Page 48 of Where the Wattles Bloom

‘Good.’ Madge patted Rowena’s arm. ‘Gotta go, my great-great-granddaughter’s baby goat won a blue ribbon and she wants to show me.’

They watched Madge shuffle off, her body swaying a little from side to side, compensating for her arthritic hips. She hadn’t got far when Lachlan felt Rowena practically vibrating beside him. Alarmed, he turned to find her trying to suppress laughter, a hand clamped over her mouth.

She looked so comical, he laughed. ‘What?’

‘I thought she must have been some horrible, scheming troll the way Reggie’s been muttering about her and cursing her name, hell bent on defeating her.’ She did laugh then, and it was so lovely and light it wound its way around Lachlan’s middle. ‘But … she’s such a sweet old thing.’

‘She is a very sweet old thing,’ he confirmed. ‘But Reggie loses all rationality when it comes to these blue ribbons. It’s a dog-eat-dog world out there where show cooking is concerned.’

‘Oh god.’ Her hand slid to her stomach. ‘After all this food, I’m starving. You fancy a dagwood dog?’

Lachlan’s stomach growled again in response. ‘You’re speaking my language.’

‘Then the Chair-O-Plane.’

‘Fine by me. You ride, I’ll watch.’

Flapping her arms, she made chicken noises, but Lachlan just grinned. ‘C’mon. The best place for dogs is at the southern end of sideshow alley.’

*

Twenty minutes later, Lachlan laughed as an unsteady Rowena stepped down from the Chair-O-Plane platform and held onto the railing as she took the four steps to the ground. She followed her fellow riders out the gate and crossed to him. His laughter petered out when he saw her paleness.

‘That doesn’t look like it was fun,’ he said as she stopped in front of him.

She shook her head, her swing-ruffled hair bouncing a little at the movement. ‘Actually, it wasn’t. I feel a little queasy.’

‘You look it. I thought you loved this kind of thing?’

‘I do. I do …’

Which wasn’t very convincing. Lachlan looked around him, plotting the quickest route to the toilets should the sudden urge to lose her dagwood dog arise. ‘Are you going to puke?’

‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘It’s not bad, just so … weird for me.’

‘Maybe you’re out of practice? How long has it been since you’ve been on any rides?’

She squinted and he could practically see her mental calculations as she tried to pinpoint a date. ‘Probably five or so years, I guess.’

‘That’s probably it, then. I swear, the older I get the less I can handle anything that messes with my balance. I was at a mate’s house a few months back and went for a ride on his kid’s swing in the back yard. I felt like throwing up about ten seconds in and almost fell over when I got off.’

‘What?’ The side of her mouth kicked up, as did an eyebrow. ‘Surely the guy who so fearlessly rides the Ferris wheel can handle a kiddy swing?’

He laughed at her teasing. ‘Say what you want, all this stuff’—he waved his hand to indicate the flashing ride signs surrounding them—‘is poisonous to the equilibrium. I think it’s something to do with ear crystals? That’s what Reggie calls them, anyway.’

She raised both eyebrows this time. ‘You think your grandmother made ear crystals up?’

‘Reggie constantly invents medical terms. Ask her about shreckles and scrumpox sometime. Ear crystals sounds exactly like the airy-fairy stuff she plucks out of thin air.’

It was her turn to laugh, and he noted she had more colour in her cheeks now. ‘So?’ he prompted, looking at her expectantly. ‘Are they? Fictitious? You’re the nurse, you tell me.’

‘No, they’re real. Nothing airy-fairy about them, and yes, they do have a role in balance.’

Still a little doubtful, Lachlan pushed on. ‘Well, whatever, sounds like you might need to give those crystals a rest?’

‘Ha!’ She poked his chest. ‘Good try, bucko. We sideshow alley demons don’t let a little queasiness stop us from riding that high.’

Lachlan shook his head solemnly. ‘You’re a glutton for punishment, I see.’