certain pattern, or it would become too heavy on one side to bring the other down low. Finally, the actual ride began. It was no Sky Rover, but being that high up over the fairground with no cockpit over them or windshield in front of them was breathtaking. Both enjoyed the blissful sensation of the wind blowing in their faces.
Neither of them noticed a figure clad in a worn-out trenchcoat and hat behind them. Blitz, having gotten a disguise from somewhere, was still on their tails. He had seen Colleen leaning on Hunter, and his jealousy burned so hot that his hat began to smoke. As the wheel turned, so did the wheels in his mind, and a plot took shape. He rose cautiously to his feet, thinking to himself that a good jolt, like, say, an extra passenger landing in their seat, would spoil the mood for sure. When he thought they were at the right point, he jumped. He missed, hit the back, and fell to the ground below.
“Whoa!” exclaimed Hunter, startled at the sudden rocking.
“What was that?” asked Colleen. They looked over the sides, which was about all the seatbelts allowed, but saw nothing.
Hunter shrugged. “Probably nothing.” he said brightly.
Luckily for Blitz they hadn't been very high up when he jumped, but the landing was still unpleasant to say the least. As he rose dizzily to his feet, he could see little tiny ferris wheels rolling around his head. Unfortunately, there was something of more immediate... never mind, it was too late. He didn't see it coming, he didn't know what happened, all he knew was that his nose hurt worse than it had ever hurt in his life. The seat had struck again.
When they left the fair, the car was still in the shop. “I gave it the closest tires I had to what you were using before, but the distributor cap is taking a bit longer because the engine is so complicated. Probably gonna be another hour before I’m done,” explained the mechanic. “Although I could maybe cut that in half if you’re really in a hurry.”
Hunter shook his head. “Nah, we’ll be fine.”
Colleen noticed that the number of cars in the parking lot had tripled since that morning. “Looks like your business is picking up,” she observed.
The mechanic nodded. “Yeah, word of mouth in a small town, you know. People see a car like yours in here and the next thing you know, everybody’s coming to see it.”
Hunter smiled. “Well, see you in an hour.”
As Colleen opened the car to put in a stuffed animal Hunter had won her at one of the games, the mechanic grinned. “Been to the carnival, huh?” he asked.
“Yeah, it was a real blast,” replied Hunter cheerily.
“Heh, you want a blast, they're having fireworks tonight 'bout an hour after sunset. If you're not in a hurry, you ought to enjoy that.”
“Peachy,” smiled Colleen.
“My friend runs a boat rental down at the lake,” the mechanic added. “ You can get a really nice view from out on the water. If you tell him Larry sent you, he'll give you a good deal.”
Hunter turned to Colleen. “Well, what do you think?” he asked.
“I'm game if you are,” she answered brightly.
The two of them watched the sunset from the middle of the lake. A mix of deep orange, soft yellow, and rich, luxurious purple draped the western sky like an ornate robe. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” asked Colleen.
“Yeah,” agreed Hunter. “You know, it’s funny how sunsets like that always happen when nobody’s got a camera.”
Colleen shrugged. “Well, it’s nice to see it anyway.”
They sat and watched as the sky grew dark and the stars came out, although they were somewhat diminished by the ongoing lights of the fair. “How much longer?” asked Colleen after a long silence.
Hunter looked at his watch. “I'd say about fifteen minutes,” he replied, wondering if she could tell in the dark that he'd been watching her face. Not that he could see much either, but it seemed to make sense anyway.
FWEEEEe... BOOM! A streak of light rocketed into the sky, exploding into a blinding burst of green. Both of them jumped. Had it been fifteen minutes already?
More fireworks followed. One resembled a gold willow tree, the next a ball of white specs which in turn blew apart into smaller ones. One firework burst into in a dazzling display of bright crimson, deep cerulean, and sparkling alabaster. Burst after burst after burst, until it was impossible to keep track of them all, impossible to do anything but sit there and watch.
Blitz, meanwhile, was hiding in the back of the boat under a tarp. All he could see under the plank seat were Hunter and Colleen’s feet, but he had all kinds of guesses what he was missing out on. This doesn’t look too good, he thought. He spotted a rubber band by Hunter’s foot, and an idea hit him. Maybe a snap on the ankles would make Hunter jump out of the boat. If that didn’t spoil the mood, nothing would. He looped the rubber band over the tip of his thumb and pulled back the other end. Ready, aim…
The band snapped, flinging both broken ends back and smacking him right in the nose. Blitz had to clap both hands over his mouth to stop himself from yelping.
“Did you hear something?” asked Hunter, pulled out of his trance.
“What? No, I don’t think so.”
“Huh,” Hunter shrugged.
Blitz stifled a growl of frustration and decided on a more direct approach. He extended one of his claws just enough to hurt, and jabbed a heel. With a startled yell, Colleen leapt clear out of the boat_and into the lake.
Blitz groaned and covered his eyes. Could something go right tonight?
Colleen came up_sputtering. “Blimey!” she complained. “This water’s cold!”
“What happened?” asked Hunter, leaning over the side of the boat.
“I think somethin' bit me ankle,” answered Colleen, treading water.
Hunter_looked under the seat, but Blitz had already retreated out of sight. “I don’t see anything.” He held out a hand to Colleen. “Here, grab my hand and I’ll pull you in.”
“Thanks, Huntie-Wuntie,” chattered Colleen, grasping his hand by the wrist as he did the same to hers. But then as he tried to help her get back in, he slipped in some water that her splash had sent into the boat.
“WHOA!” he yelled as he lost his balance and fell into the water as well, landing right on top of Colleen.
When they came up, Colleen was about as happy as a cat in the_hands of a_baptism-bent five-year-old. “Was that trip really necessary?” she asked.
“Nah, I just like to travel a lot.” Hunter was shivering. “Man, you were right. This water’s freezing!” He dove under the boat and came up on the other side. “Let’s get back in before we turninto popsicles,” he called.
Colleen grabbed her side of the boat. “Ready?”
“One, two, three!” They heaved themselves back into the boat. “Well, that was fun,” he remarked sarcastically. He noticed Colleen shivering. “Let me see if there are_any towels on the boat.” After some digging in the back, he located only a single beach towel. “Here,” he said,_handing it to Colleen.
“Thanks,” she said, wrapping herself up in it.
Hunter sat down at the oars and started rowing back as fireworks continued to blaze overhead. So much for the boat ride, he thought.
The manager seemed surprised when they came back soaking wet, and Colleen with the towel draped over her shoulders like a cape, but chose not to ask. All he said, aside from thanking them for coming, was, “You_can keep the towel, Miss.”
As they walked back to the mechanic, Hunter suddenly stopped. Okay, enough puppyfooting, he decided. “Colleen?” he asked.
“What?” asked_Colleen.
Hunter shuffled his feet, having a hard time looking at her. When he did, he saw her brown-and- white face glowing in the light of the last fireworks, with an ever-changing hue that was almost hypnotic. “There’s something we need to talk about. You know how conveniently everyone else couldn’t come along?”
Colleen nodded, and if Hunter hadn’t been feeling slightly timid, he might or might not have realized that some of the moisture on her forehead was sweat, not water. “What about it?” she asked, wondering if he knew what she was thinking. What she'd been up to.
“Well,” Hunter admitted, “I’ve been kinda hoping we could take a day off_with just the two of us for a long time now, but I couldn’t work up the courage to ask you. So I paid Shag and Exile five bucks each to_kinda set us up.”
Colleen’s eyes went berserk. “Blimey! And all this time…!”
Hunter cringed. “I guess you’re kinda mad, aren’t you?”
“I’ll say I am!”
Hunter looked at his feet. “Well, maybe it was kind of sneaky for me to do that,” he admitted.
Colleen’s expression went from angry to confused. “What do you mean? I was talking about what they did.”
“Huh?”
“You said you paid them five dollars, right?”
Hunter nodded.
“Well I paid them ten and they didn’t say a thing!”
Hunter’s eyes widened, and then in spite of himself he started laughing. Colleen stared at him for a moment and
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