continued walking, leaving me standing alone in front of this horrible creature. Horrified, I was still unable to move, rooted by fear and fascination, but also overcome with the pointlessness of running anywhere.

I continued to wander, and came to a part of the park which was separated from the rest of the rides. It was an immense glass palace, surrounded by a roller coaster in the shape of a horse race, and horses were chasing in and out of the building, all along the roof of the thing. The entire place was in the shape of a big goofy laughing face. Across the entrance was a sign that read: “Steeplchase - the funny place”.

People were buying disks from a ticket seller at the gate, which they wore around their necks

The disk had circles running around it, which would have a hole punched through them when you got on a ride. In order to enter, you had to pass through an enormous barrel which was revolving, and people were sliding and stumbling over each other, trying clumsily to get through to the other end. A young child on his own wasn’t noticed, and so I wandered into the large tube, and promptly began to slip and slide, holding on to the sides didn’t work any better, because it just meant you would rotate with the tube, and when you let go, painfully hit the bottom..

Next to the entrance to the ‘Steeplechase’, I came to a theatre. There was no ticket required, so I just wandered in and sat down ina large open auditorium. At first there seemed to be nothing happening. Then afrightened looking couple walked on the stage, and the floor they walked onstarted to shift, making them stumble. I looked up, and there was thatcontroller again, high above the stage. He pushed another lever, and the wallsstarted to sway. The stars of this show were totally disoriented. On walked aclown, with a long technical looking rod. He touched them with it and theyjumped 10 feet. It was an electric prod, and now the couple looked reallyanxious, to the delight of the few audience members who sat around me.

Then from above I could hear the rumbling sound of themechanical horse race, galloping around high above us around the outside of theroof. The couple decided to try and make a dash off the stage, but he clowntoyed with them, pointing threateningly with the prod. When they finally madeit cross stage to what seemed to be the wings, I heard the sound of the horsescoming to the finish line and lots of excited voices of the riders dismountingand coming down some metal stairs. They came to the wings just as a crowd ofanimated people pushed their way on stage. It took them a few seconds torealise that they were on stage, and every reaction to their circumstance washighlighted by the stage lights, and the response of the audience exaggeratedit further. Until it really was an unwitting performance, combining fear anxiety and unaware slapstick.

Slipping on the polished moving floor, along a rollingstairs, darting to avoid the electric prod of the clown, they pushed theoriginal couple back the way they came, through the large falling doorway andright under the elephant, between its leg pillars. Feeling a bit unsafe in the sparse audience, I slipped out through a side door, and back into the park. Where were my parents?

In the pit of my stomach I had the lost little boy feeling again, and lost myself in a thought of getting back to my family.People came and watched me as I refused to get down from my swing, and thenthere appeared the controller, who had come down from his perch above theelephant. "Are you lost little boy?" A group of people led me to aroom, where I waited for my parents to come.

I don’t recall how I was finally reunited with my family. It almost seems to me that I never was, and was adopted willingly bythe dragon at Coney Island. @issuu