Atop a wooden pedestal, a miniature bowling pin stood, and Brie glared at it, clutching her wallet.
Shaye rubbed her shoulder. “Who on earth doesn’t know these games are rigged. Just forget about it, and let me buy you a hot dog—the stand is just beyond the Ferris wheel.”
Brie shrugged. “Okay.” She snatched a five dollar bill out her wallet. “After two more balls.” She handed the bill to an attendant, and Shaye dropped her face in her hands.
“Honestly, Brie, you’ll go broke before you—”
“Shush! I need to concentrate!”
The attendant snickered.
Brie scowled. “That goes for you, as well.”
The attendant backed to a stool, plopped atop, and folded his arms.
Brie sidestepped before a pedestal upon which one pin stood upon two which stood upon three and then clasped a ball. “Nobody breathe…” Brie shut an eye but lifted the ball before an open one, focusing-in on the ball and then the six-pin tower and then the ball and then the tower. She cocked her arm back, drawing-in lungs of air, gazing at the tower’s center point, and then heaved it. The ball rocketed over a counter and stuck the tower dead-center, and the top and second pin row toppled into a stuffed animal basket while each bottom pin toppled there, as well, except one which remained upon the pedestal.
Brie slammed a fist upon the countertop. “Damn it!” She seized the second ball, and the attendant sprang up.
“Just a reminder, miss,” he said. “Even though all six pins weren’t knocked off the pedestal in one go, if you forgo the second ball, we’ll still give you a prize.”
Shaye clapped her hand tight. “Ah, see there, Brie,” she said. “This gentleman neither wants you to waste more money nor see you walk away empty handed.” She scanned oversized stuffed lions and giraffes which hang from the ceiling and medium-sized zebras and bears which brimmed in a line of baskets. “Which prize is the eligible for?”
He reached beneath the counter, grabbed a basket of gum balls, and slapped it upon the countertop. “Since there are two of you, we’ll let you have two.”
Shaye glanced at Brie, who glanced back, teeth clinched. She sidestepped, watched Brie snatch the ball, draw it back, and launch it.
The attendant howled and then ducked, stripe of wind gusting past his bald head. The ball struck the last pin, shoved it off the pedestal, and bit-by-bit, the attendant stood upright. He grabbed a medium-sized prize basket and dropped it on the countertop. “Take two… for your trouble…”
Shaye’s eyes popped wide. “You mean I can have one, as well?” She dove into the basket, snatching stuffed animals, turning them about. Before long however, Brie snatched the prizes from her, stuffed them in the basket, and shoved it away.
Shaye’s eyebrows lifted. “What are you—?”
“No trouble,” Brie said peering at Shaye and then at the attendant. “No trouble all. But since I’m an all-or-nothing girl, tonight, we’ll pass.” She gazed at the oversized animals dangling overhead. “But tomorrow, I may or may not be back for all those. Good evening.”
Shaye gasped. “But, but…”
Brie seized her wrist and dragged her down the midway past crowded merry-go-rounds, lollipop-licking children, and funnel cake booths and then released. “Should had let me taken that ball upside his head.”
Shaye chuckled. “Should had seen your eyes—trust me, you tried!”