Not Going to the Fair

It’s become some sort of a tradition that really has nothing to do with our work. I mean, how educational is a trip to the Fair? What fun is it to see drunken guys slouched over tables, their pants wet with pee? The apathy on the faces of the people in charge of the games and rides? The complete lack of emotion when they hand you your plastic cheaper-than-cheap prize you won shooting blanks? The stink of stale beer, urine, unwashed bodies and cotton candy? Still, there is an undeniable appeal to it that makes me go year after year. Not that I’ll ever get into any of those scary rides without safety precautions. Not even the mini Ferris Wheel, despite my awe for the monstrous arms of the guy who turns the wheel manually! The colours (Pink! Orange! Yellow! Turquoise!) are just amazing and the not-so anatomically-correct “hot ladies” painted on the signs to attract the audience are almost too beautiful to be true… I LOVE the Fair that visits Copán every year. And in order not to make a fool of myself wandering around with my mouth half open in blissful wonder, I always bring along a bunch of kids. I invite them as “part of the scholarship” they receive from us, just to justify the whole thing. And truth is, the Fair is even better if you take some rascals who thoroughly enjoy risking a whiplash in the bumper cars, overdosing themselves on artificial colorants or getting dizzy and even a little scared on the Ferris Wheel.
But this year we never went. Josué, a kid with the greatest smile and cutest dimples in his cheeks who comes by our office everyday just to say hello, has been one of the lucky few always invited to the Fair. It was him who asked me weeks ago if were going again this year. "We’ll see,” I said. But then we were busy painting out of town, we took a day off, we’re doing tons of other stuff and before I knew it, the Fair was over and the grounds were abandoned but for layers of litter.
On Monday morning, after the festival of Copán was over for the year, Josué came by and hung around my desk, not looking as radiant as usual. It was only when I saw him that I realized we had missed our yearly excursion.
“We never went to the Fair, did we?” I said.
Josué was very quiet. After a while he asked:
“So you didn’t go to the Fair either?”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Oh.” Josué was deadly quiet for a while. Then he said with a trembling lip. “I thought you went without us…”
Oh my God, what had I done!
“Of course not,” I assured him and it wasn’t until I solemnly swore, my right hand raised, the other one over my heart, that I would never EVER go to the Fair without inviting Josué, that the smile reappeared back on his face.
Oof…
So next year you’ll see me at the Fair again…
Carin Steen
Foto: Fair 2009, Josué in the middle