Page 121 of Scars and Crowns

"I want to go really fast."

"That seems like a questionable ambition."

"No, it's not." She looks over her shoulder at me. "It's the best ambition." I don't bother arguing with a five-year-old who has already made up her mind.

She climbs into a teacup and pats the seat beside her. "Sit."

I look at Anamika. She is laughing. "Don't look at me," she says. "You created this."

"I did not create this."

"You rented the park."

"Different problem."

She laughs again and climbs into the seat opposite us.

Sara grabs the wheel in the middle. "Papa, ready?"

"No." She starts spinning it. "Too late!"

The teacup lurches into motion. Within seconds, we're turning fast enough that the park becomes a blur of colour and sunlight. Sara's laughter rises above everything else, wild and delighted, while Anamika's starts as a laugh and quickly turns into a startled squeal when she loses her balance and grabs my knee.

My hand closes instinctively around hers. "Are you all right?"

"I'm going to kill you."

"You agreed to this."

"I agreed to a ride. I didn't agree to being spun into another dimension."

Sara is practically hysterical. "Faster!"

"Absolutely not," Anamika and I say together. That only makes Sara laugh harder. When the ride finally slows, Anamika sits there with one hand pressed against her chest, hair slightly dishevelled, cheeks flushed from laughing.

"Never again."

Sara immediately jumps down. "Again!"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Papa?"

I look at her. She smiles. I sigh. "One more."

Anamika stares at me in betrayal. "You are the reason she gets everything she wants."

"I've accepted that."

We make our way through the park after that at Sara's pace, which means we stop at absolutely everything.

A little roller coaster has her screaming so loudly that the operator looks more alarmed than she does. Anamika holds my hand throughout the entire ride, her fingers squeezing mine every time we drop, and I find myself paying far more attention to the warmth of her palm than the track beneath us.

The carousel is next.