The day of the dunking booth arrived sooner than I thought. Like I normally do, I rode the bus home that day and mom greeted me with a hug and a afternoon snack. After my afternoon snack, I dove right into homework till mom knocked upon my bedroom door and reminded me I needed to change into my costume. Mom and I had settled on cheerleader, and since money was tight, we decided to alter her old cheerleader uniform to fit me. Anyway once I had been changed, we drove into town. The event was being held in the parking lot of the newly open 'Sonic' a chain of casual fast food places that focused on hamburgers, fried foods and ice cream. And as expected the parking lot was filled to the brim with people and we'll cars too. And the dunking booth, as I could tell had been set up near the center of the parking lot. Surrounding the booth was a dozen or so card tables, a large crowd of thirty to maybe forty people seemed to surround the booth.

We'll mom finally found a parking space and once the car was off, she and I started walking toward the parking lot, mom followed behind me, slung over her shoulder was a bag that held a spare set of clothing, a towel and small traveling kit. I took a deep breath as mom and I walked into the parking lot. The moon in the night sky was in the “Waning Crescent '' stage of its phase. As is all too common in the south, the weather was cool and pleasant, kind of like a nice summer evening. Autumn in the south is a mix bag.

Sometimes it is warm and something cool there. Every year we have a few token days of coolness, when one can sit around a warm, roaring, crackling fire, and sip a mug of piping hot apple cider. Tonight was no such night, the wind though blowing out of the east with enough force to toss a crumpled up pieces of paper around. The way they bounced up and down, brought to mind the cartoonish image of a tumbleweed, blowing across the vast desert.

Then I noticed half a dozen costumed people were milling around one the iron wrought tables that dotted the inner courtyard of the drive-in. The table in question was littered with plastic brown trays, that held huge hamburgers, oozing with melted sharp cheddar cheese and nestled between two, golden honey toasted hamburger buns. To the side one could mountains of fried onion rings, golden brown crunchy and mounds of jumbo crinkle cut french fries. The sound of laughter and cheering filled the air as people gathered around the large, square tank that stood only a few feet from the table.

Sitting in the tank now was a girl with golden blonde hair and deep blue eyes. She was wearing, we'll do my best to describe it. It kind of reminded me of one of those knock off costumes. The dress looked like a dirndl, a type of folk dress worn by Bavarian barmaids at Oktoberfest. The more I peered at her, the more I seemed to notice that the outfit suited her. With her baby blue eyes and golden blonde hair and her well toned thighs, legs and arms. It suited her. No doubt she had a little German in her.

“Oh man!” I heard the dirndl clad girl cry out. “Why do I?! Of all people have to take a turn up here. The dunking booth fundraiser was your idea! You guys voted on it! I just handled the paperwork and signed the lease agreement. Like honesty, it should one of you guys!” She said pointing toward the table of costumed people. “That should up here!” She bellowed out again.

“Oh pipe down!” Another blonde hair girl said as she tossed a ball up in the air and caught it. “It's not like a little water going to hurt anything.”

“I thought it was that other girls turn! The new girl, the one with the odd sounding name, the kind of pagan girl. She is supposed to be up here! It's her turn anyway.” She said pouting as she watched the ball traveled through the air and smacked into the wall a mere inch above the trigger. “She is totally late!”

“Again, pipe down brat.” The blonde hair girl as she reached down and picked up another yellow tennis ball. I had just noticed there was a large, white, plastic laundry basket sitting beside the throw line. Inside the basket one could see at least thirty or maybe forty white and white tennis balls. Leaning against the basket was a flat piece of cardboard. A piece of paper had been glued to the cardboard, written upon the piece of paper was the following text. 'The tennis balls have been provided by Potter Mercantile, be sure to check us out for our old fashion services and down home bargains! - The Potter Family' the text was written in big bold letters.

“It's still not fair! And this tank is so tall! Like, it's nothing compared to the one at school or the one the town rents for the Discover Benton Festival” She said blushing as she looked down at the water. Then it happen, while the girl had been looking down at the other girl had tossed the ball toward the target and scored a bullseye. The seat holding up the girl gave way and she fell into the tank. It was over in a blink of an eye, but in my mind it seemed to last for ever. Everything seemed to slow down, the seat slowly gave way, and for a brief period of time, several seconds at least she hovered above the water before gravity took over and pulled her down.

“You little brat!” Bellowed the blonde hair girl as she started to climb out of the tank.

“It's freaking freezing in there! I'm going to catch my death of a cold, all because of some dumb idea you and you're friends thought up!”

“Hey Lil!” Shouted another girl from around the table. “Looking cute! Now touch the bottom and give us a good show!” The girl shouted as she raised her paper cup up as if offering a toast to the girl who had just been dunked.

“Hey? I'm sorry I'm late,” I said as I walked up to the girl who just tossed the ball. I tapped her on the shoulder and the girl spun around and offered me a little smile. I then noticed for the first time she had a neon pink bath towel wrapped around her and her blonde hair was dripping wet.

“Hey, no problem there. My older sister Lily was just taking a turn in the dunking booth. I totally forgot to include contact information on the slip I wrote up, so we had no way of contacting you or anything. We all kind of figured you might have gotten cold feet or something. I mean, you are Cerridwen right? Cerridwen Whitethorn?” She asked as she nodded her head toward the girl who had climbed up and returned to the seat.

“Yes that me,” I said as I peered toward the girl sitting in the tank. “And that must be your older sister, Lily right? Lily Potter? The girl who is the co-owner and manager of the 'Sweet Magnolia' and then you Jamie Sarah Potter the school's 'Princess'.” I said taking an educated guess and who I was talking too. If I was correct, I had climbed up the social ladder of the school to talk to two of the leading students of Benton Academy. The 'Potters' were ranked among the finest and oldest families of Benton. It was also rumored that the town had once been named after one of there ancestors that being the fabled 'Hannah Sarah Potter' who had married the first mayor of the tiny river settlement of 'Hannah's Landing' the first name given to tiny collection of cabins, stores and scant few churches that would become the modest township of Benton. The girl blushed then laughed a little as she shrugged her shoulder.

“I guess, I don't really consider myself the 'Princess' of the school. I'm just like a girl that became popular because of some dumb tradition.” She said smiling as she offered me her hand. “Anyway, its nice to meet you Cerridwen. If you want, you want, why don't you try your luck and dunk Lily before its your turn? She has like six or seven minutes before her shifts up.” Jamie said with a small smile. “We kind of thought you were going to bail on us, so Lily.” She said with a grin a mile long, “Volunteered to take your thirty minute shift. But since you're here, you can take the next shift.”

“Volunteered my bottom!” Cried Lily from the tank. “You brats forced me up here! And like those twig arms on that girl could even throw! I mean just look at her, she likes a little twig. And pale as the moon too boot! So, what you think little girl! Got what it takes to dunk me!”

I blinked and turned toward Jamie who passed me a ball, I took the ball and smiled as I stepped toward the throwing line. Taking a deep breath, I locked eyes with Lily who just grinned at me. I was going to knock that grin off her face, by sending that loud mouth girl straight into the tank All eyes had focused in on me now. I took a deep breath, gripped the ball nice and tight and locked eyes with the target, then funneling all my focus into the ball, I tossed it. The ball sailed through the air and smacked hard into the trigger. The grin on Lily's face vanished as she seat gave way and she dropped like a stone into the vat of freezing cold water below her.

For a solid minute, I watched her splash around the tank. Then finally gathering her wits, she climbed over the edge. Her blonde hair hung down like many golden strings as she looked over her shoulder and gave me a fearsome pout as she pressed the seat back up and once more climbed up.

“Okay! So you got lucky!” She called out as she climbed over the tank and eased onto the seat. She then peered toward me and gave me a wicked little grin. She then smoothed out her soaking wet skirt and tossed her collection of messy soaking wet hair behind her shoulders. Then in a haughty tone of voice she called out. “Why don't you give it another go. You know, dunk me again, so we can't chalk that first one up to beginners luck!”

I blinked and blinked again as Jamie once more handed me a yellow and white tennis ball. She smiled and then stepped aside. I took another deep breath, once more focused my mind and once more tossed the ball toward the target. And then much to my amazement my toss hit the target and mashed it in. Once more I saw the seat holding Lily up give way, dropping her like a stone into the ice cold water below. A girlish yell filled the air as she dropped a second time. Another roaring cheer of approval filled the air from the nearby table Lily dropped into the water.

Lily, blushing like a bride at the altar took a deep breath, pushed the seat back into place and climbed out of the tank. Once she was firmly on the ground somebody walked up and handed her an extra large towel. Lily thanked them and then wrapped the towel around her shivering shoulders. She then offered me a small smile as she made her way toward the table.

“Okay girl!” Jamie said as she placed her hands on my shoulder. “Its your turn.”
I nodded my head and took a deep breath as I started to move toward the tank.With each step I took, I tried to make my skirt swish back and forth. I was fully aware that all eyes where trained on me, that I was now the center of attention and that thought made me blush. But I must confess, I loved that feeling, it was a new and welcoming felling.