Date night at the fair is a rollercoaster of emotions

The fair has all the hallmarks of a good date: carnival rides, carnie games, freak shows and fried food. My latest love and I recently explored the fun, starting at the corndog stand and making our way along the midway.

At the fair's biggest roller coaster, my date stroked my clammy hand and convinced me to ride. He held me close as we waited in line and smiled wide as our car tick-ticked up the first steep hill. The coaster hovered at the top, in the weightless space where it still seemed possible to turn back, then plunged down the opposite side. My stomach — and the corndog — rose to the back of my throat. When we had dipped through every terrifying turn, the coaster pulled back into the station. I was shaking and my date was laughing, but his laugh was contagious and soon I was laughing too, glad to have this thrill ride of a man next to me.

Further down the fairway, we stumbled on a fortune telling machine. My date rummaged through his pocket and handed me a quarter. I slipped the coin in the slot, and a yellow piece of paper slid out. "You will be very happy with the one you have chosen for your life's companion," it read. Behind me, my date smiled. He put another coin in the machine, and a blue card slipped out. "The devil and his pitchfork are gadding about. The devil will get you if you don't watch out," it read. "He places temptation in your way. Be strong, be firm and you won't stray."

His brow knotted, and he tucked the blue slip of paper in his back pocket.

"Let's check out the freak show," he said.

The sign outside promised the usual sword swallowing and contortion tricks, but I sensed a danger in it, the way the air feels heavy before a coming storm. Inside, we squirmed as freaks walked on glass and drove nails into their faces. In the second act, my date grew still. A striking woman in a red corset strode onto the stage. She carried a dancing flame on the tip of her tongue. Fire breather. Beside me, my date sat rapt, and I felt my confidence drain beneath the floorboards of the sticky wooden bleachers.

Outside, we walked along the midway, but my mood had turned. My date chatted happily next to me, oblivious to my dark humor, still filled with his vibrant buoyancy. At the Ferris wheel, he looked up with wide eyes.

"Let's ride," he said.

Our cart climbed through the wheel's rotation and he slid closer. As we crested the top, he leaned in and delivered a spectacular kiss, the kind that makes the world — and its petty jealousies — seem far away. Like that, my darkness lifted and I was suddenly glad to be in the light of

this great man once again.

Like carnival nights and rollercoaster rides, every relationship has its ups and downs. The couples that hold tight to each other are the ones who will handle life's twists and turns. For the low points, there are always corndogs.

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