Growing up in a small town leaves you with special memories, especially of summertime with long days and no school for a few happy months. The highlight of summer was always the annual country fair, where the whole town turned out. The fair always made a fun day even more so, and made happy memories as well.
Making a bee line for the cotton candy stand was the first thing to do after arriving at the fairgrounds. It cost so little, for all the fun you got, first watching as the cotton candy machine spun out the fluffy pink stuff. Then, pulling off mouthfuls of sugary stickiness was a sure sign that fair fun had started.
The Ferris wheel was the next stop, and once the safety bar was in place you held on tightly with cotton candy-sticky hands. Round and round you went, and if you were lucky it would stop for more passengers while your car was at the top. The view from up there was as exhilarating as the slightly rocking car was scary.
Next, on to the fairway where everyone wanted to try his hand at games of skill. One booth featured throwing soft balls at weighted bowling pins, which was never as easy as it looked. At another, small metal rings about the size of large mens wedding bands were tossed onto pencil-thin posts revolving in a circle. This was also a lot harder than it appeared to be.
Whether through skill or luck, or both, you actually won and were invited by the barker to choose your prize. But there were too many choices, and it was so hard to decide among a fuzzy blue stuffed elephant, a flashy fake crystal necklace, and other fun and crazy things. In the end you had to just close your eyes and point, and take whatever your finger landed on.
Now it was definitely time to refuel, after all that work, but more choices presented themselves. You had to decide between juicy hot dogs, or soft fresh-baked pretzels encrusted with salt. But then, there was the smell of hot buttered popcorn to tempt you as well, and make the choice that much more difficult.
Farther down the fairway, near where the rodeo would soon take place, a garish clown was juggling plates and otherwise entertaining onlookers. You briefly noticed that the scuffed brown boots he was wearing looked exactly like your seventh grade teacher’s. It seemed odd, but you forgot it a moment later as you laughed at the clown and thought what a great job he had, working at fairs all year long.
Tired and sunburned, but very happy, you finally went home with wonderful memories of another fun country fair. Untroubled by an overfull stomach, you were drifting off to sleep almost before your head was on your pillow. But just as you fell asleep you thought again about your seventh grade teacher and wondered just what he spent his summer doing.