Delores Peters' father wanted her to invite her friends over for a ride on the whirly wheel and she of course wished to do likewise at first. From the beginning there was something wanting in the experience, a curious sense of mixed expectation and loss. It isn't common to go somewhere where there is a single amusement ride unless it is a carousel and then all the llamas, camels and horses make it seem more than a single ride and the calliope and colors form a spectacle.

The whirly ride was modest and not a spectacle. In the sunshine the uniform blue enamel had the flatness of weathered house paint although it was clearly fresh and even possessed of a little sparkle. The blue cars seemed somehow Dutch, perhaps on account of the delft color, perhaps because their snub shape suggested foreshortened wooden shoes. Still Delores' mother and father did their best to make the occasion something festive for her friends. Her mother made a frosted cake with roses like a birthday and put a jug of lemonade on ice in a washtub, covering the jug with a dishtowel to keep the yellowjackets away. Her father added other records to the two which had come with the record player in the straw colored suitcase. The song called "How much is that doggie in the window?" was a favorite with the girls. He also found ways to vary the speed of the cars, manipulating the brake somehow to add variation to the ride and making the girls squeal at first. When that wore off, Delores' mother ripped strips of muslin for blindfolds for any girl who wanted to ride with them and both her parents helped tie them over the girls' eyes.

Before long, of course, the girls drifted off to other play but Delores Peters' father did not seem disappointed. The ride was a success in what it brought together and it was beautiful in its way even when it went around without any riders.

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