June 28: Baby Park

The turtle in the cloud descends with his horizontal traffic light. The left lights up red and then goes out before the middle light glows red. Finally, and as the engines around me flex their muscles with anticipation, the last light shines. With a final wave of his tiny green hand, I slam my foot on the accelerator propelling my small, blue cart into a small burst of energy. The race is on.

My racing partner's hands grip tightly on my shoulders as I approach the line of four spinning mystery boxes. My head start gives me a slight advantage, but it doesn't take long for the rest of the group to catch up to me. I grab the nearest mystery box and and hand it back to my partner while keeping my foot pressed firmly on the gas pedal. He takes the prize as we slide around the first turn. The contents of the box are still being revealed while we lean hard into the turn causing a blue flame to send us into another burst of speed. Three mushrooms. Perfect.

I use the first mushroom at the climax of the burst of speed from the turn. I'm sent flying into a small hyper speed. I'm in first place, but not by much. I can hear the growl of Bowser behind me and the high-pitched barks of Donkey Kong just behind him as I lean into another turn. I narrowly miss crashing into the corner when the blue flame returns sending me through another burst. I use my second and third mushrooms upon crossing the starting line which signals the completion of the first of seven laps.

My adrenaline is pumping. The grip on my shoulders is painful. Objects are flying all around us. We barely escape a giant, spiked turtle shell sent courtesy of Bowser. I hear Donkey Kong's bark again as he hurls a banana peel in our direction. It lands perfectly in front of us and doesn't allow me any time to avoid it. My cart's right front tire hits it and we spin out of control. My partner flies off the back of the racer and grabs the bumper in desperation. I don't have time to wait for him to climb back on so I floor the accelerator once again and drag him as he struggles to climb aboard.

We've lost ground, but we're still in third place behind Bowser and Donkey Kong. We're five laps in so we'll have to focus and make every turn just right to get that burst of energy we so desperately need. I grab another mystery box, hand it to my wing man and lean into the next turn. A red shell. Nice. I tell my friend to wait to throw it until we've made the next turn so I can aim us for a double mystery box. Wait for it. Wait for it. Now! He throws the shell with all of his might and we watch as it seeks its target. Direct hit!

I grab for the double mystery box as we race past the commotion of spinning, yelling, and screeching. Second place. I take one of the boxes and hand the other one back. Final lap. My partner's box is nothing more than a red faux mystery box so he drops it immediately. We are within striking distance of a first place finish. My box contains the illusive blue turtle shell!

This is the moment we've been waiting for. With my foot on the pedal, I stand in my seat and tap my partner's hand. In one, smooth movement, I leap to my left and out of the driver's seat. My partner leans down from the right, grabs the steering wheel and slides into position. He's now driving and I'm holding on for my life with the blue shell ready for takeoff.

I let go and watch it spread its angelic wings and soar toward Bowser in front of us who is within grasp of claiming first place. The shell makes contact and sends an explosive ring around its target. Bowser and his partner, Baby Mario spin out of control; but so do we. I forgot about that ring of destruction and we got sucked into it. As the world flies around us, I watch helplessly as Donkey Kong and Princess Peach race through the finish. We stop spinning shortly after Bowser does and he claims second. We finish in third.

Baby Park is my turf. I own that course. A stupid mistake cost me a title and now Donkey Kong and Princess Peach get to strut their stuff in the award ceremony. Every one is cheering for DK and that annoying little hussy and it's me they should be acknowledging! I'm the real winner. I deserve that gold cup.