I had been waiting several weeks for the school carnival. It came once a year, and it was always ridiculously fun. I couldn’t wait for the spinning thing, where you stand inside it and get spun up, down, left, right, backward and forward!

This morning, when I got there, however, I didn’t see the spinning thing. I didn’t see a Ferris wheel. Instead, I saw tally marks. I saw walls. I saw bars.

I saw jail.

No, I didn’t have weapons of mass destruction. No, I wasn’t sent to juvenile. Did I get sent to jail? Yes and no.

Confused? Let’s make it even more confusing. I was still at the carnival.

Now let’s clear things up. It was a school tradition that we have a jail every year at the carnival. You would pay a ticket to get someone in, and if you took pity of someone already in it, you could pay another one to get that person out. If you were that person who was in the jail, you could bail yourself out.

Do you understand now?

The moment I stepped foot inside the carnival on the playground, three giggly girls from my class pointed and giggled. Before I knew it, I was pushed over into the jail, guarded by the teacher.

I broke out through the cardboard jail twice. They had very wide bars made of plastic piping, and I could squeeze through. The giggly girls caught me once, and my friend pushed me back once.

Finally, a kid who was sitting in it let me out by paying for me. I asked him what he wanted in exchange. He told me he wanted a confetti egg.

It was also tradition that they sell confetti eggs at the carnival. They were eggs that had been emptied of it’s contents and filled with confetti. The hole was taped shut and the egg was dyed.

I grabbed a confetti egg for him by paying a ticket. I gave it to my friend. He said, “God bless your good soul!” and then ‘booped’ me. Getting booped means getting confettied.

I got angry at him, and his friend got mad at me for getting mad at him, and back in I went. I got mad at him for getting mad at me for getting mad at his friend, and in he went.

Inside, I bailed myself out and went out to the tent. Inside the tent, I looked around for the art stand.

I knew there was an art stand because there was always a art stand. There was a machine that spun a piece of paper really fast. A small slot on the glass top would let you pour the liquid paint in and make spinning artwork.

When I got a bit hungry, I went into the building and had some nachos for a few tickets.

Then I had my first taste of cotton candy in my life. Either that or I forgot the taste. It was sweet, and it melted inside your mouth. It tasted great!

I found a classmate, and then I set off for the Superhero Adventure.

The Superhero Adventure is a obstacle course involving going through a telephone booth, skimming through policemen, climbing buildings, crawling through sewage routes, and sliding down buildings.

It really was a air-pumped obstacle course. I went on it twice. I went right through the first time. The second time, I had a little fun.

Since it costs four tickets (equivalent to 2 dollars), I decided to take longer than 30 second this time.

I pretended to make a call in the telephone booth. I crawled through and laid down for about half a minute, resting and thinking about all the great things in life. I used the air pumped police officers as a punch bag. I climbed up to the top, and slid down… the other way (toward the entrance)! Finally, I went down the slide and finished the adventure.

I had zero tickets now. I was bankrupt. Hoping I wouldn’t get caught by giggly girls or anyone who would like to send me to jail, I crouched under our playground and called my dad.

When my dad finally came, the giggly girls came. I laughed and called, “It’s too late!”

I couldn’t wait for the next time.