“I love you guys. You mean so much to me.” Now Harper was crying.
“Hey, hey—please, we’re not going out on a Ferris wheel, Harp,” Dot said.
Mary reached over and grabbed Harper’s knee. “Hang on. We’re fine.” But she wasn’t sure she believed that. The wind howled and dirt flew in their eyes. Dot tried to shield them behind the big stuffed cow.
Then as suddenly as the wind started, it stopped. The sirens still wailed and then gradually tapered off. The Crew picked their heads up to look around. The fair was still dark save for some of the emergency lights. The Ferris wheel hadn’t moved to bring them down.
Mary looked down trying to see Jake.
“Oh my gosh—they’re bringing a huge ladder over to us. Holy smokes,” Mary said, envisioning how they’d have to get down from the top of the ride. Dot and Harper craned their necks to see.
A few moments later, they heard Jake’s voice. He was nearly to the top of the ladder.
“Fancy meeting you here,” he said, trying to lighten the mood. Then more seriously, “Are you all okay?” He placed a hand on Mary’s shoulder.
“A little freaked. What happened?”
“A tornado touched down about three miles from here. We got lucky.”
“Why wasn’t there any warning? This is crazy!” Dot said.
“It can happen. But let’s get you unstuck. Do you think you can climb down the ladder to the ground? You just hold on tight, always having one foot and one hand on the rung to steady yourself.”
“I can do it,” Mary said. “But Harper is sick. I don’t know how we’re going to get her down.”
“Let’s try this. You go first, then Dot. I’ll bring Harper down with me.”
“Okay. Ummm... what about him?” Dot pointed to her cow, only kind of joking. She wanted it as the prize Danny won for her the night they almost died in a tornado in Wisconsin.
“Give it to me.” Jake took the cow and called to Danny. “Heads up!” He let the cow fall, and Danny leapt to his right and caught it with one hand.
“Show-off,” Jake said, as he unlocked the bar that held the girls’ in place.
“Okay, Mary. You’re up. Just don’t look down. Keep your eyes on me and then look straight ahead. Got it?”
She nodded. Bravely, she turned and made eye contact with Jake and slowly made her way down the ladder. About halfway down, she looked straight ahead and then she was on the ground, wrapped in a hug by Tommy.
Next was Dot. She did the same, looking at Jake until he was out of sight. Danny was ready for her as she reached the ground. He put his arms around her.
“You’re shaking,” he said.
“I’m okay, I’m okay.” She let herself collapse into him and looked up to see Jake below Harper, his hand guiding her, as they slowly made their way down.
“You’ve got this, Harper!” Dot called.
“You’re so brave!” Mary shouted.
Finally, Harper was on solid ground and Tommy put his arm around her to help hold her up.
“I need to lie down,” she said. “I need to go home.”
“You got it. We’ll get you in bed ASAP,” Tommy said.
Dot and Mary made eye contact. They didn’t think Harper was saying she wanted to go to their house in Cedar Falls.
In that moment, they knew that Harper really wanted to go home—to New York.
Chapter 53