The Photo Booth
When Jack and Winnie first got the invitation for the annual beachside Tide Festival, they were ecstatic. Just imagine the amount of chowlings that they could prank there! When they found out that the festival goers would be supplying the decorations themselves, their excitement grew tenfold. Ideas raced through their devilish little minds about how they could cause a ruckus, but not one so big or cruel that they would be asked to leaveㅡor worse, investigated.
“What if we set up a dunk tank that never works no matter how hard you hit the target?” Asked Winnie.
“Innovative, but ultimately simple. Others would realize it's rigged way too quickly and our fun would be ruined.” Jack replied. “How about a cake walk? Winners hardly ever eat their prize immediately, so we could fill them with something weird and they would only find out long after the festival is over!” Winnie thought about it for a moment, but then shook her head.
“That’s creative. But what would we put in it? If we put something gross, it would just get thrown out after one bite. We could put something alive, like spiders or bugs, but it’d be difficult to engineer the cake to hold them properly. Plus, I wouldn’t want all those little critters to get hurt.” She reasoned. Jack sighed a little.
“You’re right… I’m just not sure what else to do.” They both went quiet for a minute or two, each racking their brain for the perfect prank. All of sudden, Winnie’s face lit up.
“What about a haunted photo booth?! I’m sure we could convince some of the ghosts from the carnival to help. We could buy an old machine off of somebody, restore it up all nicely, and let people use it for free. Whenever someone is in the booth, the ghosts can take turns revealing themselves right as the pictures get taken and freak out whoever is inside! When they go to collect their photos, though, everyone will just see their own dumb faces shrieking at nothing! It’s the perfect plan!” As Winnie finished explaining the details of her idea, she and Jack erupted into laughter. They had to fight to get themselves back under control and continue planning.
“That is so perfect. We can even bring the machine back to the park and make it a year round thing!” Jack paused for a moment, “However, it’ll catch on quickly that the thing is haunted, so we’ll tell the ghosts to only pop up occasionally. That way, it’ll become a whole ‘no-I-swear-it’s-haunted-look-I-have-the-picture-to-prove-it-ohhhh’ thing!” The two siblings were grinning diabolically at each other. They only talked for a short while longer before each setting off to find the supplies they’d need to carry out their master plan. The idea was perfect; they could spend the entire festival laughing themselves into a stupor over all of the chowlings that ran out of the booth screaming bloody murder, and they wouldn’t even be able to be held responsible for any of it. Both of them agreed that the Tide Festival couldn’t come fast enough.