The Train of Small Events (Part IV)...yes, seriously! Nuck and I walked up to the door of the building with the Idora Park artifact on its roof. I reached out to knock, but stopped before my knuckles touched it...there was a sign that read, Back in 30 Minutes! Back in 30 Minutes??? 30 minutes from when??? I HATE signs like that! Why would someone put up a sign that says theyll be back in 30 minutes, or 45 minutes, or whatever...? I dont know how long ago you put that sign up! Am I to wait 29 minutes for you to return, or will it be just 1 minute...maybe something in-between??? Am I supposed to wait and find out? Who knows? Besides, everyone knows that Back in 30 Minutes really means youll be back in about an hour! Thats 60 minutes, not 30 minutes! Oh brother...I decided not to knock. I turned to walk away...figured wed go sit in the truck and wait it out... I was hoping that our late start didnt ruin this for us. I heard a creaking sound behind me...the door. I turned back...a short man with long arms stood in the open doorway. I mean, it appeared to be a man. An unusual looking man...and a little creepy...he was dressed in a clown suit of all things...big red clown shoes and all... ...very, very short in stature, shorter than Nuck even, but his arms nearly touched the ground. For just a second I thought of E.T....or a monkey... ...in a clown suit! You cant make this stuff up...well, maybe a little embellishment, but not much. Monkey arms, monkey face... ...an elongated face with a protruding jaw. His lips stretched back as he smiled, revealing numerous teeth that looked like little white kernels of corn...well, sorta white...definitely looked like corn though. An image of the movie Gremlins flashed through my head like a snapshot...a Gremlin...with smaller teeth...lots of teeth. He looked like a character youd see in a traveling carnival side show... ...or in West Virginia... Well, he was smiling...that was a good sign. I hoped. He spoke in a high pitched voice. I wasnt expecting that. It was almost painful to hear...it made a sound like someone was dragging their front teeth across a chalkboard. Yikes! Monkey Man (MM) (extending his hand toward me). Hello, I am Montgomery Wise owner of this establishment. You can call me Monty. Please excuse my dress, I have an appointment at a childrens party. I work part time as a magician clown. Me: pleased to meet you, er...Monty. We shook hands. I introduced him to Nuck who bowed...as ninjas do. Me: I guess our timing was perfect...I saw your sign about returning in 30 minutes...I guess the 30 minutes is up, eh? MM: (ignoring my question) The gypsy sent you. It was a statement not a question. Me: yes,...well, how did you know? She sent me a... MM: (finishing my sentence) ...telegram. Yes, I know. Youre here for the train of small events. Me: yes,...well, maybe...but why is it on the roof of this building and how is it coming down??? MM: (smiling) let us go inside. And, we did. Once inside the building I noticed numerous joke and magic tricks for sale. So, its a joke and magic shop! An attractive woman walked toward us from an adjoining room. She had a very pretty smile and a beautiful face...she must be the pretty assistant that magicians always have. Monty had picked a stunner! A smiling Monty introduced her as his wife, Penny. Duh...His WIFE?! I blinked a few times...looked at her, then looked down at him in his little clown suit and big red clown feet...something is just not right here. I looked at her again...then him...disbelieving... He smiled up at me and winked! ...yep, I dont blame you...lucky guy hit the lottery big. I tried not to shake my head in disbelief. Penny smiled again as if knowing what I was thinking, and extended her hand to shake mine. We shook hands...Penny...Penny Wise! I immediately thought of the Steven King movie, It and the evil clown and star of the movie...his name was Pennywise too...one word. This seemed strange...a short ugly monkey faced clown with long arms and his wife was well...gorgeous. Not that I really noticed...but the contrast between the two was striking. What the heck did she see in this clown? No pun intended. Monty asked his wife to entertain us...he needed to leave for the childrens party. She turned and began to walk up a flight of stairs...beckoning us to follow as she quickly turned her head, looked over her shoulder, smiled and said, Walk this way. I wanted to say that Id try, but thought better of that. Nuck jumped around in front of me... He followed her up the stairs with me behind the two of them. As soon as shed begun climbing the stairs I realized why Nuck jumped the line to get ahead of me...yep...the image of Miss Tight Jeans (earlier story) jumped into my head... Mrs. Penny Wise looked just as pretty from the rear as she did from the front. I thought of her name again, Penny Wise and I hoped that Nuck wasnt going to do or say anything foolish...Penny Wise, Nuck Foolish. How funny if his last name had been Foolish! (Sorry, let me get back into the story now...) Mrs. Wise had a certain style to her movements as we watched her negotiating her way up those stairs... Nuck turned his head to look at me and I could see the smile in his eyes...I couldnt see his mouth because that part of his face was covered by his shinobi shozoku...the mask that covers a ninjas mouth. He followed her...close behind. Too close... As luck would have it...just as Nuck had turned his head to look at me and smile, Mrs. Wise stopped midway up the stairs, pointed at a photo and began to say something... She stopped, Nuck didnt. He was just turning his head forward as she stopped, and Nuck kept going... ...and face-planted her backside. I was horrified! I didnt know what to say so I pretended that I didnt see that. Nuck: I sorry lady. Mrs. Wise: oh, thats quite alright. Are you okay? I gulped when I heard him say it, I okay lady...you soft. She smiled. I shook my head...sheesh...ninjas! Whatever she wanted to point out about the photo was forgotten and we resumed climbing the stairs. As I reached the face-plant step I looked at the photo...it was a wedding photo of Mr. & Mrs. Wise...how sweet! He was standing on a tall stool, she standing next to the stool...they were looking into each others eyes...very sweet. I wondered if there might be any little Wises around. The thought of a child and which parent it would resemble made me shudder. Things went from bad to worse after the face-plant. I heard Nuck humming...after just a few bars I recognized the Bob Seger song. He was still climbing stairs as he followed Mrs. Wise, humming Her Strut... I thought to myself, but didnt say it...Oh Geez Nuck! Not now...No! I reached forward and smacked the back of his little ninja head. He turned and looked at me. I shook my head from side to side and put my finger to my lips to silence him. I whispered, Stop that NOW! He shrugged his shoulders as if to say, What did I do? I pointed forward and told him to keep going. I didnt know if Mrs. Wise heard or recognized the tune. But, I was thankful that Nuck wasnt humming his favorite song, Fat Bottom Girls. As we reached the landing at the top of the stairs the room opened up before us...revealing a museum full of amusement park and carnival artifacts! There were old signs, carousel horses, ticket booths, ride components and much more. Wow! What an amazing collection! Mrs. Wise sauntered (yes, sauntered) over to a ladder in the middle of the room. She began climbing the ladder upward toward a panel in the roof. We followed...Nuck first of course...right behind. She pushed aside the roof panel and the three of us climbed out and onto the flat, tar covered roof...the roof was still wet from the recent rains. Looking straight ahead... I finally got to see the train of small events up close. I hadnt seen the train since I left Youngstown in 1976...worse for wear...faded, peeling paint, rotted wood, torn seats. All three cars of the train had seen much better days, but here they were...together and soon to be heading back home to Ohio...where they belong. The train of small events...a strange name, but hey...it was a rough translation of a Hungarian gypsys telegram...give me some leeway on this one... Some people called it the Kiddieland Coaster or Kiddie Coaster. I prefer the name that I remembered it as...the Baby Wildcat. So this is it...the Train of Small Events...the Baby Wildcat! I thought about the recent past...maybe 4 years ago? I cant remember for sure, but Id heard rumor that the Baby Wildcat Cars were for sale in Leetonia or Lowellville or some other town that begins with an L. For months I tried tracking them down, even placing newspaper ads and internet ads. Finally, I got the L town tip-off from Matt Schwartz, creator of IdoraPark.org I went there (Lowellville?), but the Baby Wildcat Cars were gone. I left a card on the cork board of a mom & pop style store...I got the call a week later... The caller gave me a name and a phone number. I called the number and spoke to Bill the now former owner of the Baby Wildcat Cars. Bill had sold them...to a collector in West Virginia. He didnt have the buyers name or the name of the town in West Virginia. Another dead end just means another challenge. The trip to Hungary was an unexpected and important link in finding the Baby Wildcat Cars. How funny...a journey that started in Ohio will end in Ohio with many stops in-between...foreign lands like England, Portugal, Hungary, West Virginia... I snapped out of my reminiscing daze and the feeling of accomplishment when I heard the loud diesel engine approaching in the street, down below. I looked down from the roof and I saw a large crane moving along... The crane turned up Monkey Mans road and stopped in front of the joke & magic shop. I smiled. So...thats how we get them down!
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 13:19:05 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015