The Park's Thrilling Day
In recent days, Dad and Mom have been acting a bit strange.>
“Siu-ya, let’s eat breakfast and head out!”>
Mom kept fussing over the food in the kitchen, paying extra attention to every detail.>
“Hey, son, how about we go for a walk?”>
Dad had been increasing the time we spend together, even if it was tough on weekdays.>
But on weekends, we’d walk for at least an hour, sightseeing around the area and enjoying street food along the way.>
I thought something must be wrong with my parents at first, but then I realized they were simply making up for all the time we couldn’t spend together before, so I was able to enjoy every second.>
That’s how we entered May, and soon we were just days away from Children’s Day.>
Plus, since the fifth fell on a Friday, I was bursting with excitement.>
That’s when Dad dropped the most shocking news on me: “Siu-ya! Let’s go to the amusement park!”>
“On Children’s Day? But… then there’ll be tons of people and it’ll be packed…”>
I’d heard that on May fifth, the amusement park always gets overcrowded, and this year falling on a Friday made it even worse.>
I was happy, but worry crept in too.>
“Hey, it’s fine to go on Children’s Day… but we’re actually going on the fourth!”>
“…Really?”>
“Of course I’m not lying.”>
I was thrilled, but one thing still worried me.>
“But… we have to register for the field trip a week in advance…”>
To go on a field trip, you need to register at least a week ahead.>
Since I’d just learned about this, I was already too late.>
But Dad smiled at my concern and replied, “Hehe, I already talked to the teacher a week ago.”>
“Really?”>
“Of course I’m not lying.”>
“Wow…”>
“So don’t worry, Siu. Just wait.”>
“Yeah!”>
My heart fluttered with every word from Dad as the days passed.>
When I told Sia I was going to the amusement park on the fourth, she looked a little down and said, “Ah… I’ll be fine. Go have fun.”>
I wanted to tell her to come with us, but since it was already too late, instead I said, “Anything you want? I’ll buy you a souvenir!”>
Sia listened and answered, “Whatever… I’ll be happy with anything you buy me.”>
“Sure, got it.”>
Sia was so easy to please that I didn’t know what to buy, but the time passed so slowly—like a whole week in a single day—that I just kept waiting for Thursday.>
And finally, that Thursday arrived.>
“Everyone, make sure you didn’t forget anything!”>
“Yeah!”>
“Don’t leave anything at home for the amusement park.”>
“Still, better to double-check.”>
“Yeah, we packed everything.”>
“All right! Let’s go!”>
On Thursday morning at eight, our whole family headed to the amusement park.>
Dad had warned that going too early would mean the roads would be packed with traffic, so we left right at eight.>
Since it wasn’t yet rush hour, there were still plenty of cars in the city, but once we hit the highway, the traffic eased up fast.>
We zoomed along the freeway and arrived at the amusement park ten minutes before ten.>
The park opened at ten, so I figured we got there pretty early, but…>
“Oh my… there are a lot of people.”>
“Yeah. More than I expected.”>
The parking lot was full of cars.>
“Let’s get in line first.”>
“Yeah.”>
After parking, we headed to the ticket booth and there was already a long line.>
There were also the buses for the field trip, and plenty of kids our age, so it looked like a lot of people were coming for the field trip that day.>
“Whoa… even with the amusement park, people come for the field trip these days.”>
“…Yeah… Siu never used to.”>
“That’s true…”>
In the past, our field trips had been to folk villages or arboretums, which were fun but nothing like this.>
“I’m glad I came with Mom and Dad today! That’s even better!”>
I was thrilled to be spending time with my parents again, after a long while.>
At that, Dad said, “Then… let’s head in!”>
“Yeah!”>
My parents didn’t say much, but the way they held my hand made it clear they were happy too.>
We had bought tickets in advance, so we went straight inside.>
The inside of the park was huge.>
“Let’s head inside.”>
“Yeah!”>
Even though it had only been open for a little while, the entrance was already bustling with people.>
“All right, let’s hurry before it gets too crowded.”>
“Yeah!”>
Holding Dad and Mom’s hands, we entered the area with the real rides.>
The moment we stepped inside, the big rides came into view.>
There were merry-go-rounds, bumper cars, swings, and farther off, massive structures too.>
Things like spinning rides in the air and giant Viking ships were already moving.>
And in the distance, a huge Ferris wheel slowly turned.>
The moment I saw the new amusement park, I was stunned.>
“All right! Let’s go!”>
“Son! Let’s play before it gets too packed!”>
“Ah… yeah!”>
Holding my hand, Dad and Mom dashed toward the rides.>
We rode the merry-go-round, took pictures together, spun inside the cup game, and had a blast on the bumper cars.>
The bumper cars were so fun that we went twice.>
After playing happily, Dad said, “Hungry? Let’s eat something.”>
We went to the snack stand and grabbed churros and hot dogs for a quick bite before resting.>
“So what should we do next?”“Let’s ride the big one.”“Hmm…”>
Looking where Dad pointed… it was the area with those huge rides I’d seen earlier.>
I wanted to try it, but the size alone made me hesitate.>
The biggest problem was the screams.>
—Kyaaaaaaa!>
The sound carried from far away, and no way was I getting on something that loud.>
“I… I’m not sure yet…”>
“Then… should we try something else?”“Other?”“Yeah, over there I saw a small roller coaster. What do you think?”“A roller coaster?”>
I was a little scared at the name, but the small size won me over.>
After a five-minute walk, the roller coaster appeared, and it really was much smaller than the giant one nearby.>
“Son, how is it?”“Yeah… this is fine.”“Great! Then let’s get on right away!”>
“I’ll wait here.”“I’ll wait at the bottom, so Dad and I will go up together.”“A small roller coaster means not many people, so we won’t have to wait long.”“Let’s sit down.”“A safety bar will come down.”“And it’ll start right away.”“The roller coaster slowly climbs up, then at the top, it starts moving along the track.”“I was super nervous when I first tried a roller coaster.”“Son! Look over there! You can see everything clearly.”“…?”“At Dad’s words, I turned my head and… yes, everything far away was visible.”“Of course I only climbed a little, so it wasn’t that high, but I could still see far.”“Staring at the scenery until I was dizzy, I looked around and all the tension from earlier vanished.”“And not long after…”>
We dropped down fast.>
The roller coaster rushed downward, the cool wind whipping my face.>
We went up again, twisted left and right, and after a full loop, we returned to the start.>
“Haa…”>
Even though we’d arrived, my heart was still racing.>
“All right, let’s get up.”“Ah… yeah.”“I got off the roller coaster, but my heart was still racing, so I definitely wanted to go again.”“Dad! I want to ride it again!”>
“Really? Then let’s try something else.”“Yeah!”>
Following Dad, we ended up at the water slide area.>
This time the line was long before we got on the ride.>
—Whoosh!>
“Waaaaah!”>
“Wow!”>
The cool rush down felt amazing.>
Water splashed and my clothes got a little wet, but I didn’t mind.>
When we got off, they were selling photos from the ride we’d just done.>
“Oh… let’s each pick one.”“Dad bought some photos and we walked around for a bit, then had a simple lunch that was actually dinner.>
It was just normal pork cutlet, but eating at the amusement park made it taste ten times better.>
Now the sun was dipping lower and the sky was turning orange.>
“How about we take the Ferris wheel one last time before going home?”“Sounds good!”>
We got on the giant Ferris wheel.>
From the slowly moving Ferris wheel, we could see the whole park.>
Mom snapped tons of photos of me and Dad together, memories from the sky.>
Looking at the park from up high gave me such clear memories that I knew I’d never forget this moment.>
After getting off the Ferris wheel, we started heading out when I spotted a souvenir shop.>
Thinking of what to get Sia, I immediately went over.>
Inside, they sold all kinds of things: crowns, swords, and cute dolls.>
I slowly looked around and picked a princess crown that would suit Sia and a cute fox plushie.>
Although Sia loved cats, there were no cat plushies, so I chose the fox instead.>
After buying the souvenir for Sia, we headed home.>
As Dad drove, he asked me, “Son, how was today?”“It was super fun!”>
“Hehe, that’s great.”“Yeah! It was really fun!”>
“Yeah, Dad had fun playing with you too. I’ll make sure to do this more often.”“But don’t overdo it.”“…Thank you.”“Maybe because I played so happily today, I gradually nodded off and fell asleep right away.”“Today was… really fun.”“I feel like I’ll never forget these memories from today.