Carnivals

We had our county fair here in Dawson County Nebraska last week. My kids are pretty involved in 4-H, so it was a busy week for us. Besides helping them get their projects ready, my wife and I did our volunteer work here and there to help out.
Then, we went to the carnival and enjoyed the rides and the games. I was very proud of my four-year-old who was initially denied access to a ride for being too short. She looked up at me and at the ride operator, realized what was going on and turned again to put her back up against the height requirement board and made it a point to stand on her tip-toes. She was just tall enough. She looked at us again, the ride operator looked at me and I at him. We both shrugged our shoulders and she was allowed to go on the ride.
The ride operators were very nice people, so were the guys running the games. My seven-year-old wanted to play a particular game. She went over and asked the guy how it was played. He very kindly and patiently explained the object of the game to her, and then told her that the game was for older people and she would probably not win and he did not want to take her money. He then suggested another nearby game that he thought she would be good at. I was shocked. This is not how carnies acted when I was a kid.
Around here, there used to be jokes and stories among those of us who work in the courthouse about how birth rates and paternity cases went up nine months after the carnival was in town. I remember once having to explain to a Judge that my client was not in court for her hearing because she had met someone working for the carnival in town the week before and had run off with him, joining the carnival.
I even used this in my book as part of the story line. A woman found out she was pregnant and it turned out the father was someone who had been in town with the carnival.
It looks like this is no longer the norm. I hope that is the case. I hope that carnival workers are no longer a stereotype for marginalized transients. I hope that is the case because there are fewer people in our wold who are "marginalized stereotypes." I am probably being naive. But, I hope we are becoming a society were fewer people are marginalized.
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Published on July 27, 2018 12:51
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Corey Burns (Hick Lawyer)

Corey Burns
I am a small town lawyer. I have written a novel loosely based on my experiences, very loosely. I AM NOT MY CHARACTER, DEXTER SMITH. Dexter and I do have some similarities though. I want this book and ...more
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