Learning to Remember

10. Fun Park

"Slow down before you choke. I want to take you to the amusement park, not the emergency room, Amelia." John laughed as he finished off his muffin.

"Sorry, sorry. You must think I'm a slob." She said as she used a napkin to wipe the glaze from her lips. "But these might be the best croissants I've ever had. And I've been to France, so that's saying something."

"France, huh? And Germany? You must really like to travel."

"Or maybe I was in the corps before I decided to settle down and teach." She shrugged.

"The corps?" He chuckled. "Or maybe you're an army brat."

"You never know." She smiled before taking another large bite of her breakfast.  "Thank you again for breakfast, you didn't have to do that."

"It was a selfish act, really. I jump on any excuse to go to that bakery for breakfast."

"I can see why." She smiled.

An hour later they were in line to purchase tickets for entry into the amusement park.

"So Amelia, do you think you might be a thrill seeker or would you stick to the more mellow rides?" John asked.

"I'm really not sure. I think I'll just decide when I see the ride." she shrugged. "But I read this place has some fun shows and exhibits so if it turns out I'm a scaredy cat then there would still be stuff for me to do."

"Good plan."

"What about you?"

"Ehh, I can take or leave the big stuff I guess."

"Ah, so what you're really saying is that you're a closet scaredy cat that pushes himself to do the rides he doesn't actually like due to peer pressure."

"Woah." He held his hands to his chest as if in pain. "That is a lot for a person to unpack."

"I can't believe I just said that." She covered her face with her hands and laughed.

"You can't take it back now." He chuckled. "Although maybe there's a chance you're unconsciously describing yourself." He chuckled.

"Oh no. If I decide I don't want to ride one of these things, you can bet there's no amount of peer pressure that will be making me do it. People can laugh all they want, I'll just be walking my way over to the kiddy rides."

He laughed as he stepped up to the ticket line. "2 adult tickets please."

"Oh no, I've got mine." She gently grabbed his arm to stop him. "I guess I didn't tell you, I found some cash in the house."

He glanced back at her. "How much- " he stopped and glanced at the long line of people waiting behind them and then turned back to the cashier. "Two." He said confidently as he held up two fingers.

"But John, I-"

"We'll figure it out after." He said as he handed the woman his card and she printed two tickets for him. They moved to the next part of the line where you go through a turnstile ticket machine to enter the park.

After they went through she held out some bills toward him. "Here."

He turned to look at her hand. "I'm not taking your money, Amelia." He said sternly as he led her to the side, away from the crowd of people entering the park.

"But I didn't ask you to bring me out here so you could also pay for me. It's not right." She argued with him.

"I don't know how much money you found but you need to save it for more important things. You know, groceries. electric bill, rent."