Every year I mull the idea over of writing a story in my October Thoughts. I have amassed quite a few ideas and came close last year to writing one of them. But alas and alack it never happened. This year, I feel inspired and have started on one. It will be a short story told in serial form. I can't wait to see how it ends. So, here is my inaugural October Thought story. Installment #1. I hope you enjoy.
Leah was excited. It was finally the weekend. It had been a hard week and now it was over. It was time to kick back and do what she wanted to do, and what she wanted to do was go to a corn maze. For four weeks there had been a barrage of advertisements for the local maze. There were banners down main street, ads on TV, notices in the paper, flyers in the grocery store, billboards down the highway and blurbs on the radio. Everywhere she went she heard about the maze. At first she was excited along with everyone else. Who wouldn't be? There were things do to for all ages and not just the maze. There would be live music, food trucks, petting zoos, bounce houses, rides, and much, much more the ads promised. But after the 6th or 7th commercial or the umpteenth flyer, her excitement started to dwindle. By week three she had had enough and was prepared to boycott the maze altogether, but then came week four. Something changed. Whoever was running the advertisements added one sentence to the end of the promotions and it caught her attention. It said, "An experience unlike any other." Now she had heard those words before in other ads and thought nothing of it, but this time, this time something was different. It was the tone of the thing. It didn't feel tongue in cheek. It sounded like a promise. What exactly was so special about this maze? Did it have bridges or fountains in the middle? Maybe their were live animals in it or weird guides. Perhaps the maze was just one giant wall of corn? Leah honestly didn't know and that sentence wouldn't stop buzzing in her brain. She brought it up to her parents but they didn't see any special significance. Her mother just shrugged and said that it was a cheap marketing ploy and probably didn't mean anything extra special. Her father concurred but added that the maze designers had most likely added a few more extra twists and turns to make it super hard. Leah thought it was more than this but didn't argue. She tried talking to her best friend Georgie about it, but Georgie was more interested in what Mike Twilbie was wearing that day than the mysteries of the local corn maze.
So Leah stewed over the maze mystery all through her difficult week, which both helped and hindered. She was excited to think of the possibilities, but with tests and homework, practices and the other demands of life pushing in, she wanted the mystery of the maze to be solved so she could get on with things. Which was why this Saturday was so exciting. Today was the day that she would figure out the mystery of the maze. Leah woke up early, something unheard of in her house on a weekend, and rushed through breakfast. The maze opened up at ten on the weekends and she wanted to be first in line. She took out the garbage, fed Samson the families aging basset hound, checked Twitter and Facebook, took way to long deciding on an appropriate maze adventuring outfit, checked Twitter again, wrote a note to her parents reminding them of where she was going and when she'd be back and then dashed out the door.
It was only a 15 minute drive to the maze from her house and she though she wanted to speed down the sleepy country roads she kept her mounting excitement in check and kept it under the speed limit. In what felt like no time at all, Leah saw the first of the turn off signs leading to the maze. Simple hand drawn sandwich boards with pumpkin balloons floating on top. The speedometer edged up a little as she saw the next sign and by the time she came to the turn off a few miles later all pretenses of being a model driver were gone. As she turned off down the dirt road she kicked up a mighty cloud of dust which she was a bit embarrassed by once she reached the parking lot. Two workers chatting by the entrance to the attraction were enveloped by her dust cloud as she came to a stop. Leah sheepishly turned off the engine and sat for a few minutes before getting out of the truck. She stuffed her wallet in the back pocket of her jeans and put her keys in her front pocket next to her phone. She was ready to go.
Leah walked past the two attendants that she had dusted but they paid her no mind. If her eyes weren't deceiving her, she was the first one at the site. Excitement surged through her. Leah loved mazes and puzzles. To be the first one. To be the only one. To have the entire place to herself, Leah couldn't wait to get started. She walked a little faster to the ticket booth. When she got there she was greeted by an indifferent girl with pink hair who had her feet propped up on the counter and was busily texting. Leah stood for a few moments and waited. She read the price guide posted on the side of the ticket window and dug in her pocket for her wallet. The ticket girl continued to ignore her and after a while Leah made a few noises indicating that she was ready to be helped. Still nothing. Not wanting to be rude, but getting a little irritated, Leah cleared her throat and asked "so, tickets to the maze are $5 right?" The girl looked up, a little confused at being spoken too. "What," she asked. "I asked if the maze price was $5" Leah said, knowing full well that it was, since it was posted about a foot from her face. The pink haired girl, whose nametag read Valerie, blinked in confusion then shrugged and said "I guess." Leah handed her a five with forced cheerfulness. The girl took it and then went back to texting. Leah sighed and asked "don't I get a ticket or something." Valerie looked up and seemed confused that Leah was still standing there. "You get a stamp on the hand" she said. Leah waited. Valerie waited. "Could I maybe have the stamp now," Leah asked, getting a little bit more annoyed. Valerie sighed and shrugged at the same time then turned to dig under the counter. She rooted around and came back up with a carved wooden stamp that looked as if it belonged on a chess board. Leah held out her hand as Valerie inked the piece and then pushed it onto Leah's skin. Leah examined the design. It was a black swirl that looked like a maze with eight dots at various points along the lines. Cool. Leah looked up and asked "is this what the maze looks like or is it just a pattern? How many entries are there to the maze? How long does it usually take people to go through?" But Valerie was not interested in customer service and without breaking her texting rhythm, used her other hand to wave vaguely at the information stand two windows down from the booth. Clearly Leah was not going to be getting any more "help" from Valerie so she muttered a halfhearted thanks and went to look at the brochures. Washburn's Magnificent Corn Maze Extravaganza said a header on all the flyers. Leah picked one up and started unfolding. Inside there was a list of concessions, attractions and hours. Another panel showed an overhead view of the maze and gave gate options. There were in fact eight in all and they ranged in difficulty levels. The maze itself covered 33 acres which was impressive, but hardly what Leah would consider an experience unlike any other like the ads promised. The brochure said nothing else about the inner workings of the maze. Leah checked. When you unfolded the brochure totally it provided a map of the entire park and its attractions. She located the maze site, refolded the brochure and set off. Nothing was going to mar her maze day, not even Valerie.
To be continued......
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