Waterslide Conquest
September 5, 2022 – Springfield, Illinois, USA
“Looks like everyone had the same idea,” David said to his wife, Lena.
“It’s Labor Day, the last day of the season. We knew it would be crowded,” Lena replied. “People want one last splash before school starts.”
As David, Lena, and their two daughters walked into Splash Tower waterpark, they were surrounded by hordes of teenagers and young families. Judging by the sheer numbers in the crowd, everyone in town willing to wear a swimsuit was at the park. Some were eager to show off their young or toned bodies. Others were accompanying kids or grandkids and trying not to attract attention.
David and Lena were there for their girls. They had agreed to multiple trips throughout the summer because it was a reasonably priced way to get outside without overheating. The family mostly stuck to the kiddy attractions – splash pads, lazy river, and a play area with slides under six feet tall. David and Lena occasionally snuck off solo to the slide tower, which was home to seven thrill rides and where the park got its name.
Splash Tower was loose about enforcing some of its rules. No one seemed to monitor the dress code or if anyone was sneaking in their own food. But the park was very strict about the height requirement for the tower. Anyone who might be close to the 48-inch minimum was measured near the park’s entrance. If they passed, they got a brightly colored wristband. If they failed, they were stuck with the kiddy rides.
David and Lena’s oldest daughter, Maya, was not quite seven-years-old, but she was tall for her age. Throughout the summer, David measured Maya using the harsh standards he knew would be applied at Splash Tower. In August, she hit a growth spurt and stretched up the final millimeter. When they arrived on Labor Day, Maya successfully made it past the checkpoint and was presented a yellow wristband which matched her new yellow swimsuit. Her little sister, Carmen, wore a new swimsuit, too, but it would only be good for the little rides.
The family trudged in flipflops across the hot cement walkways. Maya and Carmen stopped to stomp in the puddles left by overflowing splashpads and leaky buckets perched over the lazy river. The few plastic recliners scattered around the park were already claimed so David walked to a lawn near the perimeter fence. Parkgoers had already left piles of belongings under shade trees and David found an empty spot for his family’s towels and shoes.
“Let’s put on sunscreen before anything else,” Lena advised, pulling a spray can from her shoulder bag. Her daughters submitted to a sunscreen coating and then wondered if they should leave their flipflops behind.
“You can’t take them on the slides,” David said. “Leave them here. If the sidewalks are hot, you can walk on the grass.”
Maya said, “I wanna start with the lazy river.”
“How about we let Carmen and your mom go on the little slides and we’ll go up the tower?” her father said excitedly.
“I’m not ready yet,” Maya replied.
Maya was tall for her age and the extra height came with an extra dose of cautiousness. She never wanted to be the first in line for the bus. Her mom still checked her room for monsters in the closet. She would not try a new type of food until her dad ate his portion and proved it was not poisonous.
“I know the tower looks a little scary, but once you’re up there you’ll see it’s fine,” David said encouragingly. “I’ve been up there a bunch of times. It’s fun.”
“I’m not ready yet.”
“C’mon, you don’t have to be afraid. Let’s just go take a look. You and me.”
“Okay, if we only look.”
As the family walked back across the lawn and toward the attractions, David confided to his wife what he thought would happen. “Once she gets up there, she’ll see it’s not so bad. When she sees everyone else sliding down, she’ll do it too.”
“We’ll see. I hope so,” Elena replied.
Maya and David split off toward the tower and joined a throng of teenagers climbing the wide wooden stairway. Water dripped from leaky joints. The air smelled of chlorine and sunscreen. Laughter and teenage chatter echoed off the wood platforms and concrete covered ground. Maya held tight to her father’s hand as they navigated the crowd of exposed bodies.
Signs along the zigzag stairway pointed toward the seven slides hanging from the tower. The first slides were built from a platform three stories up. When he and Maya reached the platform’s entrance, David said, “How about we start here?”
“We’re really high,” Maya replied, still clinging to David’s hand.
“Not too high. The faster slides are above us. The two at this level aren’t scary at all. Shall we look?”
Maya nodded reluctantly and David led her toward a slide called The Twist. It circled to the ground in successive loops at a gentle angle. Every ten seconds, a new rider pushed off from the launch point and slipped down The Twist in a sitting position.
“See, doesn’t that look like fun?” David cried. “How about we try it? You can go first and I’ll be right behind you.”
“I’m not ready.”
“Why not? Look at all the other kids your size riding it.”
Maya shook her head. David insisted she watch people go down the slide for a few minutes, but that did not change Maya’s mind.
“Let’s look at the other one,” David said, pulling Maya over to a slide called The Cave. “This one’s easy too. Parts of it are dark and parts of it are light. But it’s not scary. Shall we try this one?”
“No, not yet.”
“You’ll have fun. I promise. I’ll be right behind you and won’t let anything happen to you.”
Maya watched sliders plunge down The Cave but continued to say she was not ready.
“When are you going to be ready? This is the last day of the summer.”
“I don’t know. Can we go find Mom now?”
No matter how much her dad pointed out all the other kids having fun around her, Maya was not convinced. Her dad grabbed her hand again and they headed toward the stairway, moving in the opposite direction of the crowd. Teenagers gawked like they had never seen someone walk down a flight of stairs. David shook his head with embarrassment. Maya moved one careful foot after another.
Father and daughter found the rest of the family at the short slides. Maya ran to her little sister and arrived in time to be soaked by the tipping bucket in the playground.
“Did she go down?” Elena asked.
“No. I kept telling her it was fun and safe. She kept saying she wasn’t ready. We had to walk down the stairs.”
“Doesn’t surprise me.”
“It’s so silly. I know she’d have fun if she’d just try it once. I wanted to trick her into sitting at the top and then push her down when she wasn’t expecting it.”
“You’ll traumatize her and she’ll never do it again. It has to be her decision. You can’t trick or guilt her into it. Let’s let her play with Carmen a while and then I’ll give it a try.”
The family moved from the mini slides to the lazy river. After a few round trips, Elena said to her daughter, “Will you walk up the tower with me?”
“I’m not ready,” Maya answered.
“I only want to take a look around. Will you come with me? I don’t want to go by myself.”
“Go on, Maya. I’ll stay with Carmen,” David said.
Maya took her mom’s hand and they marched purposely toward the slide tower. “One of the great things about growing up is doing fun things little kids can’t,” Elena said to her daughter. “Sometimes fun things can seem scary at first but they turn out not to be scary.”
Elena continued to share encouraging words all the way up the tower climb. When she and Maya reached the first platform and stared at The Twist, Elena was sure Maya would eagerly get in line and take the plunge. Instead, she said, “I’m not ready.”
“We came here for you. We paid to get in and bought you a new swimsuit. Do it for Mommy and Daddy, okay?”
“Not yet.”
“It’s your last chance of the summer to show you’re a big girl.”
Maya was not convinced. She looked at the second slide on the platform but would not try it. She and her mom walked down the staircase against the flow of traffic. They found Carmen playing on a splashpad while David watched.
“No luck,” Lena announced. “But I’m not giving up. She just needs to psych herself into it.”
Maya and Carmen moved back and forth between the lazy river and the short slides. Their parents pestered Maya about losing her chance at the big slides. She finally agreed to have another look with her father. They climbed the tower again and this time Maya joined the line for The Twist. She made it as far as the slide’s launch point and then froze.
“Come on. Sit down and let the water carry you. It’s fun,” her dad pleaded.
“I’m not ready yet.”
Maya stood there until the kids behind her grew impatient. Her dad had no choice but to walk back down the tower with her.
“How about if you stand at the bottom and watch me come down?” David asked his daughter. “Then you’ll see how fun it is.”
David gathered the rest of the family around the exit pool for The Twist and hurried up the tower. When he came splashing down into the pool, he raved about how much fun he had. Maya was unmoved.
“I’m not ready. I’ll do it when I’m ready.”
David gave up talking about the big slides, but Elena was not ready to let go. She made two more trips up the tower with Maya, which ended with walks down the stairway.
By the late afternoon, the family returned to their shade spot under the tree. David and Elena laid on their towels feeling exhausted from traipsing over the park in the bright sunlight.
“Well, I guess this visit was mostly a bust,” David said in a disappointed voice. “I thought Maya was getting so old and brave. I wanted her to be my sliding partner.”
“Me too,” Elena added.
Maya acted like she did not hear them and stretched out on her own towel next to her little sister. The girls giggled about clouds and whether the grass below them tickled their arms and legs.
As the 6 pm closing time approached, parkgoers packed up their things, put on their flipflops, and migrated toward the exit. David and Elena sat up and announced it was time for them to leave too.
“Kind of a sad feeling. Like we’re saying goodbye to summer,” David said as he trudged along the wet sidewalk with a towel over his shoulder.
“Next thing you know, we’ll be talking about Halloween,” Elena added.
They walked out the park’s gate as an announcement played about shutting down the slides. When they found their SUV in the parking lot, David and Elena threw all towels in the back and buckled the kids into their seats.
As David prepared to join the traffic jam leading away from the parking lot, he heard a voice from the backseat. “Dad, Mom. Now I’m ready.”
“Ready for what?” David asked.
“Ready to go down the big slides.”
David and Elena smirked as they shook their heads. They looked over at the tower. There was no way they could make it in time.
“I’m glad you’re brave enough now. Too bad it wasn’t just a little earlier,” Elena said.
“We aren’t going back?”
“It’s too late.”
“But I’m ready now.”
“I wish we would have known you needed a seven-hour warmup,” David replied. “You think you can save that feeling for a little longer?”
“How long?”
“Only nine months.” David turned to his wife and said, “They will be open by Memorial Day, right?”
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