Martin felt proud of his daughter. She really does care about her cousin, he noted. He, too, would have been willing to hold the bag. But Hailey probably considered this favor to her cousin an act of maturity as well as friendship, and he didn’t want to undermine her by insisting on holding the bag now that she’d already volunteered. She was old enough to make decisions for herself, and if she was willing to be slightly embarrassed to make Erin feel better, then that was her choice.
As they passed through the security checkpoint, Hailey’s bag earned her a raised eyebrow from the barely-eighteen girl running the station, but overall, it was more painless than she’d thought it would be. It was just a minor embarrassment in front of someone she didn’t know and would probably never see again. Of course, she wouldn’t normally go through that again voluntarily, but it was well worth doing if it meant Erin didn’t have to deal with it.
Once they were past the security, Martin bought three tickets and they headed into the park. “See the lockers over there?” He pointed, and the girls nodded. “I’m going to go rent one to put the bag in; you girls go use the bathroom then meet me at the lockers.” He took the backpack from Hailey.
There wasn’t much of a line, so the girls were able to make quick use of the toilet. Hailey was secretly disappointed as she sat on the toilet with her underwear-like diaper pulled down around her legs; she wished that she was changing it right now, instead of peeing in the toilet like a normal girl her age.
The girls arrived at the lockers to find that Martin wasn’t there. Erin suggested that he might have gone to use the restroom after he got a locker for their bag, and sure enough, he came out of the men’s room a minute later. “Are you girls ready to go on some rides?”
“Yeah,” they both answered, Erin slightly less enthusiastically than Hailey. The rides looked much bigger and faster in real life than she’d imagined.
“Erin, you said you’ve never been on amusement park rides, right?”
“That’s right…”
“Then perhaps we should start on some of the smaller rides first?”
Hailey had wanted to go straight on the roller coasters, but she couldn’t deny that it would probably be better to start small. Besides, she knew that if she argued for the big rides, Erin would go along with it, even if she didn’t want to.
“That sounds like a good idea,” Hailey answered. “How about the pirate ship?”
As they started walking, Erin thanked Hailey. “I don’t want to keep you from doing the rides you want… so let me know when you’re ready to ride the big rides, and I’ll go with you.”
“I’d rather see how you’re doing. I want to make sure you have fun today, too.”
“But it’s your birthday!” exclaimed Erin. “You should be riding what you want! Don’t worry about how I do; I’ll ride whatever you want to.”
“Erin, let’s not have this argument again. If you’re not having fun, then I’m not going to be having fun. And I don’t want you to hold yourself responsible for me not enjoying myself.”
“Okay.” Erin couldn’t really effectively argue this any further; the argument would go nowhere, so it was pointless to keep talking about it. But she couldn’t help but feel that she was being a burden to Hailey and Hailey’s father.
They queued up for the pirate ship ride. Luckily, as it was a milder ride, the line wasn’t terribly long, and within five minutes, they were stepping onto the platform.
“Can we at least ride at the end of the ship?” queried Hailey. “It’s the fastest part of this ride.”
“Only if Erin wants to,” said Martin.
Erin quickly agreed. “I think I can handle it.” If they were going to start out on milder rides on her behalf, she could at least let Hailey have as much fun as possible.
They sat at the end and secured their lap bar; the ship started moving soon after. So far, this isn’t so bad, thought Erin. Then the frame began to creak as the ship picked up speed, and Erin panicked. That frame shouldn’t be creaking like that. It looks really rusty. Should we be going this fast? What if the frame snaps? She grabbed the bar and hung on for dear life as the ship reached the top of a peak. I must be horizontal by now! I shouldn’t be here!
The ship fell out from under her, and for a brief moment, she was free falling. Her mind finally collected itself. Hey, this is kind of a cool feeling! It was terrifying, and yet it was so much fun. She screamed as loud as her lungs