“But I don’t want to go,” he whined. He was almost ready to cry, being so desperate not to go. Ever since he heard about that accident at the California amusement park he’d had the biggest fear of roller coasters.
“Well, that’s too bad,” replied his brother, “Scott and I want to go on this and we can’t leave you behind. It’s not as bad as you think.”
“I don’t care. I don’t want to ride the roller coaster.”
“Look, when mom and dad went in to see that show, you said you’d rather go on the rides. So now, you have to follow us around and do what we do. Scott and I want to go on this ride and we can’t leave you behind.”
“But, Ralph,” came the reply, “I’m scared.”
“Okay, fine, if you go on this ride and don’t give us any more problems, we’ll take you where you want to go for the next ride. Okay?”
“No, I don’t want to go. I’ll have to ride by myself.”
At this point, Scott, Ralph’s friend, piped in. “David, what if you go with Ralph? Would you feel better riding with him?”
“Oh, no,” said Ralph, “It’s bad enough I have to have my nine-year-old brother following me around all day. I am not going to ride with him now.”
“Look, Ralph,” Scott said quietly, “if we keep arguing, we’ll never get to do anything.” He turned back to David. “So, what do you say? Would you like to ride with Ralph?”
This calmed him down a bit. “Yeah, I guess.”
“Great, then it’s settled,” Scott said, putting an end to the argument, “Ralph, you and David will ride together and I’ll sit behind you.”
“Fine,” came Ralph’s muttered reply, “but you owe me for this one.”
They moved along with the crowd of people in line. Somehow Scott ended up near the back of the roller coaster and David and Ralph were near the front.
The two brothers boarded a roller coaster car together and pulled the bar towards them as directed. They sat in silence, waiting to move. When they had been waiting for several minutes, it occurred to David that something was wrong.
“Ralph, why aren’t we moving?”
“I don’t know, David, just sit there and be quiet.”
The silence didn’t last long. “Ralph, we’ve been sitting here too long. What’s happening?”
“David, I don’t know. Why do you keep asking me?”
He didn’t have time to reply because right then they started moving. As they pulled out, David began thinking. Why was Ralph always mean to him? Why couldn’t he ever be nice to him like Scott was? Sure, they were both about six years older than him, but Scott didn’t seem to care. Ralph, on the other hand, was always picking on him and never liked to have him around.
David was so deep in thought that he didn’t notice they were nearly to the top of the first hill. The roller coaster train tipped over the top, paused, then fell into the curving, empty pit below. Everyone started screaming in excitement. As they finished off the drop and curved back upward slightly, David realized that the ride wasn’t that bad. But then, there was still a distance to go.
The train moved up the next hill and David nearly forgot all he was thinking about before. As they climbed up the hill, he looked at Ralph. His brother wasn’t smiling. He didn’t seem to be enjoying himself. David wondered why he wasn’t having any fun, especially since Ralph had really wanted to go on this ride.
Suddenly, the entire train came to a halt. David looked around and realized that they were practically at the top of the highest hill on the track, a very long way from the ground.
Great, he thought, I knew this would happen. We’re stuck.
Somehow, though, he wasn’t scared. In fact, he was rather enjoying it. The view was nice and it was really quiet up here. He turned to his brother to say something, but was cut off quickly.
“Okay, David.” Ralph’s voice sounded very panicky. “Everything’s fine, we’re stuck here, but there’s nothing wrong. We’re safe and I’m sure they’ll send someone to get us down soon. Just try to relax and don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried,” said David, “It’s not as scary as I thought it’d be.”
“But we’re up so high. You’re not afraid of falling or anything?” His voice still seemed a little on edge.
“We’re locked in. How could we fall? We’re just stuck here. Ralph, are you scared?”
“Me?” he said quickly, “No, not at all. I’m perfectly fine.”
“Oh. Well, you sound scared. You’re talking real fast and everything.”
“Hey, I don’t need my little brother to tell me what I sound like. You just sit there and be quiet.”
“Okay.” David’s voice was hushed now. He was once again beginning to wonder why his brother always had to snap at him. He sat there not saying anything for the next few minutes as he watched Ralph.
Ralph didn’t say anything, but he wouldn’t sit still. He was constantly shifting his position in the seat and his hands were pale. He was constantly glancing around him, especially to the back where Scott was. Finally, Ralph broke the silence.
“David, I want off.”
Frustrated, David replied, “Look, Ralph, you wanted to ride this in the first place. Now that you’re here, you don’t like it and you even told me that it wouldn’t be that bad. We’re safe and I’m sure they’ll get started again soon.”
“Oh, what would you know?” Ralph suddenly said, “You’re just a little kid!”
“Why do you always do that? You’re always so mean to me. I try to get along with you like mom says, but you always yell at me. You know why I’m not scared? It’s because I’m with you. And though you may be mean to me, I know you love me, and you’d never really let me get hurt.”
Ralph didn’t know what to say. Finally, he managed to speak.
“You really mean that?”
“Yeah,” David’s voice was quiet now, “I’m never afraid with you, because you’ll always protect me.”
Just then, the ride started again.
They were both smiling and laughing when they met up with Scott, who was surprised to find they didn’t argue at all the rest of the day. It seemed the two were finally brothers again.