Going To The Fair

Fair  Episode 1

High on the tallest building in the center of a small city sat a little blue bird. From up here on this edifice of glass and steel the city could be seen stretched out for miles around. The bird wasn't high up enough for the people to look like the size of ants, but they were too far down to see faces. But the little blue bird seemed happy to spend this short rest up here on this bright sunny day tweeting its happy little song with no care for the sights and sounds coming from all around in the city below.

Suddenly the little bird leaped off the top of the small skyscraper and flew to the southwest across the city. It zoomed above seemingly endless rows of more buildings of glass and steel. Each one had its own unique, but still angular shape. There were also wider open places between the buildings in the city with statues that the bird was happy to ignore. It's destination was beyond this silvery city.

As the little blue bird flew on, the number of buildings began to diminish, replaced with smaller structures in some places, and just empty fields in others. The roads turned from concrete to gravel to dirt. The bird began to fly a little lower above one road, following it out of the city. There were four human figures walking along the road in the opposite direction. The bird swooped down toward them for a closer look before it flew off into the distant countryside.

Four young men who still had the look of boys were walking side by side towards the city. Each one had a wide eyed look of wonder on his face, especially when looking at the city. One of them, a young man named Riley, looked over to another and said, "Wow! That bird sure was in a hurry. Maybe we should get moving too. Do you think the fair will be everything they all say, Eric?"

Eric turned and said, "I hope so, but most people exaggerate. We might be just a little disappointed, but I'm sure it'll still be good. Remember though that we should try to act like this isn't our first time in the city. We were already told that some people might try and take advantage of us. Well, I don't have to tell you guys. I guess I'm just trying to reassure myself. Right, Sam?"

Sam was the smallest of the four, and he usually stuck close to Eric for protection. Other people tended to pick on Sam because of his small size. He could handle himself sometimes, but his three friends, especially Eric, were better protection than just himself. "Uh, yeah. That sure is a pretty big city though," said Sam in a shaky voice. "I bet there are a lot of people there."

"There are a lot of bigger cities than this one," bragged the fourth young man, Will. "I've heard this is just a hick city that barely registers on the map! Hah! We only graduated a week ago, and we'll own this place before it's time to go back home! I'll be king of the summer fair! What do ya think of that?"

The boys all laughed as they continued their trek towards the city. As they got closer they began to hear the commotion of crowds of people and the sounds of happy music. That last bit was coming from the summer fair that the city held every year. The fair was a way to give everyone a break from the hard work of the rest of the year. Every year people came to the fair from all over the countryside. These particular young men, who were still really just boys, didn't know yet that maybe they weren't really ready for the fair.