Hi all,
more flash fiction for you. This one’s got a teddy bear in it so it’s really nice. Enjoy!
I wanted to stay at the candy floss place. I had my stick full of spun sugar but there were plenty of other people waitng. I loved watching the lady make it, dipping in with the overlarge toothpicks and turning them until they were covered in pink clouds. The smell was wonderful. But Daddy wanted to go on.
We went to the fortune teller’s tent. I was allowed to eat my candy floss but the lady said be careful not to drop it. I sat on a plastic stool that had a limp faded cushion while she told Daddy what was going to happen next. I like to know what’s going to happen. Usually Mammy and Daddy just pull me with them wherever they’re going. Daddy didn’t like what the old lady was telling him. He said thank you but he didn’t smile, which is how I know.
“What did she say?” I asked.
He looked like he’d forgotten I was there and I hid my face behind my candy floss, wisps sticking to my cheeks. He shook his head. Next was a shooting range. You could shoot at tin cans with a small rifle. I don’t like shooting and Daddy doesn’t either. Past that was one where you could throw rings around ducks and win something. There was a large teddy as a prize but I knew I’d never win it. Still though, I imagined I had won and was dragging it the same way Daddy was dragging me but nicer. I pretended I offered the teddy some candy floss but he didn’t want it in case it got stuck in his fur. We threw some rings and I tried not to look at the teddy because I knew I wouldn’t win him and it wouldn’t be fair to get his hopes up. Anyway I had my imaginary teddy and I didn’t want him to get jealous. There was a girl beside me and she stared at my candy floss the whole time.
On we went. The crowd was getting thicker and I had to walk half behind Daddy. My candy floss stick was almost finished and I wondered what I should do with it. I liked to keep the sticks but somehow never did. I made up my mind that this time I would keep it on my pocket and then put it in the shoe box under my bed, so nobody would throw it away when I was at school.
Once we reached the end of the pier we’d look out at the sea. Daddy would say he loved me as much as the sea and more and then we’d go home.
I forgot that I was holding my imaginary teddy but I was able to imagine that he caught up to us, dodging through the crowd’s legs. He’d been looking at the van that sold all the sweets and didn’t notice when we moved on. He looked scared and sad and I told myself that I would tell him I loved him as much as the sea and more before we went home.
At the end of the pier we had to wait until there was a space free at the railing. People were taking photos of themselves. Daddy thought that was vain. I knew he was right but I wished he would take a picture of us together. He looked out over the sea and I nestled in close to his side, it was getting chilly.
“Finished?” he said.
I nodded without thinking and he grabbed my candy floss stick and threw it into the sea. We walked back home through the crowd.
When we got to the car I realised I’d left Teddy at the end of the pier and he didn’t know what our car looked like so I couldn’t imagine him finding us.
I think the voice in this one is quite different to my usual voice, which is good. What do you think?
