Ten minutes into my three hour shift and already a line was starting to form up in front of the booth. Lily was at the table collecting the money and handing the soft, round, brown leather balls. My sister had wandered off as soon as the booth had open. Something about checking the charity shops, see Benton has little in the way of a proper bookstore, I mean of course you could always use Amazon or order online from one of the major retail chains. But, often you had to pay full price for those, and unless it was somebody’s birthday or Christmas, we rarely brought something new.

A loud thumping sound brought me back to my senses, Taking a deep breath I peered toward the field in front of me, standing just behind the white line that had been spray painted on the ground was a young boy, say around ten years old. He had short, sandy brown hair. His beady little eyes peered toward me as he chewed upon a wad of gum. I offered him a little smile, and he only spat the gum out. No doubt mincing some baseball hero of yore.

“I’m gonna dunk you this time.” He said as he drew his arm back and let the ball fly. The brown ball sailed through the air and smacked into the inner ring of the target. A look of pure disappointment clouded his face as he peered down at the last ball.

“Come on.” I called out to him. “You can do it..” I said smiling a little as I folded my hands down upon my lap and took a deep breath. Fifteen minutes and already I was starting to get the feeling of butterflies floating around inside me.

The little boy reached up, turned her cap around and brought the ball up and taking a deep breath he twisted around and tossed the ball over his shoulder. The ball sailed through the air and a split second later a loud dinging sound could be heard as the ball smacked into the trigger, sending me dropping like a stone into the freezing water below.

For a minute, my whole world turned blue, the tank was deeper than I thought and I was smaller than most teens too. I felt my bottom touch the floor of the tank and felt a blush form upon my cheeks as I peered through the portal in the front. Swimming toward the portal I gave the classic “Thumbs Up” sign to the boy who was jumping up and down, rejoicing in his victory.

Fifteen seconds later, I found myself popping up and taking a deep breath. Quickly I pressed the seat back into its proper position. Taking a deep breath, I climbed back out and hoisted myself out of the water and took the seat again. “Good job!” I shouted as boy gave a little nod of the head. He soon skipped off to join his playmates.

“Cute.” Lily said as she peered toward me. “Really got a way with kids.” She said smiling as she took a sip from a clear plastic bottle.

“Its nothing..” I said blushing as I peered down at my lap.

A coy little smile formed upon her lips as she watched a pair of teenager boy approach the dunking booth. One of them was tall, taller than a tree, lean too. He wore a clear pair of Levi jeans and a plaid checkered shirt, the shirt was tucked into his jeans. The cuff of the jeans were rolled over some brown leather cowboy boots that had been polished to a high shine. His blonde hair was closely clipped, and he sporting a good clean shave. The first few top bottoms, where undone and one could see his clean t shirt sticking out. The final touches was a simple, plain, Protestant cross hung around his tanned neck.
The simple, wooden cross hung from a braided cord of brown leather. His face had a farmers tan and his eyes seem to sparkle in the sunlight. He caught my eye out of the corner of his eyes.

“Wow,” Lily said taking a deep breath. “Second one to catch your eye.” She then folded her arms across her chest, closed her eyes and sighed. “Girl, I need to talk with you one day. You gotta be picky when it comes to finding a boyfriend. Your too young to be going around making puppy dog eyes at every boy that catches your eye. Man, need to give you some education.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but I then closed it and took a deep breath. Worlds failed me.. And I was drawing a blank anyway.

“Oh look, it seems lover boy is coming this way.” She said in a teasing tone of voice as the boy started to walk toward the booth. Soon he was standing behind the wooden desk. He offered Lily a small smile and then looked up and smiled at me. And my heart fluttered a little.

“So, going to give the little lady a bath?” Lily inquired as she peered toward the guy. “She looking might hot up there, and that water pretty cool, only five dollars for three balls. All money goes to help our local children’s hospital.”

“Sure.” He said reaching into his back pocket. he pulled out a small folding wallet and blushing a little he placed a five dollar bill down upon the wooden countertop. He was reward with three small balls.

“She all yours.” Lily said smirking as she showed him where to stand. He stepped up behind the line and offered me a little smile as he tipped his hat and offered me a little smile.

“Hello there, my name is Ben.” He said grinning. “You looking mighty cool sitting up there, almost too pretty to dunk.” He teased as reached down and picked up the ball and squeezed it. Smirking softy he peered up me and gave me a golden smile.

“Its nice to meet you Ben.” I said smiling softly

“You from around here. You got a funny accent.” He said reaching and removing his ten gallon cowboy hat. “Sound like them folks from down river. Sound like you come from Canton or Ridgeland or something.”

I blushed a little and then giggled as I reached up and started to twirl a few strains of my hair around my finger as I started to cross my legs. It was kind of thrilling, talking to a boy like this.

“I just moved here from Canton.” I said smiling softly.

“Canton be a fair piece of travel from here.”

He nodded his head and smiled toward me, grinning he then wrapped his fingers around the leather ball. Smiling he drew the ball back and tossed it toward the bright red trigger button. I took a deep breath and waited for the ball to hit the target and slowly I let my breath escape my lips as ball bounced off the wall.

“Almost I said..” I said grinning as he peered toward him. I felt my cheeks flush as he winked at me and in his southern drawl he said.

“Just a little baking the coal’s in the oven there.” He said with a grin. And then he reached back and tossed his second ball. The second ball flew through the air and smacked into the target, triggering the seat and sending me down into the water!

The water was freezing cold and took my breath away from me. I fell for what seemed like a very long time before my bottom touched the bottom of the pool. Quickly I swam toward the top and broke the surface. I was greeted with the boy stand there smiling at me, holding his last ball.

“Good shot there cowboy.” I said blushed as I pushed the trigger seat back into position. “Gotta good arm on you.” I climbed back out and eased my bottom back down upon the seat.

“Going to throw you in the drink again too if you ever stop your blushing, darn hard to dunk a blushing girl.” He called out at me. Smiling he drew back his arm and let the ball fly. It sailed through the air and struck the trigger again. Sending me once more down into the freezing cold water. I quickly surfaced this time and took a deep breath as I peered toward the boy.

“Now, you cooling off, Gotta say something. You pretty amazing. Hope to see you around town now.” And with that he walked away. Blushing I quickly swam toward the edge of the tank and called out. “See you around cutie!” I called out.

“See you around.” He said tipping his hat once more. A deep sigh escaped my me as I pushed the seat back up and climbed back up. Only a few more hours to go.