The Roller Coaster
At a family occasion in Santa Monica, a friend of the family
told a story about a roller coaster in France. I’m not sure who the teller was,
but my guess would be Nancy Nimitz, as she was the most consistent non-family
presence in Santa Monica. She was the daughter of Admiral Chester Nimitz, a
hero of World War II complete with an aircraft carrier named after him. Since
she, like my uncle Malcolm, worked for the Rand Corporation (he in economics
and she as an expert on Russia), I imagine they met at work. I liked her a lot;
she was smart and witty and irreverent. The story seems like one she would
tell.
I don't know if the story was true, but we kids loved it.
She said that the builders had tried to make the scariest, most exciting roller
coaster ever. They were very pleased with their creation, and had tested it
thoroughly with sandbags standing in for passengers. Came the dedication day
and the honor of the first ride was accorded to the mayor and other city
officials. However, at the end of the ride, they all were dead, their necks
snapped.
Not long afterwards, my mother took me, my brother, and a
cousin to Disneyland. We went on the Matterhorn Bobsleds ride, a type of roller
coaster. After a little conference at the top of the ride, we had our plan. As
the car neared the bottom of the mountain, we all keeled over bonelessly, as if
our necks had been snapped. Mother had been watching us and knew exactly what
we were doing. She stepped away from the fence and pretended that she didn't
know us. When the attendants came running up to the car, we smiled sweetly up
at them.
Lo these many years later, I wonder why we kids loved the
story so much that we decided to re-enact it. Why we felt no horror or sorrow
at the meaningless deaths of the officials, but only macabre glee. Maybe it’s
because kids don’t believe in death; the only deaths we have seen so far in our
lives have been fictions on a screen or in writing. At any rate, the story
really impressed us at the time, and it lingers in my mind still.
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