THE
FAIRGROUND AT COMFORT COVE
An
Allegory
By
David McLachlan
It was almost dark as
the lonely figure entered the outskirts of the little coastal town. He could barely make out the lettering on the
welcome sign that greeted the visitors to this quiet village. Welcome to
Comfort Cove, the "Friendliest Town in the State!" Population 789, he read as a car, with its
lights on, whooshed by.
The main road into town
was not a long one, but it was lit in warm amber lights. The lovely house set back off the street had
lights streaming out of the open windows.
It was a warm mid spring evening and the people were enjoying the
weather. He could hear jolly voices and
laughter floating out from the houses as he walked.
As he reached the
centre of town he noticed some
flickering lights in a nearby field. As
he got closer he began to hear the familiar sounds of a fairground. He stood there and watched the scene from the
road side. He had planned to pick up a
ride from a passing car or truck on the other side of the town, but the noises
and the lights beckoned to him. He
looked off in the direction of the edge of town and then back at the fairground. It had been quite some time since he had just
relaxed and had fun. Maybe this is just
what he needed.
The closer he got the
more he could see, and then the smells began to swirl around him. Fresh popcorn, hotdogs, hot chips, coffee and
roasting nuts. It was mesmerising. The crowds swarmed around him, but no one
seemed to mind being pushed or jostled by the sea of people. They just smiled and went from one attraction
to the other. Each one holding a morsel
of food or a brightly colour stuffed animal.
Some of the children had balloons and candy floss. You could barely hear
the drone of the enormous generator powering this frivolity, over the dim
coming from each of the stalls.
The Ferris wheel slowly
rotated it's gleeful occupants, the bumper cars crashed, and at the middle of
it all was the Carousel. There were
many small alley ways leading off the main area.
Then there were the
attendants who called out to the passersby.
Each one trying to lure then in with the promise of great prizes or the
prestige of accomplishing impossible feats of strength or skill. All this could
be had for the low price of five dollars.
In one alley there were the sellers as well. On one side there were bags of gifts made up
of all things small and plastic right next to stalls that sold every form of
sugar known to man.
Across the alley were
the purveyors of elixirs and remedies of all the illnesses that plagued the
human body. There was a tablet that
could take off those unwanted pounds and right next door a powder that could
put them on. Another had a cream that
was "proven" to take years off your appearance.
The man walked on
staring in disbelief as person after person believed every word they were told
and paid huge amounts of money for what they hoped would solve their
problem. At the end of the alley was an
attraction. The Hall of Mirrors.
"Two dollars"
the attendant cried out as he approached.
"I guess this
doesn't have the allure of the fast rides and colourful trinkets." The man
thought to himself.
He gave the man the two
dollars and walked inside. It was just
as he remembered it. The first mirror
distorted his view so much he looked three times as wide as normal. Walking on to the next one it made him half
as wide as normal. Next the mirror bent
outwards in the middle and made him look eight feet tall. He was shocked by the next. He had shrunk to about three feet tall and
his legs looked like tree stumps. All
the way through there were more mirrors and even more bizarre distortions. The only one it seemed they didn't have was a normal mirror that reflected an image of
your true self.
As he stepped out he
wrapped his coat around himself. The air had grown cool quickly after the sun
had gone down. A small van stood a
little distance away. He walked over to
it and bought a cup of coffee and a small bag of hot roasted nuts and sat down
on a bench near the middle of the fairground.
From here he could see almost everything that was going on.
Two young people caught
his attention. A young girl and her male
companion were walking quickly towards one of the attractions. She held a large white stuffed tiger under
her arm as she half dragged her companion towards the attraction.
"Ring the Bell,
win a prize!" the attendant cried out.
The young man pulled some notes from his pocket and handed it to the
man. The attendant handed him a large mallet and stood back next to the
machine. It took three tries for the
young man to ring the bell. Each time he
paid another five dollars. When he
finally won his prize he handed the dog like stuffed toy to his girl friend who
hugged him and squeezed the muscles on his arms approvingly.
As the man sat there
for the next 15 minutes he saw many people come and try. Each one would pay more than once. Then he noticed that each time the attendant
stood in the same position. Just as the
person would swing the mallet he would move his foot on to a small pedal. The only time the bell would ring is when he
chose not to press the pedal. The man sat
on the bench and smiled. He drained the last of his coffee and walked of in the
direction of the Carousel.
The attendant stood
behind a small booth. Selling tickets to
his ride. The man looked closer at the Carousel. It seemed that not all the
parts of the ride were the same. Not all
of the horses jumped. Some of the
carriages were not painted as well as the others. It was then that he noticed that not everyone
who came off the ride was smiling.
Children were crying, disappointed that they had not been able to get on
a moving horse. Others cried because
they had gotten splinters from the unpainted wood. Several fathers tried to speak to the
attendant about it. He would say very
little and point to the "No Refunds" painted on the sign above him.
You see he did not care
whether people enjoyed the ride. As long
as the music played and the lights danced people would want to ride. If
some didn't like it or were hurt, there were plenty more people in the
line. There was always the next town
with more people. Some people would get
off and some would get on, and the Carousel would keep spinning and enchanting
people to come and ride as the calliope played it's cheerful song.
He walked to the edge
of the field and looked back. The line
for the Carousel was still getting longer and the attendants were still yelling
out their siren calls to buy, ride, try!
But the fairground would pack up tonight and move on leaving the debris
of rubbish and a flood of cheap, sparkly or colourful baubles behind. Tomorrow would be a new town and more people,
and so it goes on. They cared little for
the people who came. They only cared for
the money they bring in. The Carousel would keep spinning and people would
still be getting on and off.
He reached the end of
town and stuck his thumb out at the first car that came by. As he climbed in he took one last glance at
the fairground. It's sounds still
drifting on the cool night air. Closing the door the car pulled away leaving
Comfort Cove and the Fairground far behind.
The
end
