“Don’t tell him you’re a carnie,” Roxie suggested. “Just pretend you came to the carnival the same as him. Most of the people here don’t actually work here. He won’t think anything of it.”
“I don’t know.” I debated as Gabe went up to the cotton candy stand, momentarily disappearing from my line of vision.
“Mara. Just go. Have fun,” Roxie commanded.
I turned to face her. “How do I look?”
She readjusted my necklace and fixed the thin strap on my dress, then smiled approvingly at me. “You look good. Go.”
“Do you wanna come with me?” I asked.
“I would love to, but I can’t. I should go get ready. It’s close to showtime.”
“Okay.” I smiled uncertainly at her. “Thanks.”
“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
“So … what?” I laughed. “That means I can do everything?”
“Not everything. I would never go to that guy’s house and admire the architecture. So don’t do that,” Roxie said as I started to walk away. “In fact, try not to look at any buildings at all.”
9. diversions
Since emerging from the shadows behind the booths would probably seem a little creepy, or at the very least raise questions about where I had come from, I decided to run into Gabe in the gap between two booths a little way down.
But then I glanced out and saw that Gabe was holding cotton candy as Selena picked off several pink tufts. He wasn’t looking in my direction at all, so I stepped out in the bright lights of the carnival. I couldn’t just stand there, staring and waiting for him to approach me, so I decided to play whatever game I happened to be closest to.
When I realized what game it was, my smile instantly fell away. It was the milk-bottle toss, where you threw a rubber ball and tried to knock down weighted bottles. I didn’t mind the game so much, but the guy who ran it—Doug Bennett. Gideon was the head of the whole traveling carnival, but Doug was in charge of the midway, and sometimes he could be a jerk about it.
“You gonna try your luck again, Mara?” He had one foot on the corner as he stared down at me, chomping rather loudly on chewing tobacco.
“Pretend you don’t know me,” I said.
Doug’s bloodshot eyes appeared confused. “What?”
“Please. Just pretend you don’t know me,” I begged, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gabe and his family walking toward me. “For one night.”
Doug held out his grimy hand. “Then pay me if you wanna play.”
“Doug.”
“You want this to look real, then give me two dollars.” He opened and closed his hand, motioning for me to give him money.
“Ugh,” I groaned, and quickly dug into my bra, where I had exactly three dollars. Doug winked at me as I handed the cash over to him.
“Step right up, little lady, and win yourself a prize!” Doug shouted, putting on his full carnie routine. “Or would a strapping young man care to win a prize for the lady?”
“I can win a prize for myself,” I hissed with a thin smile plastered on my face. “I just wanted you to—”
“Mara?” Gabe asked.
I turned back to see him walking over to me, and I smiled at him. “Gabe. Hi.”
“How about you?” Doug leaned over the counter, still shouting so everyone around would hear him. “Would you like to win the pretty lady a teddy bear?”
“As I was just telling this nice game operator, I am perfectly capable of winning a prize myself,” I said.
Gabe eyed me up appreciatively and smirked. “I’m sure you are.”
“Then why don’t you win him a prize?” Doug turned to me. “I’m sure a young man like him would love one of our de-luxe teddy bears,” he said, pointing to the small, cheap bears that were hanging up all over the booth.
“Pardon?” I asked.
“You know what, I would.” Gabe walked up to the counter next to me and looked up at the blue teddy bear.
“What?” I asked, still not completely understanding what was happening here.
“I’d like a teddy bear.” Gabe grinned at me. “Nobody ever wins one for me. I always have to give them away, and I want one. It’d look great on my bed.”
“Everyone, watch as this strapping young woman wins the handsome young man a prize!” Doug shouted, speaking to the small crowd that was gathering around us. “She will prove her strength and her skill! Watch as she takes aim and proves her love—”
“Just give me the balls.” I cut Doug off and held my hand out. “I’ll do it.”
As he dropped the three lightweight rubber balls into my hand, Doug winked at me again. He moved as far to the side of the booth as he could get, which was good, because if he got in my way, I’d probably chuck a ball at him.
I threw my first ball, and it slammed right into the top bottle. That one was easy. Unlike the ones at the bottom, it was weighed about what a milk bottle actually weighed. The bottom two were filled with sand and were much heavier.
Doug had suggested actually gluing them down, but Gideon thought that was taking things too far. Still, it was almost impossible to get all three of the bottles down. At least for people who hadn’t spent hundreds of hours of their life playing this game.
With the second ball, I threw it hard, aiming for the bottom center between the two bottles, and they both went down. They actually fell so hard that one of them ricocheted off the back wall before flying into the counter.