The father chuckles as I hand him the second one.
This time, he is a bit closer, but by luck. He isn’t trying to aim at all.
This goes on and on until the family has donated well over fifty dollars.
“You did really well,” I tell the little boy. “How about a prize?”
He nods, pointing at a tiger meant for our biggest winners. His father more than paid for it, though, so I pull it down.
“Tiger it is. You take good care of him.” He nods as his parents thank me before walking away.
“You’re good at this. Kids love you,” Asher says from his chair in the back of the booth.
He has mostly tried to stay out of my way while I handled everyone coming to the booth. Maggie is planning to come relieve me in a little bit so I can experience the carnival a bit more.
“Wasn’t Ashley going to come?” I ask Asher.
“She said she would try to stop by if she could. I tried calling her, but it went straight to voicemail. I’m sure she’s grading papers or something,” he tells me.
He’s probably right. When she needs to focus, she tends to put her phone on Do Not Disturb.
“Well, I hope we see her. I think she would like this,” I tell him.
“Oh, she would love it. When we were kids, we used to go to the local fair every year. She would ride every single ride in the place. I was always more interested in the food and carnival games like this,” he admits.
“I love that. I love hearing stories about your past,” I tell him.
“I wish you had some of your own.”
I laugh. “I might not have the warm and fuzzies, but Calloway did take me to a carnival once. He had to ride with me on the handlebars of his bike, and we snuck in the back, but it was fun. He would make deals with the guys at the rides to get me on for free. It was one of the best days of my childhood,” I tell him, remembering the day.
Calloway always tried to give me better than what I had. I never truly appreciated it until now.
“That’s awesome, baby. I’m glad you had him.”
Before we can keep talking, his phone rings. He answers it as I focus back on the crowd.
After a few minutes, Asher comes up behind me.
“There’s an issue with some unruly men a couple of booths down. I’m going to go help. Meek is watching the cameras, and I am within shouting distance,” he tells me.
While I am a little nervous, I know I will be okay.
“Go do what you need to do.”
I watch as he walks away before I focus back on the crowd before me.
I get another couple of participants before there is a slight lull. I frown when I look down and see Asher talking with one of the men that I assume was causing issues. He is taking so long. I wish they would go away so he could come back to me.
“Excuse me, miss?” a young voice says, drawing my attention back to the booth.
“Hey, there. Are you here by yourself?” I ask, looking around for his parents.
The boy can’t be more than six or seven.
“I can’t find them. Can you help me look for them?” he asks, sounding scared.
“Oh, honey. Come into the booth. Let’s see what we can do.”
