The Best Prize
I wrote this story for the Further Confusion 2019 convention book.
She was standing near the popcorn vendor, a backpack slung around her shoulder. Of all the people at the annual city fair, it was that high school senior that John wanted to be with. She was a beautiful grey wolf, but far from fragile, and excelled at sports. Her name was Sarah, and John was never courageous enough to ask her out. At a place like this, anything could happen, and John needed a miracle.
As John looked at her from a distance, he felt a young child pulling on his tail. "Look mommy! It's a rat!" said the child.
"That's not very nice, Daniel." said his mother. "I'm sorry about that."
John looked around for something to do. The first thing he went to was a fortune teller machine. It was one of those typical, coin operated ones that had a mechanical fortune teller inside, holding a crystal ball and wearing a turban. He placed a quarter into the machine and awaited his fortune as the mechanical fortune teller (a cat with glowing eyes) moved its mouth in a somewhat disturbing manner until a card popped out of the machine. John read the card.
"Fame, fortune, and great success will find many people today, but you are not one of them."
He ripped the card to pieces and threw it away.
Sarah was lining up for the Medusa, the fair's roller coaster. If he was fast enough, John could line up right behind her so they would share the same seat. If she came off the ride and had trouble keeping her balance, John could quickly grab her hand. Determined to not miss this opportunity, John ran to the line, but tripped over his own shoelace before he could get there. By the time he got back up and tied his shoe, someone had already taken his place. "There must be another way..." he thought. "What can I do to show her that I love her?"
"Hey you!" said someone nearby. "Wanna see if you can ring this bell?"
John looked at him. He saw a raccoon with a striped shirt and a boater hat, leaning on a mallet. "Let's see how strong you are!"
"How much?" asked John.
"Twenty-five cents."
John gave him a quarter and grabbed his mallet, gripping it firmly, and preparing to hit the pressure pad with all his might. Despite his best efforts, he was unable to hit the bell. "Perhaps it wasn't your day..." said the raccoon.
As he continued walking through the fairground, he heard someone yelling at him. "Hey you!" said a very obnoxious boar. "I'm talking to you!"
He was sitting in a dunk tank, waiting for someone to hit his target. "I bet you can't hit that target over there!"
John picked up three baseballs and threw one, but missed. "Was that just practice or were you serious?"
He threw the second one, but missed. "I've seen little girls throw better than you!"
John threw the last baseball and just barely hit the target, but not enough to drop the boar into the water. "Thanks to you, I could be sitting here all day!"
John ignored the boar's grating voice and moved on to something that wouldn't insult him: a stack of bottles. All he had to do was pay twenty-five cents for three balls and knock them all down. A giant teddy bear was waiting for him if he managed to do it. "I bet Sarah would love that!" he thought to himself.
He gave a quarter to the booth operator and threw his first ball, which bounced off the bottles and hit him in the head, causing him to fall to the ground. Luckily, Sarah happened to be passing by. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"I was trying to win a teddy bear for you."
"You really didn't have to."
"But I have two balls left..."
Sarah grabbed one of the balls and threw it so hard that it knocked the bottles off their pedestal. "I knew it!" she remarked. "They were glued!"
John stood up and grabbed the side of the booth to keep his balance. Sarah (now with a giant teddy bear in hand) looked at John and said "I would love to ride the ferris wheel with you."
"Really?"
"I was never brave enough to admit it, but I think you're really cute."
"I feel the same way about you..."
She grabbed his hand and said "The ferris wheel is this way..."