Night At The Fair

The sounds of screaming and laughter filled my ears. The smell of popcorn, funnel cake hotdogs and other food filled my nostrils. The massive fairgrounds were bustling with people in search of a good night. Various rides, game booths, street vendors, and other attractions were set up all over. The hot August day has cooled down considerably to a warm but bearable evening. The Montana State Fair was one of, if not the biggest attractions the state of Montana had. Every year thousands of people spent all the money they could afford to spare on tickets for rides and special shows.

I tripped and stumbled, causing Vala to as well. I swore as I regained my footing.

“ You okay?” She asked me.

“ Yeah, sorry about nearly knocking you over,” I said.

“ It’s okay,” she said with a small smile.

A carnie got my attention by shooting at me as we passed a basketball free-throw game.

“ You sir, why don’t you try your luck?” He asked. He was mostly bald with gray hair at the back. He had light gray eyes, wore a light yellow shirt and black pants. In his hands he had a basketball.

“ Oh no, no thank you” I said with a polite wave.

“ Ah come on, don’t you want to impress the girl?” He asked, indicating to Vala. We looked at each other and gave an embarrassed chuckle. Then Vala smirked “ well? Go ahead. Impress me.”

I stood there for a moment then looked at the carnie.

“ How much per game?”

“ It’s ten dollars for five shots. If you make all five, you get a big stuffed animal, you make four you get a medium-sized stuffed animal and if you make three shots you get a small stuffed animal.” The carnie said, indicating the abundance of stuffed animals to the left and right of the basketball hoop.

I pulled out my wallet and handed the carnie a ten-dollar bill. He gave me the basketball in return and I dribbled a couple of times and looked at the basket. I took a deep breath and shot the basketball. I winced as it bounced off the rim. The carnie tsked as he tossed me the ball again. I took another deep breath, dribbled a few times, and shot. This time the ball went through the net.

“ Nice one,” Vala said. I just nodded at her words, not wanting to break my concentration. The carnie tossed the ball to me again. After dribbling a few times I shot the ball. It rolled around in the rim before dropping through the net. I smiled a little bit as the carnie tossed me the ball.

“ Look who is in a roll!” He commented. “ Can he get three in a row ladies and gentlemen?”

Turns out I couldn’t, my next shit hit the backboard and bounced off, missing the net. The carnie tossed me the ball for my last shot.

“ All or nothing, all or nothing!” The carnie gleefully announced to the few people had stopped to watch. “ You can do this! Let’s hear it for him, he can do this!”

A few shouts of encouragement sounded through the air, the loudest belonging to Vala. I took another deep breath, dribbled a few times, and fired my last shot. It rolled in the rim for a few seconds and at first it looked like it would fall out before it dropped in.

“ We have a winner ladies and gentlemen!” The carnie announced to the onlookers. “ What prize will it be sir?”

I looked at Vala and gestured to the stuffed animals.

“ Go ahead and pick,”

“ Really?” She asked, her brown eyes brightening.

“ Sure go ahead,” I said.

Her eyes scanned the stuffed animals while I checked her out discreetly. She wore a pink top, blue denim shorts, and flip flops. We had been hanging out a lot ever since school for the year let out for the summer. Whether it was fishing, going to the Beartooth mountains in Red Lodge, going to the fireworks spectacle the town of Laurel put on every Fourth of July together, or just hanging out after church and Youth Group, we spent more and more time together each day. To the point I had developed a slight crush on her, not that I’d ever tell her. Just the thought made me feel queasy.

“ That one!” She announced pointing.

“ Huh?” I asked snapping back into focus.

“ I want the pink elephant!” She exclaimed pointing at the stuffed animals. The carnie looked up at the stuffed animals for a moment then pulled the desired toy down.

“ Here you go” he said, handing the toy to her. Vala grabbed it and squeezed it to her chest with both arms. As Vala and I walked away, the carnie winked at me, causing my face to turn red slightly. Tale as old as time, the guy wins a prize at some fair or carnival then gives the prize to the girl he’s trying to impress.

Vala and I walked around for a little while longer looking at the booths when they bumped into Gunner and Brooklyn. I was surprised to see them together and by the looks on their faces, they felt the same about the two of us

“ What are you guys doing here?” I asked.

“ What are you guys doing here?” Brooklyn echoed the question.

“ We are hanging out. I thought you two weren’t coming, which is why I asked Vala to come with me,” I said, wincing as I heard myself talk. Nice way of wording that idiot! Now they’re never gonna let it go! Gunner and Brooklyn smirked at me and exchanged amused looks with each other.

“ I thought you were grounded Brooklyn! What happened?” I asked trying to get their thoughts off my words.

“ My parents decided I had learned my lesson,” Brooklyn said casually, crossing her arms in front of her chest but I knew she was hiding something. Knowing her as long as I have I knew when she wasn’t telling me the whole truth.

“ That's funny, because when I asked you about coming you said you were grounded for the week. That was earlier today.”

Brooklyn turned a deep shade of red and it was me and Vala’s turn to exchange the amused looks.

“ Hey Josh, I have an idea,” Gunner said, “ How about we just pretend this didn’t happen?”

“ Agreed,” I said, not wanting to give them any more ammunition to embarrass me with. We hurriedly walked past each other. Once they were out of earshot Vala gave me an amused glance “ so, your tag team partner and fellow champion is into the boss’s daughter.”

“ Sure seems that way,” I said with a chuckle. We stopped by a lemonade vendor and ordered two large lemonades. As we waited for our orders to be filled, I glanced around and stopped. A few yards away from me was my parents, standing in a line to get snow cones. After a few seconds, they noticed me. We stood there staring at each other, not saying a word, expressions blank. I barely registered Vala trying to get my attention until she yanked me away.

“ Sorry” I said as we walked away.

“ Was that them?” Vala asked. She was one of the few people I trusted enough to tell the entirety of my complicated history with my parents.

“ Yeah,” I said, no longer feeling happy, just empty and hollow.”

“ Forget them, let's enjoy the rest of our night!” Vala exclaimed and raced for the line that led to the bumper cars. Once it was our turn, Vala and I got into separate cars and drove around, slamming into any car we could. Vala mostly ignored the others and went after me, ramming into new countless times. Soon my encounter with my parents was forgotten, replaced by my laughter as I drove my car like a madman, slamming into the others until our turn came to an end. Once we exited our cars, Vala grabbed my hand and pulled me away, eagerly leading me to our next destination. It turned out to be an airbrush tattoo parlor. Vala took a seat and got an airbrushed tattoo of a screaming Bald Eagle carrying the American flag on her left forearm.

“ It looks good,” I told her once the artist had finished and we had left.

Vala took a picture of the tattoo with her phone and slipped it back in her pocket.

“ I’m hoping I can convince my parents to let me get a permanent tattoo just like this one for my birthday in a few weeks. I got this as a test run, to see how it would turn out and if I liked it.”

“ Smart” I said, “ After all when you get the permanent one, you want to make sure it’s worth it.”

“ Yep. I also want to get a tattoo of a few eagle feathers on my right forearm “ she said looking at her bare skin.

“ You didn’t get that one airbrushed one as well?” I questioned.

“ Nah, it’s going to be tough enough to convince my parents to let me get the one tattoo, no way they’ll let me do two. I’ll get the other one once I turn eight-teen.”

“ Makes sense,” I said. We got in line for another ride called Death Drop.once you were buckled and strapped in, it took you high in the sky, giving you a look at the nightlife of Billings Montana. With all the lights that glowed in the night sky, it was truly a breathtaking sight. My heart stopped as we suddenly plummeted to the ground, stopping a few seconds before we hit the ground. As I collected my breath, I noticed Vala had squeezed my hand on the way down.

From there we got on all the rides that were designed to give you an adrenaline rush, with Vala dragging me from line to line. She was an adrenaline junkie, always going to some extreme to get her high. One of the reasons I enjoyed spending time with her, she knew how to have fun. As the night was winding down we decided our last ride of the night would be the Ferris wheel. We boarded in the car and watched the ground get smaller and smaller as we ascended then turned our gaze to the lit-up city.

“ Billings looks nice tonight,” Vala commented.

“ Yeah, too bad our one sports team sucks” I said, referring to the Billings Mustangs, a minor league baseball team that played in the city.

Vala pushed my shoulder “ they’re not that bad!” She protested smiling.

“ I respectfully disagree,” I said with a grin” personally I miss the Outlaws,”

The Billings Outlaws has been Montana’s very popular Indoor Football League team several years ago. My grandfather used to take me to games before he passed on when I was a kid. I had entertained fantasies of playing for them until they were bought and moved to some other state.

“ So do I,” Vala said wistfully then after a few moments of silence spoke again. “ My dad is probably on patrol right now,” Vala said. Her dad, who looked like Colonel Sanders if Colonel Sanders was full-blooded Cherokee Indian, was a Lieutenant on the Billings police force. I had actually met him when he had pulled me and Gunner over for speeding. Once he read the names on our IDs he laughed for five minutes straight before letting us go with a warning. Since then he and I had formed something of a friendship. He had taken Vala and I out shooting at the range a few times and even though I was a minor, my first beer had been with him on my seventeenth birthday last June.

“ If you ask me, he’s lucky he doesn’t have to be here managing this madhouse,” I said.

“ That’s for sure,” Vala agreed.

We didn’t speak for a few moments, just watched the city lights before Vala spoke again. “ Josh?”

“ Yeah?” I asked absently.

“ What do you plan on doing after high school?”

The question took me by surprise. I raised an eyebrow and looked at her “ What makes you ask?

“ Just wondering” she said shrugging.

“ Well hopefully I get signed by a bigger federation and I can wrestle full-time while making a lot of money doing it,” I said leaning back and folding my arms behind my head, “ Don’t get me wrong, I love TSW and being tag champs alongside Gunner is great but TSW isn’t going to pay my bills. Sooner or later I’m going to have to move on,”

“ What if it doesn’t work out?” Vala asked.

I looked at her as she spoke my biggest fear, the thing that my overactive mind loved to torment me with as I lay awake at night,

“ It has to,” I said simply.

“ But what if it doesn’t?” Vala pressed.

I let my mind process the question and shook my head, “ You don’t get it Vala. If this doesn’t work I have nothing else. I don’t want to do anything else. I gave up my own flesh and blood for my wrestling career, I sacrificed my own family in my pursuits. So I will sweat every bead of sweat I have, I will cry every tear in my eyes and I will bleed every ounce of blood in my body to make sure my dream becomes reality.”

“ Have you ever planned more than that? Do you ever think of starting a family?”

I was confused why Vala felt the need to ask me such questions but decided to go with it.

“ Thought has never crossed my mind. But I don’t think I’d be a good father.”

“ What makes you say that?” Vala asked.

“ My own father didn’t exactly do a good job and God forbid I end up like him. I would have no idea what I'm doing, that poor kid would be screwed up beyond repair. Not to mention I’ll be on the road all the time. So I don’t think settling down would be for me. But what about you?” I asked, turning the question on Vala. “ What do you plan on doing after high school?”

Vala paused to think “ I want to go to the same police academy my dad did. Ever since I was little I wanted to be a police officer, just like my father, like my grandfather, and like my great grandfather.”

“ You ever think about starting a family someday?” I asked.

“ Maybe someday. If I ever meet the right guy,” Vala said. Just then, the Ferris wheel screeched to a halt, signaling our ride had come to an end. People were leaving the fairgrounds in mass. Vala and I joined the herd of people, eventually finding her car and carefully navigating out of the fairgrounds parking lot. Despite it being midnight we decided to hang out by South Pond for a bit before going home once we reached Laurel. We sat on the hood of Vala’s car staring at the stars.

“ Hey Josh?” Vala said, turning her gaze from the stars to look at me.

“ What is it?” I asked, keeping my gaze at the stars.

“ I understand you really want to make it as a wrestler. In your eyes you need to. I get it. But I can’t help but feel as though you’re missing out on so much life may have to offer.”

“ What makes you say that?” I replied with a raised eyebrow.

“ I just think that being ready to throw any and everything away in order to realize your dream is limiting you and what you’re capable of, making you miss out on so much. There’s so much more you could do other than chase your dream, so much more important things you’re missing out on,” Vala explained but I still wasn’t getting it.

“ Like what? What could possibly be more important than chasing one’s dream?” I asked, turning to look at her.

“ Chasing your dream is good. Everyone should do it at some point in their life but they shouldn’t become obsessed as you have. Because while you’ve been dreaming about wrestling in the big bright lights with the entire world chanting your name and ignoring the present, there’s someone who is very interested in you and keen to be at your side,” Vala said looking into my eyes.

“ What are you talking about?” I asked.

“ Here. Let me just show you,” Vala said, moving her face close to mine. I was rooted to the spot, unable to believe what was happening. Is she about to… Just then Vala’s phone rang causing us both to jump and look around awkwardly.

“ I should get that,” Vala said quietly

“ Yeah,” I said a bit too loudly, “ I’ll just be over here, ya know, to give you some privacy,”

I hopped off the hood of the car as Vala answered her phone. I glared at the night sky and began to mutter angrily at it, shaking my fist at the stars.

“ Are you kidding me?! You couldn’t wait three more seconds?! I was so close!”

Vala’s voice cut me off from my quiet tirade. When I went back to her I was surprised to see her eyes full of tears and her whole body trembling.

“ Hey what’s wrong?” I asked.

“ It’s my dad. He’s been shot and is in critical condition at the hospital.”