"I took one of the boys to the park one day, and it wasn't here, it was south of here, because I didn't live here at the time. This park, and I don't know if it's like this anymore, but it had a merry-go-round in the center, and I'm just standing there and I can see the boy playing on the slide, and this man dressed in a nice hat and a business suit comes up to me and starts talking to me about the carousel. And then, in his business suit and all, he gets up on the carousel and he rides it! In his business suit! And he's telling me all these things about them while he's on the horse and I'm just standing there thinking to myself this man is crazy!"
They held a Greek Festival every year in the parking lot of the Greek Episcopal Church beside the river next to the old park. They had it in the beginning of November. Yao was on his way there now. He didn't go every year, just once actually, but he had seen it on the local news a few times. It was always a slow week for news here. Not that the Greek Festival wasn't interesting. They had good food and the people were friendly. A little too friendly sometimes.
It wasn't Yao's idea to go to the festival. It was Kiku, his younger brother, who had asked him to drive him here. From what he could tell, he had a friend who was Greek. Hercules or something along those lines was his name. He had met the guy once or twice while visiting Kiku on the weekends. The teen had just happened to be staying over those weekends, he guessed. He seemed nice.
Yao parked his junky car in the closest parking space to the entrance. He heard Kiku get out first. "Yao, you have left something on your car," Kiku said, throwing a Mimi's Silk Road sign onto the passenger seat.
Yao worked with his cousin, Xiao Mei, who owned Mimi's Silk Road. They served Chinese food. You probably guessed that, though. He did a little bit of everything. Cooking, cleaning, serving, working the register. And delivering. That's why the hideous yellowed sign was still on top of his busted green car. "Thanks, Kiku," he said, hopping out of the vehicle and slamming the door behind him.
The festival was the same as last year. Besides being so cloudy, I mean. But the festival couldn't help that. There was a tent on the end where they had Greek food to try, a tent to the left where you could buy some odd goats milk soap that wouldn't lather if you scrubbed it against steel wool. Or you could buy loud, obnoxious scarves with cheap clanging bits of metal sewn onto the ends. He figured they were supposed to look cool. They definitely would to an American. Look cool, that is.
To the right were some tents set up with tables underneath them for sitting and enjoying food. Yao avoided that area completely. Too many people. Something about so many people bothered him.
"Kiku! Come here, I want you to meet some people," a boy said. He gave Kiku a lazy smile, then gave Yao a nod. Yao squinted. How old was this kid, anyways? He looked like he was seventeen. Kiku was only fourteen. But he remembered something Kiku said about the kid being in his class at school. Maybe Kiku was small for his age, he didn't know. Maybe goats milk had some kind of insane growing properties. The Greeks seemed to put it in everything. At least they did that here. Maybe not in the actual country.
"Hey, Yao, I'm going to go with Heracles." Oh, his name was Heracles. "Is that alright?"
Yao nodded. He wasn't his parent or anything. And what could happen to Kiku in a church parking lot, anyways?
Yao buried his nose into the mint green scarf that he was forced to take one time from an old lady at the Monastery he visited occasionally. He hadn't been there in a while. It was best not to dwell on that, though. The scarf smelled like an old woman's face cream. It wasn't too bad, actually.
Oh, damn, they were dancing now. For some reason, the Greeks here really liked to dance. He had somehow gotten roped into it last year, and at first he thought "wow, that looks really easy! Such an easy step!" but once he got into the circle of dancers, it was hell. The dance was more difficult than it looked and he wasn't getting into that again. Besides all that, it was getting louder in the parking lot.
He didn't even think about it. He started to escape to the old park next to the church.
Yao had been to the park many times for random reasons. Once for Kiku's fifth birthday, and then there was a time after that where he climbed up one of the trees and tried to drink an entire bottle of whiskey and was arrested for public intoxication. He hadn't meant to do it. He had just been so exhausted and you know what? He wasn't going to think about that.
The park was about a five minute walk, give or take a few seconds. But it was still the closest thing to the church, so it was next to the church. Technically. The park was very old. This was just something he had picked up on. When you live somewhere for a while you pick things up on the place and you don't know when, how, or where you picked this information up but you definitely did and seem to know it by heart.
The park was built during the early 1920's and was popular up until the 1950's. By the time 1960 rolled around, the park had fallen from it's former glory. It used to sport a skating rink, a ferris wheel, and races in the small lake near the center of the park. There were boats, too, if you wanted to go out on the lake without getting in the water. There was a restaurant of some sort, probably one with burgers, fries, and shakes. Disgusting things like that. But the restaurant was gone now. There was a rectangle of dirt and broken concrete where it had once stood. The skating rink at the top of the hill was now in ruin. The ferris wheel was long gone. And the water in the lake had half dried up and was a rotten green colour. Frankly, it rank of geese shit. The idea of someone actually swimming in that water made Yao's stomach lurch.
I mean, it hadn't always been like that. But it was now.
Finally, last but not least, was the abandoned carousel in the center of the park beside the skating rink ruins. Yao always went for the carousel. It was without a doubt the most beautiful thing left in the park, especially now in November when the flowers were out of bloom.
The carousel was wooden and made specifically for the park. Initials were placed in a pattern on the very top of the carousel. Yao didn't know what the intials stood for. It honestly didn't matter at all. Probably the intials of the person who donated the carousel to the park. The carousel had three rows of horses. There were carriages and things like that on carousels usually, but not on this one. It was all horses. Each horse was a different vibrant colour that made up an entire colour wheel.
By colour wheel, I mean that the red horse came after the orange, and the orange after the yellow, and so on. They were designed with multiple other colours though, too, and gold painted designs with radiant saddles. They must have been much more beautiful when they were new, but now, so much of the paint had been chipped away. Nearly all of the gold was gone.
People probably chipped it away in hopes that it was real gold or something stupid like that. They chipped at it selfishly, taking away the beauty, and this is what remained. Yao could relate to each of the chipped horses. He felt their pain.
Yao shook away his thoughts. The carousel. Yes, he was thinking about that. The carousel was truly inspiring. It was hard to explain it. There was so much detail to every part of it. It would have taken him hours to actually study each part of the carousel. Whoever painted it deserved better. They put so much time and effort into painting the carousel, and now look at it. Old. Abandoned. Parts of it were broken, too. There were broken ears. Broken noses. Broken hooves.
Yao wiped his nose on the back of his glove. Thank goodness the wind wasn't picking up. It was pretty chilly out as it was and his nose was probably cherry red by now. He probably looked like he had been crying. Great. He took his phone out of his pocket. Oh, fucking great.
Francois had sent him five texts. He knew he shouldn't have had his phone on silent. They all were along the lines of "where are you". That wasn't surprising. He texted back saying "with Kiku. Be home soon".
He slid his phone back into his coat pocket and looked back up at the carousel. He wished he could just stay here. He would rather stay out in the cold than go home. He seriously thought about living on the carousel. I mean, it had a roof and everything. What more could you want? Oh yeah. A bathroom. Showers. Water. Heating. Those things were pretty important.
Yao stepped closer to the carousel and touched the tip of a broken horses ear. It wasn't fair. Tears brimmed in his eyes. "I'm sorry," he whispered to the horse.
"You like carousels, da?"
"Ah! Er . . . uh?" Shoot. How was he supposed to explain himself talking to this fake horse? Oh don't mind me, just comforting a fake horse! He whipped his head around to face the man.
Yao had expected some coke-snorting homeless man in a dirty grey hat. This was the exact opposite. I mean, it was almost funny. He almost laughed at it, but then the man would have thought he was laughing at him, and this man was huge. He could probably knock out Yao in one swing. He must have been 6'8".
You know how people exaggerate when they tell stories? This was no exaggeration. He was huge. The more Yao thought about it, the more frightened he became.
Yeah, he was dressed nice. He wore a suit, a nice coat, a long scarf, and nice shoes, but even that was weird apparel for a park. Maybe he was a serial killer. Who hangs out in an old park at six in the evening without kids, anyway? Oh wait.
"I was just noticing the way you are watching the carousel," the man said. He had a thick, Russian accent and he was smiling. His smile was both comforting and bone-chilling. Yao kept his hand on his phone in case he needed to whip it out to call the police.
"No," Yao said with a nervous smile plastered to his lips, "You're fine. I was just looking at it. It's nice." The man started to walk towards him and his shoulders sank. Well, he was dead. No time to call the police now. But instead of the man choking him to death, he walked past him and stepped onto the carousel.
"Um, sir," Yao began nervously, "I don't think you're supposed to be on the carousel. You might break it or-" He stopped when the man started laughing. Was he laughing at Yao? The smaller man crossed his arms. Who did he think he was? Yao opened his mouth to complain but was cut off by the man's booming voice.
"Did you know carousels evolved? Originally, in medieval Europe, men would go around in a circle on horseback and throw a ball around. This was part of training, as it was difficult to do," he said. The fact was pretty odd. Yao didn't know what to say, so he just said "Oh."
The man dusted off the control panel on the carousel. Yao cupped his hands nervously. "Uh, sir, please be careful."
The man didn't listen. His fingers dragged over a few of the buttons nonchalantly.
"This sort of carousel comes from 17th century France. Children wanted to participate in these adult games but couldn't because they were too little. So fake horses that went in a circle were built. Far less dangerous." The man blew into the keyhole to the left of the panel. Yao watched him take something out of his pocket and push it into the keyhole.
"Oh, that's, uh, interesting. What is your name again?"
The man twisted the makeshift key. "Again? You didn't ask for my name in the first place. My name is Ivan. What is yours?" Ivan whispered something about the carousel to himself. At least Yao wasn't the only one who talked to carousels.
"Yao," he said, stepping up onto the platform so he could see what Ivan was doing. He was fiddling with one of the buttons.
"Ah. Yao. That is a beautiful name, Yao," Ivan said.
"Thank you," Yao said hesitantly. Ivan gave the 'key' a sharp turn and pushed up on a small lever.
For a split second, the lights on the carousel flicked on and the tinkling sound of circus music rang out from a red box on the ceiling. It was gone as soon as it came, though. Ivan laughed and said, "This has many problems that need to be fixed." Yes, that was very obvious. It didn't turn on for more than two seconds. Yao was surprised it worked at all.
"That was impressive, though, Ivan. I'm surprised you got it to work even for that long," he said. Ivan grinned and shoved his hands in his coat pockets.
"Thank you. I design carousels, actually. I come see this one every now and then. It's a beautiful piece, da?"
"Da. I mean yes! Yes is what I said." Yao's face burned. Damn, he was stupid. He hoped he didn't seem like he was mocking the man. Suddenly, Yao felt his phone vibrating in his pocket. He took it out so quickly that he dropped it onto the platform at first. He pushed the green button on the screen. "Hello?"
"Where the fuck are you? I still can't believe you are . . . . "
Francois' voice droned on. He expected Ivan to be watching him, but instead he was trying to jiggle the 'key' out of the keyhole. "Francois, I really can't talk. There are people here. I'll be home soon."
"You better be home soon or I'll . . . "
"I will. I will. Please stop. Yes, yes, I'm sorry this is taking so long. I'll be back by 6:30. No, I can't. I'm broke. Please stop yelling. I can't! I can't! How many times do I have to- Francois? Ugh." Yao rubbed his forehead. "I've got to go, Ivan. It was nice meeting you."
"Yao, can you tell me the difference between the horses?"
Yao's eyebrows furrowed. "What?" He jumped off the platform and looked up at Ivan.
"Can you tell me the difference between the horses on the carousel?"
Yao looked at the horses and shook his head before saying, "I mean, that one is blue and that one is purple. That one has a broken hoove but that one is still in one piece. I don't really know." Ivan smiled. Just smiled that smile. Yao watched his purple eyes with curiosity. He figured he wasn't going to get the answer to that cryptic question afterall.
"Yao, this carousel may be difficult to put back together, but it can be done," Ivan said. Yao folded his arms across his chest. "Are you sure? It's so broken. Look at it again."
Ivan didn't look away from Yao. "I know it will be difficult. But I think in the end, it will be worth it." Ivan stepped down. "I'm going to come here next Sunday and try a little harder to get this machine to work."
Yao pursed his lips. "Was that an invitation?"
Ivan didn't answer. He flashed a smile and started off for the parking lot. Yao watched him until he got into his car and drove off. It was a far nicer car than his own, but judging from the way he dressed, he had a much better job than Yao did.
Half the population had a better job than Yao did, actually.
He looked down at his phone, which was blowing up thanks to Francois, and checked the time. 6:07. He'd better go, he decided. He really wasn't in the mood to deal with one of Francois' tantrums.
To Be Continued . . .
