Josh and the Great Country Fair

by Khoi Nguyen

“Let’s go!” Josh yelled to his parents and brother, Drew, who were getting ready to go to their trip to the country fair. After Josh’s parents had packed food, tickets, money, and water into their backpack, the four headed off to the fair.

When they got there, Josh’s parents gave him and Drew a few tickets and $10 each. “Spend this money and use these tickets wisely,” cautioned Richard Mitchen, Josh’s dad. “Yes,” his wife said, “you mustn’t spend all of this at once. You’ll have to make this last the whole day.”

“We know!” The boys chorused as they ran off. At the entrance, Josh split up with his brother, and went toward the carousel. He did not see the height requirement and got on a horse as the ride started. Halfway through, Josh began to lose his balance as the carousel continued to build speed.

“Woah!” Josh said with shock as he fell off. Josh groaned as he looked at his sprained ankle. He remembered his friends joking with him the day before.

“Better not have any bad luck tomorrow,” he remembered them saying, “the country fair is a lot of money!”

“What silly thoughts,” Josh said to himself, “I’m going to have fun today!”

He headed toward the ice cream stand, and reached into his pocket, but realized that all his money was gone! Josh began to panic as he raced back to the place he fell. There was nothing there.

Josh groaned, as he slowly walked away. Then, his face lit up because he was right next to his favorite ride, the Flipster! Josh gave the attendant a ticket and hopped into a seat. The ride flipped Josh and the other riders back and forth. Normally, Josh would scream in laughter and close his eyes tight, but today, he didn’t feel good. When he got off, he went to a restroom and vomited in a toilet. Josh felt better, but one of his favorite shirts was ruined.

He looked at his watch. “Yikes!” He said, “I’m late for lunch.” He saw his brother at a lunch table while his parents were calling someone. Josh could tell that his brother Drew did notice his shirt being dirty but didn’t ask him anything.

“You’re a bit late, little brother,” Drew told Josh.

“Sorry,” Josh said, hiding his disappointment. They sat down at a table and took out their picnic meal, which was flooded with ants. They were all over the sandwiches, lemonade, and chips. Josh’s parents went to throw the food away.

“Don’t worry you two!” their mom said, “You had a big breakfast today!”

Josh, who wasn’t that hungry, went to go on more rides, this time, the Haunted House. His friends said that the Haunted House was a spectacular ride. Josh hopped in a minecart, which slowly creaked down the railroad tracks. He saw countless ghosts and skeletons jump out and few fake bats and spiders too.

Josh was starting to have second thoughts on the whole experience when a witch started chasing his minecart. Josh screamed in horror as the witch started to gain speed on him. He closed his eyes and braced for impact when the minecart came out of the tunnel. Josh took a minute to catch his breath when he saw lightning streak across the sky.

The sound of thunder filled the area. Then, it started to rain, and hard. Josh saw his brother and parents running toward him.

“We have to get back to the car now!” Josh’s dad said as he pulled out the umbrella. Halfway to the car, the umbrella broke, leaving the Mitchen family drenched in the rain.

When they got to the car, they wiped themselves with extra towels and headed home. During the long ride through traffic, Josh fell asleep. During his rest, he dreamed of the witch from the Haunted House catching up to him and eating him. This made Josh yell when he woke up. “Ahhh!” he said. Josh’s parents were so startled that they almost rear-ended the car in front of them. As Josh calmed down, his parents talked to him so he wouldn’t be upset anymore.

When the Mitchens got to their porch, they unloaded their stuff and headed inside. Josh went to his room and sat down there. After he changed, he sat at his window, thinking about missing one of his favorite rides: The Bounce Bounce-Trampoline. Josh’s mom called him downstairs. To his surprise, he found a box from The Mystery Gifts company. Inside was a trampoline! “Finally! Some luck!” Josh said as he bounced the whole night long.

That night before sleeping, Josh fondly reminded himself of a favorite saying from his grandma: Never lose hope in any case as things could well be brighter at a later time!