It was a
county fair of
mergers. The
cotton candy cart had gotten bought out by the
pop corn cart. Unfortunately they missed the market with the '
cotton corn'. The
ferris wheel was purchased by the
roller coaster and now a giant
circle rolled down the tracks. The
haunted house and the
tilt-a-whirl merged to leave
vomit splattered
animatronic ghosts in its wake.
I was about to give up any home of finding something interesting... well, more interesting than the dart toss at the goldfish bowl in the arcade when I saw the 'Crystal Fun House' - it appeared the fortune teller and the house of mirrors merged.
With a skeptical view upon the whole place, I was assured a refund if I wasn't completely satisfied. And so, I walked in after handing over my two dollars.
If you've never been in a 'fun house' let me give you a quick overview. It is mostly a lot of deformed mirrors that make you look tall or short, thick or thin. I have no idea how it got the name 'fun'.
This 'crystal fun house' was different. Inside it was full of nooks that had several mirrors that reminded me of the fitting section of an expensive clothing store so that one could see all sides of the suit or dress being tried on.
As I stepped into one, the mirrors didn't show distortions of my current image, but rather of my past and future images. To my left I saw myself at the local high school - that I never went too, my parents had me go to the one in the city. Before me, I stood with a wife by my side and several children in tow. I know that I'm not ready to be a father, and as I gazed into the eyes of the other me, I wondered if he was. The mirror on the right seemed to be unwashed with a faint haze to it. The figures behind it seemed to be something from a Jerry Springer episode.
I walked the length of the crystal fun house, looking into each nook and cranny - seeing glimpses of other possibilities. High priced suits and cheap alcohol, different faces of women that I might have known occasionally were at my side. Occasionally I saw a broken mirror, and it would send shivers down my spine - sometimes seven years bad luck can seem like a lifetime. Some of the images were ones I recognized as what might have been if I made a choice that I couldn't see myself making, some rich and some powerful - but none me. In others it was the easy way, and none seemed satisfied with were they were.
Walking toward the exit, I saw one last mirror that stood by itself. The image it showed was me walking down a hall in a fun house. No one stood by my side, and my clothes were comfortably worn - nothing special or extraordinary, but the eyes and the face told me this one was the one who was happiest with who he was.
Upon exiting I asked about the cloudy mirrors and the broken ones. I was informed that the future is always cloudy and the mirrors appear broken when there is no one to show.
"Where you completely satisfied?"
"Well, the last mirror..."
The owner sighed, and handed me back my two dollars. "Thats just an ordinary mirror, most people get upset when they see it. We can't figure out if they feel cheated that its not like the rest... or something else."
I laughed and wished him a good day. I walked back home, secure in the knowledge that I am me.