‘Perhaps I ought to have a word with...’ Susan’s voice quavered.
But she broke off mid-sentence. Because she was too late for ‘a word’. Slowly at first, then with alarming speed, the castle was beginning to tilt.
Children shrieked and slid to one side. Dozens of adults ran forward to help, but no one could scale the moving beast. Norah attempted to push her way through the adults, but they were a thick mass of panic that was impossible to penetrate.
No parenting book had prepared any of them for a rogue bouncy castle, and while the adults yelled to each other, hoping someone knew what to do, the bouncy castle was dragged ever further over by more kids rolling toward one side. It was now balancing on a knife's edge. Norah finally wriggled through a gap and tried to jump on but was quickly bounced right back onto her arse on the grass.
Then, inevitably, the last few kids who’d managed to hold their position anywhere else on the castle lost their grip and were tossed sideways, pulled into the castle’s new centre of gravity.
That final force tipped the scales. The runaway castle flipped right over—throwing the kids onto the grass with a thump—and immediately rolled right on top of them. In the process, it ripped free from the pump and began to deflate on top of them at astonishing speed. The whole thing was like a collapsing star of bouncy horror.
The grownups attempted to leap into action yet again, struggling against each other to get a grip on the deflating castle, Norah among them. But there was no organisation to the effort and no one was getting a good purchase. The material was too heavy and the parents too panicked.
Poppy suddenly appeared on the far side of the castle, ‘Norah! Come with me!’ she screamed.
Norah didn’t hesitate and pushed out of the throng, noting that Susan had fainted onto the grass nearby. Norah decided to deal with that later, following Poppy around the back, where the castle had scrunched to create a gap.
‘Hold it up. I’ll get them,’ Poppy directed.
Norah grabbed the gap and yanked upwards. In went Poppy, like a mole in a hole. Moments later, her head popped back out. ‘I got him!’ And like a damn superhero, Poppy climbed out from beneath the wreckage with Freddie under one arm.
Relief washed over Norah as she rushed to his side.
‘Freddie, are you OK?’ she asked, checking him for injuries.
Freddie nodded, rubbing his head, dazed. ‘I think so,’ he mumbled.
‘I couldn’t find Luna!’ Poppy said. ‘I’m going back in.’ And off she went, back under the plastic scream box.
Max appeared with Norah’s mother. ‘My son!’ Max yelled, the bloody drama queen. ‘My only boy!’
Norah turned to Max. ‘There’s more kids.’
Max was holding on to Freddie, and he looked at her in bafflement. ‘So?’
She rolled her eyes. ‘You look after him.’ And Norah followed Poppy in.
Inside the overturned bouncy castle, it was confusing and hot. The once vibrant pink fabric was now a suffocating blanket, trapping the hot summer air beneath it.
Norah pushed forward until her hands brushed against something soft, and she quickly scooped up a small girl—she thought her name was Maryam—her face streaked with tears. Norah held her close, whispering words of comfort as she navigated through the labyrinthine tunnels of deflated plastic. She found the gap and encouraged her through, watching her crawl toward the light.
She turned back around, and right away, she found another child, and it was Luna. ‘Freddie’s mum!’ she cried.
‘Come on, Luna. I’ve got you,’ she said.
Suddenly, she collided with another figure, their bodies bumping in the cramped darkness. A familiar voice gasped, ‘Norah?’
‘Poppy, I’ve got her!’ she said.
She pushed Luna in the direction of her mother, and she watched Poppy lead her out.
Norah decided to keep going. She didn’t know how long it would take to get this thing overturned, and it was bloody hot. Kids might be passing out.
‘Norah, you in here?’ Poppy said from behind her. She’d come back in. ‘They’re out there trying to get it sorted, but it might take a minute.’
‘We’ll have to do it,’ Norah said.
‘If we just stand up, maybe we can lift it enough for the kids to find us?’
‘Let’s try,’ Norah said, and both of them started pushing upwards. But the material was heavy. They weren’t making much headway.
‘Get closer to me. Let’s push the same part together,’ Poppy said.
Norah crawled over to her, and they reached up, their bodies accidentally pushing into each other. Though Norah was in the middle of a minor calamity, she found the time to feel a little awkward and stimulated by the contact.
But they were making progress, pushing up until they were both able to stand. They stepped back from each other to make a gap and a lot of kids were suddenly unveiled. More and more appeared in the centre.
‘I’ll stay here,’ Poppy said. ‘You get them back to the gap.’
Norah led the kids out, and she watched them shuffle out, some of them crying, some of them thinking the collapse was pretty funny now it was over.
Once she was sure they were all out, she went back in to get Poppy. ‘Poppy?’ she called.
She was still standing up in the centre of the castle, her arms shaking under the pressure. ‘They out?’
‘Yes. You can drop it,’ Norah assured her.
Poppy did, and it came down fast, smacking them both down into a pile, their limbs entangled. Norah realised that Poppy was on top of her.
