Jane took a deep breath as she peered toward the three hundred gallon tank that was slowly being filled with water. She was starting to have second thoughts about volunteering for the dunking booth now. As she released her breath she did her best to push those thoughts away from her. It was after all too late to back out now. And so with a growing sense of uneasiness she watched as the last few gallons of water were pumped into the tank. Once the tank had been filled to the brim, a few of the men filling the tank walked over to their pickup truck, they returned a few minutes later, each one of them toting a big two big twenty pound bags of ice in there big meaty hands. Then in a nonchalant manner the men ripped the at the clear, plastic bags of ice and dumped several pound of small cubes into the pool. Much to Jane's horror!

“Hey.” A voice behind Jane called out. “We gotta give the people what they paid for. The waters too warm and the ice would melt soon enough. I mean, the water in the dunking booth is suppose to be cold after all. It's really suppose to be freezing. But, we do what we must.” The voice belonged to a woman who stood a little taller than Jane, she had flaming red hair and emerald green eyes. She was dressed in a blue and white windbreaker. Her name was Margaret Rose Fisher or Coach Fisher. She was the coach for the girls Jr. High School's Swim team the 'Mermaids' and she also happened to be the girls. P.E teacher.

“Hey you're the one who volunteered for this thing. And just so you know, I'm cool with the whole you know thing. And if you want to try out for the team this year, your more than welcome.” She said smiling softy, “I mean, I know your older sister Susan's going to try out. And I know I gave her a hard time with her badge, and I know I kind of seemed mean by making her redo a lot of the work. But the girl has talent, you know, she just needs to get her bottom in gear, you have talent too.” She said, smirking, “And your a cutie too.” She added quickly as a afterthought.

Jane felt her cheeks turning a deep red as Coach Fisher praised her. At this point the last twenty pound bag of ice was just being emptied into the tank. Transforming the dunking booth into what must have been the largest glass of water Jane had ever seen before. Still blush she watched as the hose was collected and the six helpers collected there gear.

“So Jane-Chan.” Coach Fisher said smirking as she folded her arms across her chest as she peered toward the gathering crowds. Dozen of overly eager boys were starting to gather around the wooden counter, many of them already hand a handful of one pound bills already clutched in their hand. For the the last few days, a rumor had been going around the schoolyard that a cute, new transfer student had volunteered to be a willing target in the dunking booth. This rumor of course had been flamed and fueld by the girls of the manor house.

“Yes Fisher-Sensie.” Jane said smiling softy as she folded her arms in her center and shifted her gaze toward the still damp ground.

“I think you need to go ahead and climb up there. We're going to open the booth in a few minutes and we need the star of of the show to be up there. Remember, a bit of playful flirting goes a along away with getting the boys to throw at you. But don't overdo it now.”

Jane blinked and quickly blinked again as she peered toward Coach Fisher. Giving a quick shake of her head and a roll of her eyes she walked behind the tank and took a deep breath as she placed her foot upon the first rung of the the old iron ladder. As soon as she released her breath she started to climb the ladder.

After a few second of climbing she reached the top, then gathering up her courage she started to climb onto the drop seat. Once she was seated she started to move toward the edge of the seat. Her feet danged a good three feet from the surface of the water.

“Okay Jane-Chan, remember you gotta sit like a prime and proper lady. That means you gotta bring your feet together, and you gotta place those hands on your lap and straighten you back and stick out your chest a little.”

Jane blushed and quickly she brought her feet together, and placed her hands down on her lap. Her toes curled a little as if protesting being so close to the freezing cold water. She then gave a small, demure smile. She could feel the blush forming on her cheeks, the blush was spreading from one cheek to the other.

“Okay that perfect!” Coach Fisher cried out. “Hold that pose. Because that a perfect pose. I'll even for as far as to say that pose is picture perfect. Totally going to make the front page of Saturday's paper looking like that.” She said as she turned away.

And so Jane sat there, hands folded at her lap, feet brought together, toes curled up. She could see the whole fairground from her perch high above the dunking booth. A steady stream of people were passing through the front gate and into this gaudy money making machine. That is what Jane would have called it this fair, a gaudy money making machine. Beside the dunking booth there was a “Pitch til you win” A side game were one paid a quid and then was rewarded with three balls, one then had a chance to knock down a pyramid of old milk bottles. If one successfully knocked down the pyramid of milk bottles one was reward with a small stuff toy.

Then there was the “Kissing Booth” The booth where you paid five pound sterling and the local beauty princess would give you a kiss on the cheeks. Beside that booth was another one the “Pie Tossing Booth” Here one paid three pounds of sterling for the privilege of throwing a paper plate full of whipped cream at footballer player who was hiding behind a cardboard cut out of a cheerleader. Jane thought the footballers should be staffing the kissing booth and the cheerleaders doing the pie toss.

Beyond those two nothing really caught her eye, a dozen or so foot trucks were lined up against a chain length fence. The food trucks were offering the classic fair foods, such as fried codfish, fried chicken, corn dogs that had been smeared with honey, grilled pieces of chicken and beef on a stick and the classic fairground foods like hamburgers, hot dogs, you know the cheap red hot franks that smeared from one end to the other with Franks Yellow mustard and Hunts Ketchup and placed on a piece of toasted, rolled up bread and of course ice cold coke cola.

And then it was her booth, the dunking booth, often called the queen of the fairgrounds. Here a willing volunteer sat on an collapsible seat that was perched over three hundred gallons of freezing cold water. Five quid could get you three balls, and three chances to hit the metal trigger. Hit the trigger and the seat the person was sitting on would collapse and send the person crashing down into the freezing water below.

“Oh! So you really did volunteer!” A voice cried out from the crowd. The voice belonged to a brunette girl with sparkling pink eyes. The girl wore a nice, simple floral pattern dress that reached down to her knees. “Man, you are so brave, but you know, I gotta dunk you sister.” The girls said walking up to the counter and dropped down the two five pound bills.

Jane could not help but blush as she noticed her big sister Susan emerging from the crowds of people. Her blush only deepened as she walked up to the counter and dropped down two, five pound bills upon the counter top. She of course was rewarded with six, yellow and white tennis balls. From were she was sitting, Jane noticed that Susan had made something of an honest effort to dress herself up today. Instead of her normal shorts and anime graphic t-shirt she was wearing a nice, and one would almost say flattering sundress. And instead of a ponytail or a messy bun she had her hair down and she had even curled it with a curling iron.

“Oh!” Jane said, smirking a little as she peered toward her big sister. “Susie!” She cried as she peered down at the girl from her perch. “You've really cleaned up good. Like, you must be on a date or something? That or you got tired of dressing like a tomboy.” She said throwing a little shade in Susan's Direction.

Susan started to smirk as she reached down and picked up one of the tennis balls. She got a tight grip on the ball and raised it up. “You know, you're talking a lot of smack for a girl who's sitting over three hundred or so gallons of freezing cold water.” She paused as she tossed the ball up high into the air and caught it before it hit the ground.

“Oh! Be careful there sister, you don't want to break a pretty little nail do you?” She egged on in an enduring tone of voice as she watched Susan toss the ball up in the air and then catch it again before it hit the ground. She hated to admit it, but that little display of prowess had gotten her a bit worried.

Susan smirked as she drew back and let the ball fly through the air, Jane watched the ball travel through the air, a split second later she heard the ball smash into the metal trigger. Her seat gave way and she dropped like a stone into the water below her. The water was freezing cold and it quickly soaked her through and through.

“Oh that is so freaking cold!” She yelled at the top of her lungs as she bobbed up and down in the freezing cold water. “I swear to God, I'm so going to get you back for this you little brat!” She yelled as she peered toward Susan who was just standing there holding another ball at the ready!

“Oh come on now!” Jane said as she climbed out of the tank, she dripping wet. And she climbed with all the grace and skill of a soaking wet cat, she climbed out of the tank and up the ladder again and once more inched her way to the edge of the drop seat.

“I mean that was just a lucky shot. I mean really, you know even a blond hog is going to dig up an acorn once in a blue moon.” She said huffing as she folded her hands on her lap. “You gotta do it more than once. Otherwise that just counts as a lucky shot!”

Susan smirked a little and her pink eyes started to shimmer in the strong sunlight of the day. She then drew back and tossed the ball straight at the trigger. And then it happen, the ball smashed into the trigger again. Jane jumped a little and a second or two later the seat dropped, sending her back down into the freezing cold water. This time, she took her time and floated around the tank a little. She even dove down and pressed her face to the clear viewing surface. When she broke the surface of the dunking booth she noticed her older sister was standing there, laughing up a storm.

“Oh Jane, You know I love you girl?”

“And I love you too Susie. Even if your a little brat at times.” She said climbing off the ladder and back onto the seat. She was dripping wet now and the crowd around the dunking booth was growing with each passing second. Dozens and dozens of people were now surrounding the booth. All very eager to try their hand at dunking the cutie on the seat.

“Oh!” Susan said with a wink and a smirk. “I think you're becoming quite popular around these parts. Listen kiddo, I gotta run okay. I gotta meet this cute, hunk of a guy down by the petting zoo. So I'll Catch up with you a bit later.” She said, Still smirking she pulled her purse tightly around her shoulders. Once her purse was placed tightly around her shoulders, she then melted into the crowd.

The next ten or so minutes passed in a blur. True to Susan's words, Jane had indeed become quite popular, mostly because of the rumor going around the fairground that that the new mysteries transfer student had volunteered to be in the dunking booth. There was also another rumor going the school as well, that the brooding, cynical boy had bad been named James had up and gone loco and became a girl or something. But pushing all that aside, one thing remain clear, there was a new girl in town, all the boys wanted to see her and all the other girls wanted to check out her out too an maybe dunk her as well.

Now in those ten minutes nobody really came close to hitting the target. Instead most just dropped there pocket change into the 'Donation' bucket that rested beside the wooden counter next to the wire basket that held around twenty or so tennis balls. Most of the changed tossed into the bucket were copper pennies, but sometimes you might see a few round pieces of silver. As she watched the people pass by the the booth, Jane kind of felt herself wondering if this is what those animals at the local zoo must do every day, sit pretty and look at people passing by you.

Finally from the crowd came a woman, she was hanging on the shoulders of a tall lean man. The man had short, jet black hair and wore a light cotton, button down shirt with brown button and dust colored slacks. The woman wore a floral print sundress. The sight of the two made Jane blush harder than she had when Susan had noticed her. The woman was named Josephine and the man was named Robert, both of them were engaged to be married this coming spring. And by one of the many chances and changes of life, the woman, Josephine also happen to be Jane's Mother, who had started the adoption process a year before last and had just sighed papers a few weeks ago. So in a weird way very roundabout way, Jane was looking at her mommy and daddy.

“Hey Mommy! Hey Daddy!” Jane called from the top of her perch. A deep blush colored her cheeks as she offered the pair a little wave.

“Oh Hello kiddo.” The man said smiling a little. “I see you volunteered for the dunking booth, and by the looks of it, somebody's already dunked you a few times.” He said chuckling a little as he removed his arm from around Josephine's waist and walked toward the front counter of the booth. Smirking a little he reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a brown cowhide leather wallet. He quickly unfolded the leather wallet and pulled out a fiver. In one swift motion he placed the fiver down upon the counter and was reward with three balls.

“So who dunked you sweetie?” The woman said, walking up to the front counter of the booth. Following her future husbands example she also reached into her purse and pulled out her pocket book as well and soon she laid down her own fiver next to his.

“Susie dunked me.” Jane stated as another wave of blush washed across her cheeks. “Then she said something about having to meet a cute boy down by the petting zoo.” She added as an afterthought. And with that being said she raised her arm and pointed toward the collection of tents and fences. The wind that was blowing from that direction carried with it with it the smell of freshly cut hay, mud, dung and strange, mysterious smell that caused everyone to gag who came into contact with it.

“Maybe...” Robert said reaching up and rubbing the back of his neck with the open palm of his hand. “Maybe the people at the Children's Zoo noticed that one of their attractions were loose and decided to form a search party. Or maybe Sue developed a crush one of her keepers.”

Jane fell into a fit of giggles at the remark. Josephine on the other hand crossed her arms and gave her husband a glare that would turn any mans blood to ice. It was no secret that the staff of the house both loved and admired the headstrong tomboy who would sometimes turn princess for a day. Susan and Jane were often tick and tack, their closeness in age and their history glued them together. And so it was only right that some of the adults would often tease Sue, always in a friendly manner and always in a way that would make the girl roll her eyes, cross her arms across her chest and set her lips into a cute pout.

“Robert.” Josephine said in a trailing tone of voice. She rolled her eyes and reached down and picked up one of the three balls that had been placed down upon the counter top. She wrapped her fingers around the ball and walked toward the throw line.

“You know, as your mom, I gotta dunk you.” She said, smirking. “Just wanted you to know, I love you.” She said her smirk grew a bit.

Jane blushed and folded her hands in her lap. Her blush only grew when she noticed that her father had reached down and pulled out his new smart phone and had pressed the record button. Josephine though was loving it, she loved seeing Jane blush and wiggle around like a worm on a fisherman's hook. She allowed herself to savor this moment for a brief few seconds before she cocked her arm back and tossed the ball. The ball sailed through the air and struck the trigger. A few seconds later, Jane felt herself falling through the air. Then she splashed down, sending water over the side of the tank and soaking the ground in front of her. For a few minutes Jane floated around the bottom of the tank before breaking the surface of the water. Once she returned to the surface she offered her mother a little, crooked smile.

“Thanks mom.”

Jane was dunked a dozen more times that afternoon before her shift was over. But being dunked by her mother and sister were the only ones that really stood out. And with that another day in the life of Jane draws to a end.