Every Night, Forever

Cherie met Anthony at the Tunnel of Love. She was wearing a daffodil-yellow cardigan, and her glossy black hair was up in a twist. She’d sprayed Je Reviens on her wrists and behind her ears. Her purse was leopard-print. Her shoes were patent leather. Tony had on his good jeans and his leather jacket, a hand-me-down from his older brother who never came home from the war.

They were giggling in line, leaning against each other, in love in that way that makes strangers believe that cupid exists. Cherie and Tony had a glow around them. 

The lights from the rides sparkled and gleamed against the sky. Down past the pier, the lights reflected in the water in swirling reds and blues. There was a throb of energy at the park. A hum that was almost living.

This was Cherie’s favorite place to be. She’d been coming to the carnival since she was little. Cherie loved the smells of hot popcorn, cotton candy, and the tang of salt from the sea. But now, as an adult, barely an adult, there was different type of electricity, a different type of magic.

Tony was her guy. They’d been steady for two years. She wore his name on a chain around her neck, and some day she knew—oh, she knew—he’d put a ring on her finger. He was a mechanic with his dad, came home with grease under his fingernails. She didn’t care. That’s what soap was for.

She worked at the luncheonette on the corner, and most evenings Tony would show up at the end of the day and walk her home. Sometimes they’d go to a movie show. Sometimes they’d sit on the stoop outside her parents’ house and he would tell her about his plans. He had ideas. He was going to modernize his dad’s garage. He was going to bring that old man into the future.

On Friday, he’d come by to ask if she would meet him at The Tunnel. He had something special to talk to her about. Her best friend, Millicent, said, “Oh, sweetheart, he’s going to …”

“Don't say it!”

“You know he is. You’ve been going together since senior year.”

“Just don’t say it.”

Milly worked at the restaurant, too, and the young women would go out back in their starched pink uniforms and share a smoke when the manager wasn’t looking. Milly’s boyfriend Joseph did deliveries for the grocery store. They talked of a time when they’d travel as couples together. Somewhere exotic.

Tonight, Milly and Joe were standing in line right ahead of Cherie and Tony. Joe had his arm around Milly’s waist. She was wearing a sundress covered in flowers. The couple got on the two-seater ahead of Tony and Cherie and disappeared into the tunnel.

When it was their turn, Tony handed their tickets to the redhead snapping her gum who was manning the ride and then he helped Cherie step into the small boat. The lights around the tunnel’s opening were violet and rose-pink, changing from bulb to bulb. Tony held Cherie close to him. He nuzzled his lips to her neck and then whispered he had something he wanted to ask her, something he’d been dying to ask her.

She could feel her heart racing. It was as if she’d been waiting her whole life for just this moment. The boat rounded a bend, and there were a few seconds of bright lights as a fairy tale tableau was illuminated, set back from the tiny channel the boats floated in. 

And then there it was, the ring in his hand, the ring on her finger, his lips on hers. It was the best moment in her life, and she wanted to memorize it, to be able to relive these few seconds forever. She didn’t even say yes right away because the world had seemed to stop.

Then “yes,” she said, “yes, of course, yes.”

The sounds of the carnival were muted inside the tunnel. The little boat continued meandering along the little canal, every so often being lit by a scene set back from the waterway before plunging into pure velvet darkness again.

Tony kissed her. She melted against him, his hands around her waist, his lips on hers.

When the ride ended, she and Tony were love-dazed. He helped her out of the ride, and she stood stunned for a moment, not sure what to do next. But she saw Milly and Joe by the candy apple stand, and she rushed over and tapped Milly on the shoulder and showed her the ring.

“Oh, it’s beautiful,” Milly said, and Cherie lit up. Small diamond in a thin gold band. Delicate and dainty. Hers forever. For eternity.

The two couples wound their way through the throng, stopping to try their luck at the ring toss. Pitching pennies onto saucers. Joe won Milly a giant orange teddy bear. Tony won Cherie a vibrant fuchsia poodle.

After a while, the couples split up, and Cherie and Tony ended up down on the beach, still close enough to the carnival to hear the music and the laughter, but far enough away that they felt secluded. He held her to him, hands around her waist, and she looked out at the lights on the water and wished the night would last forever.

But when dawn came, they faded away.

#

In the early morning light, there was no sign a carnival had ever stood on this beach. The boardwalk and the rides had been replaced by the tall, expensive condominiums that stood on its ashes. There were historical photos on the walls of the city hall, but hardly anyone ever paused in their busy day to look at the black-and-white pictures from a time that didn’t matter anymore.

A woman stood in the window of the penthouse. She twisted the thin engagement ring on her finger. It had been her grandmother Cherie’s ring. A delicate band with a tiny diamond. She hadn’t gotten to know her grandmother well. She remembered homemade cookies, and she kept a sweater that still smelled of Je Reviens up on a shelf in the closet.

She looked at the lights from the condo gleaming on the water, and a chill ran through her. 

But she didn’t know why.

#

At midnight, in a different temporal plane, the carnival will rise again. And Tony and Cherie will meet at the tunnel of love. Every night. Forever.