The Waves Are Ours |Virgato|

Chapter 10: Festival

"It's so cute!" Chris declared, bundling the small stuffed toy into his arms. "I can't believe we won this."

"Me neither. Usually the bigger prizes are pretty hard to get," Joel agreed as they walked amongst the booths. Joel had just won the prize in one of the sideshow games where you were required to catch a certain amount of plastic ducks with a thing Joel had called a fishing line and then add up the numbers to work out what you win. Chris had been fascinated and amazing when they had won.

"He's yours though. I already have a pretty similar one back at my mom's place," Joel reminded him.

Chris was so excited. He didn't have much in his room back at Richard's place; a few borrowed articles of clothing and that was about it. The prospect of where to put the small dolphin excited him. He was sure it would make his room look more like home where he had various colored shells decorating his entire windowsill. He even wondered whether he could collect a few here to liven the room up.

As they walked the booths together, Chris could only think about how much he loved the festival. Upbeat music pounded from the speakers. Sweet aromas filled the air, and Chris saw dozens of foods he'd never tried before. It was hard to know what to try first, so he just asked Joel to pick for them.

Joel had picked what he'd called sushi from a country called Japan. Chris was a little hazy on the countries of the world according to the humans, but he thought he knew that one. Joel hadn't seemed surprised this time when Chris said he hadn't tried it.

As he looked amongst the display, he'd instructed Joel to avoid the fish flavored ones. He grimaced. They were a little too close to home. Joel had seemed to share the same opinion anyway, simply nodding and choosing ones that weren't made of fish. Chris liked that they all had seaweed covering them, as he was used to that. As much as he was preferring land food, it was nice to see something familiar in his meal.

The two walked as they ate. Sure enough, he found the sushi was different to what he'd expected, but it was still something he thoroughly enjoyed. Land people were certainly winning the whole food thing. They were geniuses.

"Did you like it?" Joel asked, noticing when Chris had finished.

Chris nodded enthusiastically, "I did. They were delicious. Thank you!"

Joel smiled a little as they continued to walk. Eventually, they came near the stage where Richard's band would be playing. It was completely crowded with people. They spotted Erick sitting on a bench near the front, two spots saved beside him. He waved them over.

"You really did get us the best seats," Joel grinned as they sat down beside him.

"Yeah, well you guys are a bit late, but it's good timing. Richard's band is on next," Erick grinned.

Joel and Chris both nodded, their eyes quickly turning up to the stage where a group of people were already on stage starting to set up the equipment for them. Chris was fascinated by how much work seemed to go into such a small thing. There had been none of this whey they'd gone to see them play in that garage.

After a while, the people seemed to disperse and a lanky man walked on stage, dressed in a fancy looking coat. He talked for a while before he announced the next group of performers.

Soon enough, the band walked on stage, each of them taking their places with their instruments. As their lead singer talked, Richard scanned the crowd for a moment, his eyes landing on the trio and he gave them a small wave from behind the drum set.

The band began to play, and it sent the entire area into an frenzy as people cheered and got up to dance, while others preferred to sit and just tap along to the beat. Chris watched in awe, amazed by their talent. Watching them practice in a garage was one thing, but seeing them play for an audience was a whole different thing.