Fairground Fiasco

• Chloe Robson, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2017

Among the bewildering busy cries of the fairground, I wandered. The sun was high in the sky signalling the afternoon, it was still very crowded but not as much as earlier in the morning. Still the sellers cry out there offers:
“Only one dolla’, just one dolla’ for a hot dog.”
“Come and try your aiming skills! This could be you luck day to win one magnificent prize.”
My brain was throbbing from all the nasty noise so I walked away from the main market place and happened upon a mystical, purple sign reading: Lady Astraea's fortune telling, palm reading, and crystal ball sighting, it sounded interesting enough why shouldn’t I give it a try? I reached into my pocket for five dollars, it had a hole! My money had dropped out. I raced back to my parents, pleaded with them for just five more dollars and arrived back outside the fortune tellers sign breathless.
I stepped inside, forcing my legs to climb up the steps. I was nervous. I didn’t quite know why.
“Take a seat, Alissa.” Came a voice deep from the back of the room. How did she (for it said ‘Lady’ on the sign) know my name? I was having second thoughts; should I just run away? “No don’t be a chicken.”
“Are you here for a simple fortune telling?” Came the voice again.
“Yes,” I replied quakily more unsure than ever before.
“Well it seems very complex.” I had heard that line before. She went on, “You will travel through dark and scary places, away from your family, Perhaps forever!” This was getting spooky, “You will travel like a bird, Like a dog.” And she finished there. Now I knew this was just hocus pocus, that last line didn’t make any sense. I ran out the wagon and down the steps into the warm sunshine.
Quickly I hurried through the stalls, past the hot dog man, Wait! That wasn’t the hot dog man that was, I don’t know. I turned around. I was lost. I had completely lost orientation. I wandered like a lost bird down the alleys till I came back to the main fairground.
“Like a bird!” I exclaimed. The fortune teller’s words came flooding back to me helping in a time of need. I knew what that meant and I went as fast as my legs could carry me.
At last I stood in front of the Ferris Wheel. I leaped on managing to sneak past the ride attendant, the machine sputtered to a start. Up, up, up I went till at the very top. I looked around from up here you could see everything, including my parents! I spotted them near the hot dog stall and was impatient to get back off the ride.
I followed the scent of the hot dogs ‘sniffing as if I were a dog’. There were my parents, I realised how thankful I was for them and collapsed in an emotional heap at their feet.