She turned her head slowly to see that Claire had fallen asleep against her.  Rose smiled for a moment, before deciding she had to interrupt.

“Claire,” she said softly, the way her dad would say her name to wake her up for school.

Claire’s eyes opened slowly.  She looked at Rose before sitting up abruptly, covering her mouth.

“I’m sorry,” she said, trying not to be too loud but clearly embarrassed.  “I forgot to tell you that I have a weakness when I’m riding in buses – I get sleepy really easily.”

“It’s OK,” Rose replied.  “It was cute.  But we’re almost there.  You don’t want to miss our stop, do you?”

“We’re almost there?” Claire asked, excitement rising in her voice.

“Yeah,” Rose said bluntly.  “Look.” She gestured towards the window, where they could see the exhibition grounds getting closer and closer.

Claire starting getting giddy and jumped up from her seat as soon as the bus stopped at the station, grabbing Rose’s hand as they raced down the steps onto the sidewalk.

“You’re really excited!” Rose remarked as they started walking to the entrance.

“The Ex is my favourite part of the summer!” Claire replied.

As soon as they were in, Claire started looking all around her.

“Which ride do you want to go on first?” she asked Rose.

“Um…” Rose looked around at all the rides.  “Maybe we should start with the merry-go-round?”

“OK,” Claire agreed.  “We’ll start out slow.”

Rose picked out a cream-coloured horse and Claire took the brown one beside it.  Claire swung her legs back and forth until the ride slowly started to move, giving Rose an excited smile before they were off.

Once the merry-go-round was going at a good speed, Claire let go of the pole and stretched her arms on either side of herself, feeling the air blowing past her.  Rose couldn’t help but smile at Claire’s carefree demonstration.

“Try it!” Claire said happily.  With a bit of hesitation, Rose let go of the pole as her horse kept moving up and down.  Slowly, she stretched her arms out.  After a moment of being unsure, she soon felt free.

“We’re flying, Rose!” Claire said.  Rose closed her eyes and was taken away to another world, feeling only the up-and-down of the ride and the wind against her face.  It continued for a few more minutes before the merry-go-round came to a stop.