A Boy’s Amusement Park Dream

With a bumper car angel

I loved the bumper-car angel in a silver and red vehicle. She was crazy beautiful, a maniac behind the wheel, not afraid to collide with a Sunday driver or a kid twice her size.

I tailgated her, ignoring my friends who tried to rock me out of my insanity with a fender bender, and a head-on slam.

My bumper car angel drove like a mini Danica Patrick, static electricity everywhere, love sparks, making my heart jump start.

A lovestruck boy sideswiped a beautiful girl, but my advances were ignored, instead, she depressed the pedal — and disappeared at lightning speed.

Love can blindside you. It can go fast or slow. Take sharp turns. Sometimes it feels like a passionate embrace, when force meets energy, other times, a chance opportunity gone awry.

Racing after you was a bumper car dream, a million screams, a collision course that ended once the power went off.

You hopped out and ran to your parents' waiting arms, while I drowned my sorrows in an ice cream cone, and a ticket to the Pirate Ship ride.

© 2023 Mark Tulin

Many thanks to Lucy Dan 蛋小姐 (she/her/她) for her writing prompt: Bumper Cars.