"No One Like You" excerpt
Sara made her way through the carnival booths, past the food stands and saw the gigantic base of the Space Needle ahead of her. She took a deep breath, deciding that she was going to be calm and cool, logical and sensible. As she approached the enclosed area, she had the fleeting thought that Sammy might not be there. If that were the case, she would not wait for him. She would simply make a loop around the Space Needle and return to the bus stop and go home. The thought had no sooner entered her mind when she felt the heat, the tingling going from her head to her feet, the presence of Sammy. She didn’t see him; suddenly he was standing beside her.
“Good afternoon, Beautiful,” he spoke into her ear, giving her the shivers.
“Hi,” she managed to squeak.
“Let’s go up,” he said.
“Up?” she asked, not sure what he meant.
“In the Space Needle. Have you been up before?”
“Yeah, when the World’s Fair was here, I went with my parents.”
“Well, that was awhile ago. I’m sure you’ll find it much more exciting now.” Sara silently agreed; she was already extremely thrilled, just being near Sammy.
Sammy paid for tickets for them to go to the top of the Space Needle, and they stepped into a crowded elevator. Sara felt the rush of the bullet-shaped elevator as it rose. She wanted to say something, wanted him to say something, but they didn’t speak until they reached the observation deck.
“Here we are,” Sammy announced as they stepped outside. The wind was blowing up here, compounding the dizzy feeling Sara already had from being near Sammy. He gently held her elbow to stabilize her.
“You’re not afraid of heights, are you?” he asked.
“Well, actually, a little,” she said. “When I look down, I get a tingly feeling in my feet, and I imagine myself falling, then I feel dizzy, like I’m losing my balance.”
“Then don’t look down.”
“What’s the point of coming up here if we are not going to look down?”
“I mean, don’t look straight down. Look out, look at the water, look at the beauty of the city and hills around us.”
She leaned on Sammy in an attempt to keep herself steady. She knew they were safe, even at this height, with the guard rail surrounding the observation deck. Sammy slowly guided her to one of the telescopes, inserted a quarter, and focused it on Queen Anne Hill.
“Look over there,” he said.
“Where?”
“Right there. Do you see that?”
“That castle?”
“Yes, I call it Queen Anne Castle.”
“How could I not see it? It’s huge.”
“I’m going to buy it some day.”
“Why?”
“I want us to live there.”
“What would we do in a big house like that?”
“In Queen Anne Castle, we will raise our children and live happily ever after.”