Dragonfly Dreams, Part Seventeen

Frank Mason was standing in the middle of a carnival. Around him was a dizzying collection of rides….tilting and whirling. The air was riddled with screams of excitement. He inhaled deeply. The smell of popcorn and cotton candy made his mouth water.

But he couldn’t get anything to eat right now. He was standing in line to ride the roller coaster. Strange…he couldn’t remember there ever being any roller coasters at these small country carnivals. How in the world had they set this thing up? Because it wasn’t just a small carnival ride like most he was used to. The sign in front of him proclaimed this ride to be “The Devil’s Highway.”

And it sure looked like it. The coaster rose hundreds of feet in the air, twisting and curving to impossible heights. He didn’t want to ride it…and yet, he couldn’t get out of line. Everyone around him was pushing him forward. He felt that little nervous flutter of butterflies in his stomach as he felt himself prodded to his seat.

Sliding in, he felt the cold bars come down around his chest and arms. They clicked in place. At least he felt safe for the moment. But he knew how these things worked. These rides were meant to thrill. He knew that any moment the wind would be whisked from his lungs as he screamed and fell in a free-fall.

“These things sometimes feel like the end of the world,” a voice said softly beside him.

He turned. Oprah Winfrey was sitting beside him. No….not Oprah Winfrey…..but someone who looked a lot like her.

“Mizzus Irza,” he grinned back at her, “What are you doing here?”

“What?” she asked, “And miss the ride of a lifetime. I love these things. The feeling of flying…of being dangled in midair!”

Frank’s grin grew wider. It was sure nice to see Mizzuz Irza again. She looked so young. Much younger than when he had seen her before. But for the moment, he couldn’t remember where he had seen her last. He tried to think….had almost thought that he remembered. But then the ride started.

Slowly, the roller coaster climbed higher and higher. Frank looked over the side. He saw two people on the ground below waving at him. Two men. Were their names Chuck and Harry? He couldn’t remember…but he thought that they were trying to tell him something. They were both waving their arms and shouting, but he couldn’t hear what they were saying. One of them was holding a balloon. He could just make out the shape of a dragonfly on the side of the balloon.

And still the roller coaster was climbing.

He felt like something was wrong. This ride shouldn’t be going so high. He looked over at Mizzuz Irza and saw with some surprise that she was eating a caramel apple.

“I don’t think that you should be eating that thing on here,” he shouted over the rising sound of the wind as it started to whip around them, “It might not be safe.”

Caramel was dripping down her lips and chin. She grinned at him, shrugged, and threw the apple over the side.

“HEY!” Frank yelled and looked over to see if the tossed treat was going to hit somebody in the head…but then he found that he couldn’t see the ground anymore. It was just a black, inkiness that was underneath them…like a dark ocean. And yet, the roller coaster kept climbing.

“I don’t think that this is right,” Frank said, looking around, “We’re going too high!”

And then he noticed that everyone was gone. There wasn’t anyone on the roller coaster except for him and Mizzuz Irza. She was looking at him, licking the caramel off of her lips with great smacks of satisfaction.

“Yep,” she said, “This isn’t right. You aren’t supposed to be on this ride…just yet.”

“What do you mean?” Frank said, “I had tickets to ride.”

“No you didn’t,” Irza said, “Your tickets were fake. Just take a look.”

Frank looked down at the tickets which he had been clutching in this left hand. They weren’t tickets at all. They were just plain yellow pieces of paper. There was only word written on them…FINDER.

“You need to get off of this ride,” Mizzuz Irza suddenly yelled.

Frank looked up…confused. Mizzuz Irza was a mess. She was no longer young…but old, just like she had been when Frank had seen her in the jungle. NOW HE REMEMBERED! He had seen her in her hut in the middle of the Brazilian jungle just hours before. So what was he doing here? Before he could think about it anymore though, Mizzuz Irza let out a whoop. Suddenly, he felt the metal bar come loose from his chest and arms. It flew up…leaving him without anything to hold him into the coaster.

“This is where you get off!” Mizzuz Irza yelled.

Suddenly the coaster reached the top of the hill and with a whoosh it started to fall back toward earth. Frank didn’t yell….he didn’t scream….he didn’t breath. He couldn’t do anything except hold on. But as the coaster turned up in a corkscrew, he felt himself slipping….felt himself falling….felt himself flying through the air. Everything was black. He closed his eyes and waited for the impact with the ground to break every bone in his body.

Instead, everything began to get warmer…and lighter. The sound of the rushing wind grew fainter and fainter. Soon, it was replaced by something else…the sound of a man’s voice.

“Frank!” a man was saying his name over and over, “Frank! Wake up Frank!”

“Is he dead?” another voice sounded.

It was Chuck and Harry! Frank opened his eyes. He was lying on the ground staring up at Chuck.

“Naw mate,” Chuck said, “Frank is still kicking. What about the other one?”

“Gordon Jones….our beloved leader?” Frank heard Harry’s voice, “No….sorry old chap. I’m afraid that he is dead.”

“Well that’s just great,” Chuck muttered to himself, “We have one dead boss, one passed out Finder, and a missing crazy woman. And just where in the heck are we anyway?”

And then it all came back to Frank. The ruins of the ancient city…..the temple……Gordon and Janet admitting that they were siblings and were working together…..and the monkey which had saved his life. And one final thing…..Janet Jones was already in the temple…..and she was looking for the Tree of Life!

Until next week....class dismissed!