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real girl. Then I realized I could buy my OWN keychain picture and impress all the guys at school. I might even be able to make some money by charging them to look at it. I paid my five bucks and posed for my photo. Unfortunately, the Jefferson's got into the picture WITH me, so now my souvenir keychain is pretty much worthless. I was really mad, but I forgot all about it when I saw that the line for the Cranium Shaker was down to a few people. I ran over to the ride and used my last five dollars to pay for a ticket.

I thought Rowley was right behind me, but he was hanging back about ten feet. I guess he was too scared to go on. I was starting to have second thoughts myself, but it was too late. After the ride operator strapped me in, he locked the cage and I knew there was no turning back. Well, I wish I had spent more time watching what

the Cranium Shaker actually DID to a person, because I never would've gotten on if I had. It flips you upside down about a million times and then throws you toward the ground so your face is about six inches from the pavement. Then it sends you spinning backward up to the sky again. And the whole time the cage you're in is creaking, and all the bolts look like they're about to come loose. I tried to get someone to stop the ride, but nobody could hear me SCREECH! over the pounding heavy metal music.

It was the most nauseous I've ever felt in my life. And when I say that, I mean even more than after I had to get Manny out of the shower area at the town pool. If this is what it takes to be a "man," I am definitely not ready yet. When the ride finally ended, I could barely walk. So I sat down on a bench and waited for the boardwalk to stop spinning. nkledc. I stayed there a long time and focused on trying not to throw up, while Rowley rode some rides that were more his speed.

After Rowley was done with his kiddie rides, his dad bought him a boppy balloon and a shirt from the souvenir shop. I SURVIVED THE CRANIUM SHAKER A half hour later I was finally ready to try standing up and walking around again. But when I got on my feet, Mr. Jefferson said it was time to go. I asked him if we could just play a few games in the arcade, and he said ok even though he didn't seem happy about it. I had spent all the money Mom gave me, so I told Mr. Jefferson twenty dollars would probably do it. But all he was willing to offer me was a dollar.

I think the arcade was too loud for Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson, so they didn't want to go inside. They told us to go in by ourselves and meet them outside in ten minutes. I went to the back of the arcade, where they have this game called Thunder Volt. I spent about fifty dollars on that game last year, and I got the high score. I wanted Rowley to see my name at the top of the list, because I wanted to show him what it was like to win something without it being handed to you. Well, my name was still at the top of the list, but the