Tag Archives: adventureland

My latest short story: ‘Love and Pac-Man’

I just posted a new short story a few minutes ago. It’s entitled, “Love and Pac-Man” (click the title to read it). It is the combination of a flurry of ideas.

First, after watching the original version of The Karate Kid some months ago, and seeing the scene where the protagonist, Daniel, meets the girl he likes at an arcade, I had this idea to write a story about a young man who finds love while at an arcade (this was later reinforced while watching Tron: Legacy). It’s a location almost never used in a romance story.

Second, last month’s assignment given for the Writers’ Corner, a writers’ club that meets at the North Webster Community Public Library, involved writing a story that used certain words. Each person was given a short time to write things pertaining to several categories and questions given by the club leader, Beth. Here’s the list I wrote:

Two Things That Annoy You:
-Lying
-My old laptop

Two People You Admire:
-Abraham Lincoln
-C.S. Lewis

The Names of as Many Horses as You Can Think of:
-Black Beauty
-Silver
-Seabiscuit
-Secretariat
-Quick-Draw McGraw
-Gunpodwer (Ichabod Crane’s horse in “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”)

Would You Rather Live Rural or Urban?:
-Rural

Three Things You Associate with Summer:
-Hot weather
-Blockbuster movies
-Swimming

Pay close attention, and you’ll see that I managed to work all of these into the story, which is surprisingly only 1,000 words long.

Readers who live or have lived in my area may notice a few “local references,” even though it takes place in a fictional small town. There was once a theme park in North Webster, Indiana, called Adventureland, and it did have a small roller coaster called the Wild Mouse. The name of the arcade, Tilt, was taken from an arcade that used to be at the Glenbrook Square mall in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Anyway, I read the piece at the Writers’ Corner’s meeting Monday, and everyone enjoyed it. I hope you will too.

Love and Pac-Man

Love and Pac-Man
By Nathan Marchand

“I don’t wanna be here, Joey!” cried my blonde eight-year-old sister, Kay. “I wanna ride the Wild Mouse!”

I tightened my grip on her tiny hand as we walked to Adventureland’s arcade, Tilt. The stares we were getting from parents and their kids were palpable. I smiled awkwardly at some passersby and then turned my attention to Kay. “Don’t worry. We’ll ride it soon. I just want to play some of the games in here, okay? I promise I’ll buy you a stuffed Black Beauty with the tickets I win.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Pinky swear!” My sister held up her mouse-tail of a pinky.

I wrapped my, by comparison, python-like pinky around hers and swore my oath.

Instantly, Kay smiled, and said, “Okay!” With that, she released my hand and ran through the door into Tilt.

I shook my head and sighed. Maybe I was better off spending my Friday night working on my old laptop or reading a C.S. Lewis book. But someone has to watch her while Mom and Dad are out on their “date night.” That thought felt like a knife through the heart. I wish I had a date tonight. I harrumphed. At least in our tiny rural town we have a half-decent little theme park to go to. I can enjoy a bit of the hot weather this summer before I go back to college.

I pushed open the door and was greeted by a rainbow of flashing neon signs, the smell of pizza, the screaming laughter of children, musty air, and the cacophony of Donkey Kong, Street Fighter, and Mario Bros. Shouting over it was the song “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey, which was blaring from the jukebox. It brought back happy childhood memories.

“Hi-ho, Silver, away!”

I looked to my right and saw a giggling Kay straddling a Lone Ranger-themed coin-operated horse ride sitting next to a Pac-Man machine.

“How’d you get that to work?” I asked.

“I found a quarter on the floor,” replied Kay, smiling coyly.

I rolled my eyes. A few seconds later, the horse stopped, and I lifted Kay off “Silver” and onto the floor. I crouched to make eye contact. “What poor boy did you charm into giving you his hard-earned money?”

Kay hung her head and wrung her hands, wearing her trademark “pouty face.”

“Spit it out, Sissy.”

Hesitantly, she pointed behind me and said, “That one.”

I looked over my shoulder. There, standing between an animatronic Abraham Lincoln and a Gunpowder arcade machine was a little brown-haired boy about her age wearing a Quickdraw McGraw T-shirt—and he was holding the hand of Sue Preor!

I gulped. My sister had just swindled money from my high school crush’s little brother!