I got this idea when I went to cedar point in the summer and decided to write it now.
Amusement Park
Sweeney was pacing at his window cleaning his razor, which was already sparkling. 'When will the Judge come for a blasted shave?' he thought. Just then the bell on the door rang announcing a customer.
"Good afternoon Sir." He said in an overly cheerful voice as he turned to greet the person who entered.
"Afternoon Mr. T" Mrs. Lovett said as she set the tray with Sweeney's lunch down.
Sweeney's fake smile dropped from his face as soon as he saw it was only Mrs. Lovett. He grunted and turned back around to look out the window, ignoring Mrs. Lovett he started to clean his razors again.
After a few minuets Mrs. Lovett surprisingly broke the silence, "Mr. T ye know 'ow the customers 'ave been talkin' 'bout that new place called an amusement park, I wos thinkin' maybe we could go down and see wot all the excitement is 'bout."
"No!" Sweeney said forcefully turning from the window to glare at Mrs. Lovett. He did not want to go on another outing with her like the day she dragged him to the park. He shuddered at the thought and turned back around to stare out the window at the scum of London.
"Come on Mr. T it would be fun." Mrs. Lovett said walking closer to him by the window.
Not even turning to acknowledge her presence he mumbled, "I'm not going the Judge might come for a shave today."
Mrs. Lovett huffed in annoyance, putting her hands on her hips she asked in an angry tone, " 'ave ye not seen anything out that bloody window ye stare at all day?" not expecting a reply she continued, "No one has been in me shop 'nd it's past the lunch rush. Actually look out the bloody window for one," she pointed to the street below, "the only people I 'ave see all day were heading to the amusement park. I doubt the Judge will come today, love." She said the last part softly.
Sweeney just stood there thinking about what Mrs. Lovett just said, 'She's right, I haven't had a customer all day.' Sweeney focused his eyes on the street below; no one was down there except for a stray mutt and a beggar wondering around.
"Me 'nd Toby were going to 'ead down in an 'our, you should some with us. You never know the Judge might be there." Mrs. Lovett shrugged and left to get ready. 'I hope that caught his attention' she thought as she walked down the old stairs to her shop with a smile on her face.
What Mrs. Lovett said had caught Sweeney's attention. 'I haven't had a costumer today and as she pointed out earlier no one has been around much today. Why wouldn't the judge go to this bloody amusement park?' he thought as he tried to figure out a way to get the Judge to come back with him to have a "shave".
"Toby are ye ready to go?" Mrs. Lovett shouted from the kitchen.
"Yes mum" Toby replied as he entered the parlor.
"Can ye grab the basket and wait for me outside?" Mrs. Lovett asked pointing to the basket on the counter. Toby nodded, grabbed the basket and headed outside to wait.
Mrs. Lovett took one last look around the kitchen making sure they would be warm enough and have food if they got hungry at the amusement park. 'Well I guess Mr. T ain't coming wit us' she shrugged headed toward the door
As Mrs. Lovett walked out the door she ran right into a man. "Sorry sir didn't see you there" she apologized
"It's alright Mrs. Lovett," Sweeney grunted ", can we just get going now?" He asked.
"Um…yeah Toby is waiting for us, lets get goin'." Mrs. Lovett replied still a little shocked that he was actually coming with them. As they started to walk Sweeney started to pick up the pace, after a few minuets of fast walking Mrs. Lovett said, "Mr. T slow down we 'ave plenty of time to get there." Sweeney reluctantly slowed down as Toby and Mrs. Lovett caught up. Sweeney frowned at how slow they were walking now, 'the sooner I get there the sooner I can get to the judge'
"Don't worry dearie," Mrs. Lovett said seeing his frown, "you'll 'ave fun, just enjoy it." They continued to walk in silence and soon they reached the park. What they saw made them all stop.
It looked like all of London was there. People were everywhere, crowded around tents and walking around. In the tents were a variety of things; one had a clown making balloon animals for the kids around him. One man was shouting out to the people about some un-human child in another tent, but the one thing that stood out the most was this big wooden contraption. It had a cart with people in it and it rode along the rails, up and down and through turns.
"WOW, can I go see the clown mum?" Toby asked in excitement, his eyes wide from the sight of everything.
" 'Course dearie, just meet us back at the house before dark." Mrs. Lovett said as Toby ran off into the mass of people.
"So, Mr. T what would you like to do?" Mrs. Lovett asked turning to Sweeney.
Sweeney didn't reply, he stood there scanning the crowd, 'He has to be her' he thought.
Mrs. Lovett looked at him, "Come on Love, let go see what that big wooden thing is." She said as she hooked her arm around his and started off.
After an hour of walking around, Mrs. Lovett talking to people, she found out that the huge wooden thing was called a rollercoaster and anyone could ride it if they wanted to.
"Lets wait in line and see wot this rollercoaster is like." She said as they went to the back of the line
Sweeney wasn't paying attention as Mrs. Lovett was dragging him around. 'The Judge must be here somewhere' he thought. After about an hour of not moving much and Mrs. Lovett chattering away at nothing Sweeney asked, "What are we doing?"
"We're waiting to ride this rollercoaster." She replied
"And what, may I ask, is a rollercoaster?"
"It's the wooden thing over there," Mrs. Lovett pointed ahead of them "we've been waitin' in this line for over an hour now."
Another hour went by of Mrs. Lovett talking and Sweeney completely ignoring her, searching the crowd for Judge Turpin. As they got closer to the rollercoaster and all the screaming of the people on the ride Sweeney started to actually notice the things around him. All the annoying kids running around, young couples holding hand, and all the screaming coming from the tracks ahead of him. He started to wonder why anyone would want to go one something like that, it look very unsafe to him. Sweeney turned to Mrs. Lovett and asked, "Are you sure that thing is safe Mrs. Lovett?"
"Sure it is hundreds of people 'ave been riden' it all day" She answered as she turned back to talking to the people waiting in line in front of her.
As they started to get closer Sweeney started to have second thoughts about the rollercoaster. 'This thing doesn't look safe at all, it's so noisy and the people on the ride are screaming'
"Doesn't the look fun, love?" Mrs. Lovett asked bringing Sweeney out of his thoughts. He didn't reply he just kept staring at the rollercoaster wondering why he was in this line to get on it.
Twenty minuets later they were being escorted to one of the seats toward the back of the cart. Mrs. Lovett got in first then Sweeney followed, still unsure of why he was doing this.
Once they were in their seats an operator came by all of the seats and locked a bar in place over the passengers laps. After the operator locked the bar over Mrs. Lovett's and Sweeney's laps he said, "Enjoy the ride!" and walked over to a control panel and hit the button to start the ride.
At this point Sweeney wasn't feeling very safe with just a bar holding him inside the cart. It was an arms length away and nothing else was holding him down in the cart. He grasped the bar in front of him in a death grip as the wheels started to move the cart forward.
"Oh, Mr. T ain't this exciting?" Mrs. Lovett asked cheerfully.
Sweeney just grunted softly, he didn't even move as the car was being pulled up the hill. Sweeney's hands even started to shake, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street was afraid.
By now the coaster was almost to the top. Mrs. Lovett saw the people in front of her raise their arms up just before the coaster was about to go down the hill. Just as the coaster was cresting the top Mrs. Lovett also raised her arms knowing this ride was going to be exciting. Meanwhile next to her Sweeney's eyes grew wide with fright when he saw how high up they were. His hand tightened on the bar (if that was even possible) turning his knuckles white.
The rollercoaster sped down the first hill everyone screaming in joy, except Sweeney who was screaming out of fear. As they went down the hill Sweeney was lifted from his seat, he screamed even louder thinking he was going to be flung from the cart but his knees hit the bar and he stayed in. Sweeney was so afraid that he was going to fall out that he grabbed on to the closest thing to him, which was Mrs. Lovett.
As the coaster came up the next hill and turned Mrs. Lovett shouted, "WooHoo isn't this fun?" as the coaster went down the next hill, causing Sweeney to tighten his grip on Mrs. Lovett and close his eyes wishing the ride was over.
After a few more turns and hills the ride was over, as the cart pulled into the loading station to let the next group on, Mrs. Lovett noticed that Sweeney was holding on to her for dear life and had his head buried in her side.
"Um, Mr. T the ride is over you can let go now." Mrs. Lovett said even though she didn't want him to let go, she knew he had to for them to get out of the cart.
Sweeney let go of Mrs. Lovett and practically jumped out of the cart like it was on fire. Mrs. Lovett laughed and said, "Come on love lets go home."
While they were walking home Mrs. Lovett wrapped her arm around Sweeney's and leaned her head on his shoulder. Sweeney tensed up at first but let her be.
"Did you have a good time?" Mrs. Lovett asked
Sweeney just glared at her and replied sarcastically "Yes, I had a wonderful time."
They finally arrived at Mrs. Lovett's pie shop, Sweeney turned to go to his shop but he stopped and turned to Mrs. Lovett and said, "I'm never going to an amusement park again" and went to his shop.
Thank You for reading. I also loooked it up and they did have rollercoasters in 1886 they just weren't like the ones today.