Writer's Games: Carnival

Task Four [Male Entries]

ZACH FORRESTER

"You were carrying those around with you all day long?" Evangeline asked, her jaw dropping like she was witnessing kittens being murdered. "With my grandson?"

"It's not like we used them," Zach replied, pulling the condom away from the helium pump. Tying it off quickly, he carefully put it in the plastic bag they had decided to keep everything in. A pair of rubber ducks sat beneath, unmarked, of course. Both Evangeline and Zach's birthdays were later in the month, and the rubber duckies for the game only had the numbers one through ten. They hoped Sayuri would accept it marked in Sharpie. "It never hurts to be prepared, after all," he finished, walking away from the balloon table. 

"I just don't understand why you had to have two," Evangeline grumbled. 

"In case one of them broke," Zach explained. Honestly, he hadn't intended to use either of the condoms. He just hoped Ritchie would understand why he was mysteriously missing two condoms after a few nights with Grannie Lore. The thought alone sent shivers down Zach's spine. 

Evangeline shook her head, with a hint of disdain, and continued on towards the face painting station. Zach, Ritchie, and Evangeline hadn't spent much time in the kiddie area of the carnival during the day, the trio was much more interested in the rides and games, but Zach still knew the area like the back of his hand. 

He used to come to the carnival every year with his older brother and his sister. And up until the year he turned ten, Zach was reminded almost every year, he made his older siblings spend the entire day in the kiddie section. They hadn't rearranged it much, Zach noted. Now that it was daytime, he could easily imagine the carnies operating the rides, or running the Games. He couldn't help but wonder how many were still alive after the whole acid gun fiasco. 

Evangeline, sitting down in one of the chairs the kids would normally sit in, grabbed a bottle of black face paint and a paintbrush. "Paint should work as well as a sharpie, correct?" she asked. 

Zach nodded, and began digging through the bag for the rubber ducks. He knew that Evangeline wasn't looking for his approval when she asked, but he figured it couldn't hurt. If she was anything like Ritchie was, at least, the asking was only a formality. Handing her the rubber ducks, he leaned back into a chair of his own. He hadn't had much time to rest since yesterday morning. Evangeline would keep him from falling asleep, she would need to ask him what his birthday was. So it wouldn't matter if he closed his eyes for just a few moments. 

*

"Look at that one, Zach!" Ritchie yelled, yanking at Zach's arm so hard it almost came out of the socket. Zach followed his boyfriend's gaze, up, over to one of the game stands. All he had to do was throw a ball and knock the milk bottles over. If he knocked all five over, he got the big prize: the teddy bear that Ritchie wanted. Three or four meant a smaller prize, one or two just a candy, and none meant nothing at all. "You think you could win it for me?"

Rolling his eyes, Zach nodded. He knew he had seen the teddy bear before, it couldn't have cost more than ten dollars. But it was huge, about as big as Zach's entire torso, and it looked incredibly fluffy. Besides, how could he say no to Ritchie?