“I wanna go on the Ferris wheel,” Sarah whined.
“That Ferris wheel is cool,” explained Rebekah.
“Forget it,” growled Tim, who suddenly became cranky. He had fun last time he went on this Ferris wheel, but he just wasn’t up to it today. In fact, Tim wasn’t ever in favor of most rides until he went on them once. Usually, after that, he loved them. This time it didn’t take much to convince Tim. While Rebekah criticized her brother for never wanting to do anything fun, Hanson tried to persuade him, coax him, and even bribe him. Their troubles convinced him to go on just once.
Isaac and Tim stepped into the line first, so they decided to ride together. Taylor offered to go with Kristen. This left Zac, Rebekah, Katie, and Sarah. All three girls wanted to be with Zac. They all had their own little daydreams about how fun that would be. Katie was doing some quick calculating in her head. She tried to figure out who was with whom already. Suddenly, it hit her. A little startled by her findings, she reported, “I’ve never been with Rebekah.” That decided it.
After Zac and Sarah climbed into the car, the ride jolted to a start. Sarah squealed, “This is cool!” She was the Hadler who adored amusement park rides. Kristen had a really weak stomach when it came to rides. Katie was more like Kristen—but not nearly as bad. Rebekah was more like Sarah.
Zac rocked wildly back and forth, causing the whole cart to sway.
When their car circled to the bottom, the man slapped it, saying, “Settle down.” Sarah giggled.
“But that’s what I’m supposed to do!” Zac insisted, talking to Sarah.
“It said ‘no rocking’ on the rules!” Sarah pointed to a large wooden sign below.
Changing the subject, Zac said, “Tell me about all these Internet stories you read.” In the rest of their time on the Ferris wheel, Sarah described the general plot of most Internet Hanson stories. The main character was a girl, usually around thirteen or fourteen. The plots were also surprisingly similar. The girl has to move to Oklahoma. She realizes she is a neighbor with the Hansons. She makes friends with the Hansons and somehow never screams or gets very excited. Her and one of the brothers, usually Taylor, fall in love.
Zac laughed. “Man, that’s bad! Hey look. We’re being watched!” He pointed to the car above them. Sarah looked at Katie and Rebekah. They appeared to be looking for something. Rebekah was turned around, and Katie was bent over looking between her legs at the cars below her.
Rebekah turned around, "It looks like Zac and Sarah are having fun."
"Of course Sarah's having fun. She's with Zac!" Katie pointed out.
“How’d you like laser tag?” inquired Rebekah.
“It was cool,” answered Katie casually.
Rebekah noticed the nonchalance in Katie’s voice and tried to ignore it. “It probably didn’t hurt that Hanson is here. You probably wouldn’t like it as much if they weren’t.” Katie nodded silently, so Rebekah went on, “You know what’s funny?” She shook her head. ”I forgot the guys were famous. Seriously; they’re just like normal guys.”
Katie grinned, “Yeah, I know.”
“I think they like it that way,” Rebekah decided. "You know what else?"
"What?"
Rebekah paused to build suspense, "I think I talked to Ike more in these two days than I talked to you." Katie stayed silent, trying to figure it out. Rebekah continued, "The only time I talked to you, basically, was at night. I talked to Ike a lot."
"Whoah," Katie said.
"What are we gonna wear to the concert tonight?" wondered Rebekah.
Katie looked like she was about to slap Rebekah on the head, "Our Hanson shirts, duh!"
Rebekah did it for her, "Oh, yeah!"
"But how are we going to wear our hair?" Katie asked.
Rebekah grew serious, "I have no idea." She got hyper again, "But there's Ike and Tim. I wonder what they’re talking about. Hey Ike!” Rebekah called. She waited for him to turn around. “Having fun?”
“Yeah!” Isaac turned back to Tim.
“That was pointless,” Tim commented bitterly.
The older boy, whose brothers were his best friends, smiled. The Castros didn’t seem to ever get along. He was almost sorry he couldn’t relate to their constant fighting.
“Go on,” urged Tim.
“Oh yeah.” They had been talking about girls, ignoring the ride completely. “It’s impossible to have a girlfriend when you’re travelling all the time. I wouldn’t give it up, though. This is what I want to be doing now. Do you have a girlfriend?"
Tim shifted uncomfortably. “No, not really. Well, kind of.” Isaac looked puzzled. “I met this girl on the Internet.”
"Your sister tried to set me up with a girl on the Internet. I knew it would never work out. Those kind of things never do."
“Yeah. Everyone always tells me how stupid or unreliable that is, but I don’t care. This girl seems cool and nice. I even talked to her on the phone. She has the hottest voice! It’s kind of squeaky, but that’s what makes it so cool.”
“That’s sweet. Are you guys close?”
"Yeah. I was planning a trip to South Carolina. I called her regularly every week. Her brother and sister are cool, too." Tim had a dreamy look in his eye.
Isaac smiled. "That's so sweet," he repeated. He loved guy talk, and it was fun talking to a guy besides his brothers. “Well, good luck with her. Who knows? It could happen.”
"Would you ever date a fan?" Tim asked.
"I've been asked that question so many times. I don't think I could, you know, actually date her. I mean, you know, we'd be on the road all the time. I might like a girl, and I'd try to keep in touch if she was nice, you know, but I couldn't date her if I'm not there."
Tim grinned evilly, "I would. Probably at every place I go I'd start to like a girl. Literally. Hey, can you do your 'Beavis and Butthead' imitation?"
Isaac hesitated at first, but then decided that it would be OK to do it in front of Tim. Ike did Butthead and Tim tried to join in as Beavis. Isaac was much better than Tim. Maybe Isaac just got more practice. Isaac looked at Kristen and Taylor, who were right in front of them.
They were talking to each other about how the Ferris wheel ride was going. "This is the funnest Ferris wheel I’ve ever been on," Kristen told him. "I get sick on rides pretty easy."
"Yeah, it is fun. I can only think of one other time I’ve had this much fun on a Ferris wheel. My friend dared me to spit on someone on the ground. But that was outside."
"Did you?" Kristen asked, looking at Taylor with admiration.
"Yeah, but I missed. It almost landed on some bald guy’s head. We didn’t get kicked off because we made sure no one was looking when I spit," he explained.
"I wanna spit," complained Kristen.
"So do I," Taylor agreed, "I would, but this is inside."
Kristen took a deep breath and pretended to spit. "That would have landed on that really ugly, fat guy over there."
Taylor laughed. He brought some saliva to his mouth right behind his teeth. Just as he was about to pretend-spit, the wheel lurched to a stop and the saliva flew out of his mouth and onto his lap. Kristen squealed and hopped as far away from him as she could. She looked around to see if anyone had seen. Rebekah and Katie were both staring at her with open mouths, wondering what happened. The man who ran the Ferris wheel was also looking at her, but he was glaring. "Oh no. I think we’re in trouble," she told Taylor, pointing to the man.
"Oh well," he said as he rubbed the spit into his pants.
Taylor and Kristen were at the very top of the wheel. Kristen looked out over the edge and watched as Tim and Isaac climbed out of their car. Her heart sank. She couldn’t believe the ride was over already. Kristen really enjoyed Taylor’s company. "We have to get off soon," she told him.
"The ride just started!" Taylor complained. "Well, come on, we should have as much fun as we can before we have to get off."
Kristen’s eye fell on the funny-looking man that she hit with her imaginary spit. "Look at the guy over there. He looks like he’s lost."
Taylor laughed, "Yeah, he does. I wonder why he’s here."
"I wonder how he sees over that huge nose!" said Kristen. Taylor laughed, harder this time. They tried to make up a story about why he was there. "Maybe he has a kid here and he can’t find him."
"His kid is probably really short. That would explain why he’s looking down at the ground," Taylor added. The two of them continued the story until they had to get off. Kristen stepped out first, then Taylor, both laughing at their story. The others stared at them, wondering what the joke was.
"It looks like you guys had fun," Rebekah commented.
"Maybe a little too much fun," Tim added dryly. Tim looked through the glass doors and spotted his mom’s blue mini van. "Mom’s here," he told them. This time, Tim and Isaac led the way, continuing their conversation. Zac ran up next to Tim.
"Rebekah told me to ask you where you want to sit," he said, contorting his voice to make it sound southern.
Tim glanced at Ike. He was enjoying their conversation and wanted to continue it. He let it go since they wouldn’t have any privacy. "I don’t care. I just don’t want to sit in the front."
Zac delivered the information to Rebekah. She was confused. Tim usually wasn’t very social. She would probably be elected to sit in the front.
Isaac dropped back and joined everyone else. "I’ll sit in the front," he offered, sensing that no one else wanted to sit in the front.
"No, that’s OK, Ike, I will," Rebekah said.
"No, I will. I don’t care. Everyone else wants to sit in the back. It’s fine with me. I insist."
Rebekah shrugged, "Whatever."
