The side of the building once vertical now sloped away in a gentle downward curve and Kramer found himself sitting in the front carriage of a roller coaster. This was no single track wooden affair, but a ten-lane super highway of criss-crossed metal rails which stretched across a whole city.
The track rose and fell and connected each building in turn, rising to meet the taller ones, plummeting down to the lower.
A transport system with fun and repeat rides.
Forget your super trams and your mono-rails thought Kramer, this is the way to travel.
Kramer looked behind him. Stretching out in the distance were carriages, packed with screaming passengers, some of whom looked familiar. He tried calling to them but to no avail, they were too busy holding on for dear life, as every now and again several would be flung out as they went over the top of a particularly steep rise.
Up and down. Racing round banked bends. Diving, until Kramer thought they must hit the pavement only to rise almost vertically skywards again. And now in the clouds. Now above them. The clear blue yonder. Those blue remembered hills. Blue velvet. White knuckle, white light, white heat. Top of the world ma!
Kramer dreamed. Happy now.
Kramer always thought he could spend his life on a roller coaster. Don't wake up.
Sleep.
Ride the switchback.
Ride the snake.
Kramer flicked a switch and the train slowed. Easy. Lay back and enjoy the trip. Purple haze all in my brain.
Now flashbacks, visions came and went in quick succession. More faces. Strangers who looked familiar. Friends who looked different, yet he knew who they were. A girl he used to see on the bus when he was young and had never seen again. Why do these images stay with us? Why is our brain clogged up with these things? How much of our memory capacity is taken up with the words of old songs, yet we can't remember why we entered a certain room?
Up and down, with an in-built rattle, put there to heighten the thrill. Makes it seem unsafe.
The carriage was now at the highest point and Kramer stopped to take in the whole panorama of the city below. A fine layer of mist drifted across and started to obscure the view. Higher and higher it rose until most of the ride disappeared into it, the top most curves now being the only parts visible.
Kramer stepped off and the carriage fell away into the vapour leaving him perched on a single metal sleeper.
Kramer was next to fall.
Only now into nothingness.