Roller Coaster

Roller Coaster
As I look back on my childhood I can recall some things we did that were crazy, like the time Larry, Dave, and I built the roller coaster off the garage roof. We were about 10 or 11 years old, and we thought we were invincible. We gathered up all the scrap wood and materials we could find in the alley, stacking it in a pile in the back yard next to the garage. From there we proceeded to build a ramp going down to the ground that we could maneuver in an old red metal wagon (the Radio Flyer type). We added rails along the side to keep the wheels from going off, and at the bottom we had placed cushions from an old couch in the alley.
It was pretty rickety, and we were not sure how much weight it would hold, so I was elected to go first since I was the thinnest of the three of us. My going first was a foregone conclusion since I was a daredevil anyway. All they had to do was ask who wants to go first and I would blurt out “me”.
Sitting in that wagon looking down it was about ten feet to the ground, but it looked like fifty feet to me. With my heart pounding, blood rushing through my veins I pulled my legs and feet into the wagon, and leaning forward set off down the track. Now if we were smart we would have made the tracks go straight down, but we decided to be adventurous, making a turn about 6 feet off the ground.
As the wheels started turning I shifted my weight forward causing the wagon to take off like it was shot out of a cannon down the steep incline. Instantly I was into the turn. Looking down at the ground I leaned to my right into the turn at the same time turning the wagon with the handle, but I had no time to think about what could happen as I sped through the turn. Relieved I made the turn I now concentrated on the straightaway over the little bumper pool table standing on the thin metal legs, and on to the finish line into the cushions. I never made it, the pool table collapsed under my weight and that of the wagon. I crashed to the ground smashing through the remaining track where I came to a halt. Dave and Larry came running over asking if I was all right? I checked, and everything was in tact, nothing broken or bleeding, so I said I was ok.
I said all right whose turn is it? They both looked at me and said “what are you nuts”? We could not salvage the pool table, and were afraid my Dad we catch us so we disassembled our famous roller coaster after the trial run.

Looking back I see how dangerous it was, but I would not change anything, it was one of the best rides I ever had.

Robert L. Murdoch

12/22/08