Big Love Read Online Free PDF Page A

punched their passes and pointed to a shiny red metallic cart. He must have sensed Zing’s trepidation because Miracle had her arm and was dragging her to the cart. He followed and pulled the safety bar over their laps. He leaned in to Zing and said, “Lady, you are in for the ride of your life, so hang on tight.”
    “She’s got this down,” Miracle said confidently.
    Zing did not feel confident. The cart lurched forward. Zing grabbed Miracle’s hand and whispered, “My chest feels cold, my hands are sweaty, and I think I have to pee,” Zing said. “I must have the flu.”
    “You’re just scared,” Miracle said. “That’s what happens when you get scared.”
    Zing had never been scared before. Having a body that did these things was weird and made her realize for the first time what she’d gotten herself into. This was BIG. Going back to HQ and her cubicle and vicarious living seemed like a good idea right about now.
    Then she thought about Nell. Poor, poor, hairless Nell. She owed it to her to make things right. She couldn’t go back. Not yet.
    The shiny red cart clattered and climbed. Higher and higher they went. “Are you sure these things are safe?” she yelled over the clacking and clanging of the cart’s wheels.
    “No, I’m not. But that’s the best part—the not knowing, the embracing of letting go. If now is the time for me to die, then I can’t prevent it, so I’m embracing it,” Miracle yelled back. “It’s called livin’ out loud.”
    They were almost to the top. Zing’s long red tresses streamed out behind her as the ascent rushed up at them. The cart teetered for a brief moment at the very top and then cascaded down so fast Zing felt like she’d left her body behind. Her body caught up with her at the very bottom and she screamed and kept screaming while the cart whirled and dipped, climbed, and fell again and again. She looked over at Miracle who smiled with wild abandon and had her arms over her head reaching for the sky. It touched some part of Zing. She stopped screaming, held her arms high, and smiled. She was living out loud. And it felt terrific!
    Between rides—none were so terrible and terrific as The Monster—they had a soft-serve ice cream cone. They sat on a bench and licked their cones, happily people-watching.
    Suddenly, Zing yelped and grabbed the top of her head. Something was happening. Something bad. The top of her head was going to explode. “Oh, it hurts! What’s happening to me? Is my brain going to blow up?”
    Miracle laughed. “No, silly, you just have a brain freeze. Stick your thumb on the roof of your mouth.”
    “Huh?”
    “Stick your thumb in your mouth and suck on it.”
    “Why?” Zing said.
    “I don’t know why. It just works. Do it,” Miracle commanded.
    Zing stuck her thumb in her mouth and sucked. After a few seconds her brain warmed back up.
    “Better?” Miracle asked. She had chocolate ice cream on her chin. It looked like a little chocolate soul patch.
    Zing nodded. “I didn’t know ice cream was so dangerous.”
    “Just don’t eat it so fast.”
    “Can I have another one?”
    “One’s enough, Zing. Haven’t you ever heard the saying ‘too much of a good thing?’”
    “Nope. You have some ice cream on your chin,” Zing said.
    “I’m saving it for a snack later,” Miracle joked.
    “That’s a good idea,” Zing said. She stuck a blob of ice cream on her own chin.
    “I was kidding,” Miracle said, taking a napkin and wiping it off Zing’s chin.
    “Oh.”
    “Don’t do everything people tell you. It’s dangerous,” Miracle said.
    “I did what you told me to do. You told me to get on the rollercoaster and then the Tea Cups and those are dangerous, but I did it.”
    Miracle smiled. “I’m different. You can do what I tell you. Come on, there’s a few more rides I want to take you on.” She shoved the rest of the cone in her mouth in one big bite. Zing did the same.
     
    ***
     
    Zing lay in bed marveling at