THE GRAND TOUR OF OKLAHOMA
Chapter Fourteen While they waited for the ride to start, several people got in after them. There was a couple of teenagers and a man and woman with a son and daughter. The boat had little seats along the side and everyone sat on those. The driver of the boat stood at the front in front of a metal wheel. Another man stood by the dock where the boat had been roped to a metal pole. Another elderly couple got on and then the driver signaled that it was time. The other man pulled the looped rope off the pole and threw it on the back of the boat while the driver drove off towards a small footbridge. "Good evening, everyone," the driver said, turning to face them. "My name is Mark and I'll be your driver for this wonderful little ride. Hope you enjoy it because I'm not even supposed to be here. I just jumped on the boat and pretended to be the captain because I've always wanted to do this." He winked while everyone laughed. "Just kidding, folks. I've had a few years experience doing this so there's no danger of us hitting the sides or sinking. And speaking of hitting the sides, hold on because this is very narrow." "I'll say," Rose said to the Doctor when they went through the bridge with only inches to spare on either side of the pillars. "See, no worries, folks, I'm an expert at this," the driver said, steering the wheel. The canal went through a larger bridge and wound around by the cinema. The Doctor pointed when they were turning a corner. "Hey a bowling center's down here, we could do that as well," he said to Rose as they passed by it. They went under another footbridge by the cinema and headed on. "Now this is Toby Keith's place," the driver said while he drove past the restaurant. "Good eating in there and if anyone here's a veteran, show some proof of it and you get a free cheeseburger and Coke." "I'm a veteran of the Time War, does that count?" the Doctor muttered to Rose. "I have a feeling it wouldn't," Rose muttered back. "Now I have a story about this section of the canal," Mark said, pointing to the water while he drove. "Seems that several years ago, some idiot drove his truck into the canal on a dare. When the police rescued him, he told them that his friend dared him to jump the canal and apparently he lost." "Wasn't Suri, was it?" Rose giggled and put her hand over her mouth when the Doctor muttered that in her ear. "Yeah, I can see him doing that," Rose muttered back to the Doctor. They rounded another corner and Mark pointed out Bass Pro while they drove past it. The Doctor leaned into Rose's ear. "We paid 6.50 for this, this is boring," he muttered to Rose. Rose nodded emphatically as they went under a wooden footbridge. "Good job we have a lot of money for things like this," she muttered to him. They went by the parking lot behind Bass Pro and then they saw some large bronze statues of people riding horses and sitting in covered wagons. "These statues represent the great land run of 1889 when the government opened up surplus lands that were taken from the Indians for sale and people hurried to stake a claim for themselves. For those of you who aren't from around here, Oklahoma's nickname, The Sooner State, comes from the fact that some of these people snuck onto the land before the official start of the run and staked their claims before anyone else." "So basically, the state is named after queue jumpers." Rose snickered and nodded when the Doctor whispered that in her ear. They went past the statues, turned around in a little pond of water at the end of it and headed back. Then they basically went back the way they came until they finally came to a stop at the dock. "That was rubbish," Rose said angrily when they got out of the boat and walked away. "Boring as hell and the only thing not a shop were those statues. Like I said, I'm glad we have money because that was a waste of time." By now, the sun had set and they walked up the stairs. The Doctor pointed to the horse and carriages. "Wanna ask how much they are?" he asked her. She nodded and they hurried across the street. They found one of the drivers and asked about the price and she told them it was 13 dollars apiece. "Where do you go?" she asked the lady. "Around Bricktown and the downtown area," she said. "Would you like me to take you?" "Um…" Rose said, glancing at the Doctor, "maybe another time." The lady nodded and they walked away from her. "Sorry, after that canal ride, I'm hesitant to spend 26 dollars on a boring carriage ride, not when we can just walk around and look." "I agree," the Doctor said. "That canal ride was pants; at least have animatronic things jumping out at us or robotic sharks menacing the boat. Don't just have a man telling us about an idiot crashing his car in the water. I'm glad it wasn't more than 6.50 because I would have complained to someone. Anyway, come on, we can walk around and give ourselves a tour." They walked around the downtown area and saw a couple of sweet shops and a jazz club and the Spaghetti Warehouse and a few bars. "This must be where most of the restaurants and shops are located," the Doctor said to Rose while they walked. "At least it's handy having all this in one area." They paused when they saw The Melting Pot. "Hey, a fondue restaurant, that might be worth a look at some point," the Doctor said to Rose. "Mum used to have people over for fondue parties back when she was young," Rose said. "I've never had fondue though." "Might be worth it then, fondue is delicious. Especially chocolate fondue with strawberries, num, num, num." Rose laughed at that and took his hand. They walked out of Bricktown and passed by the Ford Center, a large stadium. "There's their sports arena," Rose said, pointing up to it while they passed by. They reached the end of the street and looked across the road at a waterfall cascading off a bunch of rocks. Lights were in the water under it, lighting it up. They hurried across and Rose pointed to a sign at the corner of the street. "This is Myriad Gardens, that park we wanted to see," she said to him. They followed a concrete footpath past the waterfall and into the park. There were rolling hills and trees on either side of them along with wooden benches. They passed by another granite pool with water that sloshed off the side of it and cascaded down the ridged sides into a lighted moat below. Then Rose stopped the Doctor and pointed to a large domed glass structure that had colored lights running through it. Rainbow colors were showing through the glass and Rose got a photo of it. "What is it, d'ya think?" Rose asked while they admired it. "Probably a slaughterhouse and they shine the rainbow colors so rubes will go, oh, how pretty, let's go inside and see the rainbow and then the slaughter begins when the doors slam shut and they can't get out." "You know, your thought processes scare me sometimes," Rose said while the Doctor giggled. "And then," the Doctor said while they walked towards it. "They turn the rubes into food because as we all know Soylent Green is people, it's peeeeeople!" Rose laughed while the Doctor poked her arm. They walked up to the entrance on the side of it and the Doctor rapped on the glass door to get a security guard's attention. "Whatever this is, it's another 6.50 to get in," Rose said to the Doctor while the guard came to the door. "Yes?" the guard said through the door. "What is this place?" the Doctor said. "Greenhouse. You pay admission and come inside to look at plants and flowers." "Hell no, not for 6.50," Rose muttered to the Doctor. "Thanks," the Doctor said, waving at the guard before they walked away. "Right, that's out then," Rose said as they walked across the concrete footbridge. They stopped halfway across it and leaned over to look at the water below. The stream flowed under the greenhouse and they could see one duck lazily swimming in it. By now, the rainbow colors shifted to all pink and Rose admired it before she and the Doctor completed the walk across the bridge. They paused when they saw a theater stage by the water. The stage was circular and was placed in the water with a moat around it and a small concrete footbridge that went from it to the stadium seating. They saw a wooden structure on the stage that resembled a part of a room but it was deserted. "Looks like they might be putting on a play down there," the Doctor said, pointing to it. "Pretty place to have a theater, with the water and the greenhouse in the background." They walked on and noticed that the park was still under construction in some areas. The Doctor stopped Rose and pointed up to a building under construction just outside the park. The building went up about 50 stories and was rounded like a tube. They could hear construction sounds and watched a crane lift something up to the top. "Wonder what that is?" the Doctor said while they stood and watched the crane go up. "It's an even bigger slaughterhouse because the greenhouse slaughterhouse is too small for the whole city." The Doctor chucked and put his arm around her, giving her a hug. Rose smiled and sighed, loving the feel of his body against hers. Then they took each other's hand and headed for the exit.
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