Amber Alert- FB-FWG 300 word flash fiction based on the picture below

The bright lights swirled around the top of the ticket booth. Carnival music filled the air. I held tight to my little one’s hands. They used all the strength a set of seven-year-old twin girls could possibly possess in order to pull me quickly to the entrance.

We settled on two weeks in the summer after the divorce, the courts agreed. I tried to make the time as memorable as possible.

I slipped my credit card out of my worn leather wallet to pay the outrageous fee for a day of thrills. The first one: declined. The second one, I swore to only use for emergencies, went through with ease.

Enticed by the blue and pink cotton candy, we made the purchase. Our next stop was the restroom, to wipe the wet, colored sugar from the edges of their mouths. Gone for too long, I preyed on the kindness of an elderly woman to go in and check on my identical beauties. She brought them out, still all smiles. I thanked her before we moved on to an age-appropriate ride.

The wind from the roller coaster alerted me to take a few steps back, a couple of inches too short for them to ride that one – I was glad.

“Daddy, the moving house!” They pointed up towards they sky. “Can we? Please!” I let my fear of heights subside and joined the other children and their parents in the hideous line.

“Welcome to our home.” The operator instructed everyone to find a seat and buckle in while he told a ridiculous story of a man who used a water mill to lift his house into the air. That must be how the Egyptians moved their stone to the top of the pyramids. My thought was sarcastic.

A red circle popped up on my texting app just in time for lift off. I opened the message. “I will be remarrying in the fall and taking the girls to Germany.” Of course, she couldn’t tell me that in person.

Sitting on a makeshift couch in between my children, I placed my arms around their tiny shoulders and laughed. “Possession is nine tenths of the law.”

“What’d you say, daddy?” Synchronized as usual. “Nothing! Weeeee doggy, this ride is fun!”

She can’t regain what she will not find.