Rebecca to the rescue

Rebecca paid her five cents and giggled her way through the darkened maze. She bumped into black walls that looked like open doorways, and followed long passageways that led her in circles. Crazy mirrors showed silly reflections. In one, she had a long head and neck like a giraffe. In another, she stumbled across rippling floorboards, trying to make her way through the puzzle of criss-crossing corridors. At last, she stepped out into the sunshine, relieved and delighted.
Rebecca plopped down on the wooden bench to wait for Ana. Just as she leaned back, it suddenly buckled and folded up, and she want sprawling onto the sidewalk. A wave of laughter rose up from a group of bystanders.
What a mean trick! She thought. All those people were just waiting for her to fall off so that they could laugh at her. She stood up and brushed sand from her hands and dress. She was about to stalk away when she thought about what Max would do. He’d neve leave and audience without giving a performance.
Rebecca limped back to the bench, imagining the movie cameras were rolling behind her. She gingerly touched the seat back, and in a few seconds the bench folded and tilted down. Rebecca leapt into the air, jumping back with feigned fright. The crowd howled with laughter, and more people stopped to watch.
Exaggerating every movement, Rebecca walked warily around the bench, stroking it with he hand as if soothing an angry dog. Cautiously she leaned her elbow against the back. The bench held for a moment, and she grinned with her victory, but then it collapsed, leaving her elbow poised in midair. Rebecca did a little pantomime, pretending she was comfortable leaning on nothing. She lowered her bent arm just a bit and then again searching for the bench. The audience, which had grown larger, erupted in a boisterous round of applause.
Rebecca was basking in the attention when the sound of fire horns and clanging bells cut through the air. The crowd drifted away to see what new excitement was unfolding in the park.
Shading her eyes Rebecca looked around for Ana. Perhaps the line for the Ferris Wheel was a long one. But Rebecca had been in the funhouse quite a while, and she had performed her bench act after that. Maybe Ana had gotten lost. The horns blared louder and seemed to be drawing closer. Was this just more Coney Island noise, or was something wrong? She knew there had been huge fires at Coney Island in the past. Maybe another dangerous fire was sweeping through the park! “What’s going on?” Rebecca called as knots of people rushed past.
“It’s the Ferris wheel,” a woman said. “It’s broken down.”