The Ferris Wheel
“Damn it.”
“Carl Abby, don’t swear.” Lucy removed her hat with the fabric flowers and lace and set it on the seat beside them. She hiked up her skirt so Carl could see her legs. Carl liked that.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. I'm upset that we’re stuck. I should have waited for the kinks to be worked out instead of getting tickets for opening day.” Tears welled in Carl’s eyes. He took out a handkerchief and wiped them. “We don’t have time to waste.” He shook his head and cried more. “We don’t have time. So here we are, stuck on top of George Ferris’ wheel for God knows how long.”
Lucy took Carl’s hand in hers. The wooden car jostled as it rose above the Earth. “It’s okay, my love. I don’t mind being stuck here, as long as we’re together.”
Carl tried to force a smile. “I want every moment of every day you have left to be special. I don’t want to spend it on a broken machine.”
“It’s not wasted. I’m happy.” Lucy waved her arm in a semicircle. “Look at this magnificent view. I’ve never seen anything like it.” She pointed west. “Look over there. Do you see that steamboat on the lake?” She pointed to the other side. “And over there, streetcars! I’ve never seen a view as wondrous as this.”
Carl’s cheeks sagged. His eyes misted.
She squeezed Carl’s hand. “The doctors don’t know everything. I might live another six months, maybe even a year or more. But we’ll make every moment special, regardless of whether we’re stuck on a big wheel or holding each other in bed. I promise you memories to last the rest of your life. My love and joy will be with you forever.”
Their Ferris wheel car jerked and then stopped. A blanket of darkness covered them. Carl pulled his Waltham pocket watch from his jacket and clicked open the cover: 2:05 p.m. Plenty of light left in the day. So why was it suddenly dark? A bright flash answered his question. A thunderstorm! Carl understood enough about electricity to know that being atop a steel structure during an electrical storm was the worst place to be. “Lucy, there’s—”
“I know. I see it.” She cupped her hands over her ears. “I hear it, too.”
“I think this is God’s doing,” blurted Carl. “He wants us to perish together so we can be everlasting in his embrace. God knows I can’t live without you, and he is answering my prayers.”
Their wooden car vibrated as the thundercloud grew closer. Lightning zigzagged across the sky, transforming the glowing clouds into demons. The gusts swung their car back and forth, the joints that connected the car to the steel wheel squeaking so loudly they could be heard even over the thunder. Carl saw the screws holding the car together start to come undone. Wind screamed like a banshee. A vortex of leaves and debris raced upward from the ground like an upside-down tornado, with red and gold lightning flashing inside it.
Lucy and Carl held each other tightly as a fork of lightning struck the metal all around them. The Edison bulbs flashed on, then off, then shone as bright as suns and exploded. The wind flung their car to a nearly horizontal position and then back to the vertical faster than Lucy and Carl could tumble.
The lightning sought out every metallic object it could find. It energized the steel around their car, jumped the wood, and struck Carl’s pocket watch. When Carl snatched his Waltham out of his pocket, it shimmered and spun in his hand like a top possessed by a spirit.
The smell of smoldering wood filled their car.
Another, stronger gust hurled the car beyond its safety position. Whiplash knocked Lucy and Carl unconscious.
Their car was circling downward along its normal path when they opened their eyes. Carl put his hands on Lucy’s arms and examined her. “Are you okay, my love? Does anything hurt?”
The storm was gone. Iridescent blue lit the sky.
Waves of relief cascaded through Carl when he saw she wasn’t bleeding and appeared fine—except for the invisible part of her that wasn’t. God decided she wouldn’t die today, and they wouldn’t die together, but the cancer would soon consume her.
“Look!” Lucy shouted. “What is that?” She pointed up.
Carl couldn’t describe it, but it was unlike anything he’d seen or imagined. An enormous silver bird with immobile wings. The bird raced across the sky.
“Look down!”
Carl did as Lucy said.
“Do you see those people? What are they wearing? Who are they?” Lucy’s eyes went wide as the Ferris wheel carried them back to earth.
Carl felt a strange metallic band on his wrist. The band was silver with a watch dial on top. A pocket watch, but smaller. On his wrist? He patted his pocket and scanned the Ferris wheel car. His Waltham was missing. In its place was this unusual timepiece, imprinted with the words “Omega” on the dial. He’d sort this out later. The most important thing was that Lucy wasn’t injured.
When their car reached the landing spot, the Ferris wheel stopped. Lucy popped open the door.
A man and woman, both in their late twenties, stood outside the exit. The woman wore a scowl. "Harvey, you really screwed up this time.”
“How could I have known?” Harvey asked.
“You knew,” Sawako said. “I think you were hoping something like this would happen.” She waved her hand in front of Lucy and Carl as if she were painting their portraits. “Do you think this is right? Do you think you’ve done a good deed? Because I don’t.”
Harvey harrumphed. “Twenty twenty-six is a better year for them than the late 1800s. It’s like bringing a stray cat indoors. At first, the cat hates it, but it quickly discovers the benefits of a warm, soft bed, not having to chase mice for its meals, and—”
Carl stiffened his back. “Excuse me. What are you talking about? We have a soft bed. We don’t eat mice.”
“See, Harv. Your experiment snatched two decent people from 1893, where they were enjoying their lives and brought them into a world they’ll find difficult or impossible to adjust to. This is a nightmare, and you are the maker of bad dreams.”
Harvey bent forward in an attempt to give Sawako a kiss, but she parried before his lips could land on hers. “Listen,” he said. “If Omega’s going to advertise that their anti-magnetic watch can resist 100,000 gauss, somebody’s got to test that claim. That somebody’s me.” He thumped his chest. “And you know what? Like all things by Omega, the anti-magnetism was understated. You'd expect no less from the company that sent their watch to the Moon. I noticed no effect until 186,000 gauss. That’s when the watch's hands started spinning backward. I clocked it at an hour in reverse every 1.445 seconds.”
“So why did you dial the Cryogen Superconducting Magnet up to one million gauss after that?”
“Why not?” Harvey shrugged.
“Excuse me,” Lucy interrupted. “Would somebody please explain what’s happening? Where are we? Everything looks wrong.”
Sawako took a deep breath. “It’s no longer 1893. This is the year 2026.” Sawako jabbed a finger Harvey’s way. “My friend here, Harvey Mistake—”
Harvey glared. “Miscovich.”
“This so-called physicist was performing an experiment that he knew could affect space-time. He didn’t fill out the university's form noting the experiment’s possible risks.” She stomped her foot.
Harvey shook his head. “There was no question on the Experiment Documentation Request about possible effects on space-time—”
“The question was, ‘List all possible dangers this experiment might cause’.”
“That refers to biologic or explosive, not time travel.”
“Could you just tell us what happened?” Lucy asked, her voice rattling with confusion. “Are you saying we have traveled forward in time 133 years?”
Harvey nodded. “That’s exactly right.”
Lucy spun in a circle and surveyed the amusement park. “This Ferris wheel, it’s completely different. The steel is shiny, not gray. Clothes, amusement booths, strollers, balloons, everything’s more colorful. But many smells are missing. Where are the horses? This isn’t the World's Columbian Exposition, either. I don’t understand. How did you know to meet us here?”
Carl wobbled. Harvey grabbed him before he fell to the ground. “I feel dizzy,” Carl said.
“I’m sure you do. You just traveled over a century into the future. Go slow with everything.” Harvey retrieved a bottle of water from his shoulder bag and handed it to Carl. Carl puzzled over the bottle, tilting it through a range of angles until Harvey took the bottle back and twisted the cap open for him.
Sawako turned to Lucy. “The Omega watch Harvey experimented with in the Cryogen Superconducting Magnet vanished.” She shot a venomous glance at Harvey. “Carl’s watch materialized in its place a week ago, our time. We examined the Waltham, discovered it was manufactured in the 1890s, and figured out who you were through the inscription, “Lucy and Carl Abby, forever together.” A little googling, a little genealogy research at City Hall, a little deduction—”
“Googling?”
“That's hard to explain. Let’s just say we were able to locate you in history, that you were on the list of guests who took the first Ferris wheel ride on June 21, 1893, published in the Chicago Daily Tribune. This new wheel was built on the site of George Ferris’ original wheel. We did some calculations and came up with an educated guess you’d be arriving today.”
“That part worked right.” Harvey stuck his tongue out at Sawako.
“I have a question,” Carl said.
“What is it?” Havey asked.
Carl’s voice cracked. “My Lucy has thyroid cancer, and the doctors say—”
Harvey raised his hand, interrupting Carl. “I’ll answer your question before you even ask. Yes, we’ve cured thyroid cancer. Lucy will be fine.”
If you enjoyed The Ferris Wheel, I think you’ll also like my story, Uber on Time.
Great story! I really enjoyed it.
Ooooow, so nice. I've been there, both 1893 and 2026. Thank you, Bill!