Ribbon Fries

By Lux's Sister

The Coruscant County fairgrounds were abuzz with activity.

The sun was shining. The people riding the rides were screaming. The flies were buzzing over the people-choked midway. Some kid was crying because his parents wouldn't buy him cotton candy.

From her perspective near the carnival games, Ganodi could only take it all in.

"Hey, Ganodi!" her friend Zatt called. "Wanna go on the Ferris wheel with me?"

"Sorry, I'm busy!" Ganodi answered, looking nervously up at the giant ride where her friends Petro and Katooni were already in the top car. "Byph, do you want to go on the carousel with me?" she asked in an effort to get out of going on the Ferris wheel.

Byph shook his head. "I'm going with Gungi on the Death Flyer!"

Ganodi nearly had to swallow her stomach. She doubted Byph and Gungi were tall enough to go on the Death Flyer, but she knew they would try to get the attendant to look the other way.

She hung back with her chaperones, two teenagers named Lux and Saw. "Will you go on the carousel with me?"

"Sorry, Ganodi." Lux explained. "But we're here to do our volunteer hours, not to play."

"Oh," she looked at her feet.

"Here," Saw said, and handed her a game ticket. "How about you go play the ring toss or the dart throwing games until they're done riding?"

Ganodi took the ticket. "Okay. Thanks, Saw!"

She took off for the ring toss game, hoping to win a stuffed animal to take home to her parents. It would be a great souvenir for her first trip to the fair with the rest of her Cloverbud club. At six years old Ganodi was too young to be an official member of 4-H, but she could still enter as a Cloverbud. Besides the fun meetings and new friends, one big perk came with the annual trip where she and her club got to run around the fair chaperoned by two of the older members, there to work off their club dues.

She gave her ticket to the game operator, closed her eye to get a better aim, and tossed the rings. Nothing.

"Sorry, kid. Better luck next time," the operator said as he picked up the rings.

"That's okay," Ganodi said. "I'm just waiting for my friends. They should be …" she trailed off.

Petro, Zatt and Katooni weren't on the Ferris wheel. Gungi and Byph weren't on the Death Flyer.

And – Ganodi swept the scene – Lux and Saw were nowhere to be seen.

She took a deep breath. It's okay, Ganodi. It's not the end of the world. They probably just went to the bathroom after all that lemonade.

Trying to halt her trembling, Ganodi set off for the bathroom.

…

"So, where to next?"

Ahsoka Tano shrugged and took a bite of her hamburger. "It doesn't matter to me."

"Does your steer need water?" Riyo Chuchi asked, sipping at her milkshake and giving her Fair Court tiara an adjustment.

Ahsoka shook her head. "Anakin just texted me to say he gave him a refill. Everything's fine."

"What about Pantora?" Barriss asked between bites of the spring rolls she had purchased from a vendor. She claimed it was the healthiest option the fair offered.

Riyo nodded. "I need to feed him soon. What about you, Steela?"

Steela swallowed her wolfish gulp of pork-a-lean. "I probably should check on mine soon. He's had enough time to rest after the showing."

"Then it's settled," Barriss announced. "After we're done eating we'll go to the rabbit hutch for Riyo's rabbit, and then to the stables for -."

"Ahsoka!"

A tiny blur shot past the other three girls and plastered itself to Ahsoka like Gumby.

Riyo raised an eyebrow. "Ahsoka, who is this?"

Ahsoka looked at the person newly attached to her waist. "It's my neighbor. Ganodi, what are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be with your club?"

"I am!" Ganodi hiccupped. "Saw gave me a ticket to play the ring toss and when I turned around, everyone was gone."

"Did you say Saw? Saw Gerrera?" Steela asked. Ganodi nodded.

"Did Saw have something to do with this?" Barriss asked.

Steela groaned. "Our family did trash pick-up to work off the club dues and Saw skipped, but our advisor noticed he wasn't there. Now he and Lux are watching a bunch of Cloverbuds to meet their community service requirement, and apparently they're not doing a very good job."

"Why don't you call him?" Barriss suggested. "But for now, don't you have to feed your rabbit, Riyo?"

Riyo got the memo. "I do," she said, holding out her hand. "Ganodi, would you like to hold my rabbit? He's very soft."

Ganodi considered.

"His name is Pantora," Riyo added, and decided to sweeten the deal. "While we're over there, we can see Barriss' goat and Steela's horse."

"Okay," Ganodi took her hand. "I'd like that."

"Awesome," Ahsoka said, and took out her phone to contact the wayward Lux and Saw.

…

"What's her name?" Ganodi asked, studying the goat in the pen.

"Cody Jr," Barriss explained. "I named her after the friend who owns her mother. I assisted with the birth when there was trouble, and he gave me Cody Jr. in exchange."

"Barriss is a medical genius." Ahsoka said proudly. "If it's hurt of sick she can fix it, human or animal. Medical schools are already fighting over her."

"Cool! You helped when she was born?" Ganodi asked.

"In so many words, yes." Barriss clipped the leash around Cody Jr's neck. "It's high time she gets some exercise. Want to come along?"

Ganodi nodded and followed Barriss and the goat to the small obstacle course set up next to the barn. With a few gentle cues from Barriss, Cody Jr snaked her way through a series of cones and jumped atop an overturned five-gallon bucket.

"She's like a dog."

"Goats are very intelligent animals," Barriss replied, cuing Cody Jr to dismount from the bucket. "They can be trained to do tricks, just like dogs. Cody was a bit stubborner, but once we started training regularly she proved to be a quick learner. My mother helped me choreograph her routine; all I have to do is say 'run', and -."

Just then Cody Jr gave an almighty tug and burst from the course. Her leash tore through Barriss' hands before her owner could realize she'd commanded Cody Jr to run, and she was off.

At first Barriss was frozen in place. She could only watch as the goat ran down the midway.

But quickly as the spell took effect, it was broken. "Cody!" Barriss cried, scrambled to her feet, and ran after the goat.

Ahsoka and Steela were way ahead of her, literally. They tore through the crowd, yelling "Stop that goat!" every two seconds.

"What are we going to do?" Ganodi fretted.

Riyo knew what she wasn't going to do. She wasn't going to run after Cody Two at this point; they'd never catch her.

And then she saw it: a volunteer golf cart.

These public courtesy carts choked the fairgrounds, offering rides to those in need. And, well, right now Riyo was in need. She grabbed Ganodi, powered over to the cart, and sat down in the backseat. "Down the midway!"

The driver and his partner scoffed. "This cart is for the elderly, kid. It's against the rules for you to use it."

Riyo merely pointed to the funnel cake on the dashboard. You know, the funnel cake that drivers aren't allowed to eat while on the job.

"Drive," she ordered.

Meanwhile, Ahsoka and Steela huffed and puffed as they ran down the midway.

"I'm going to cut her off at the gate!" Steela panted and ran off toward the exit.

Barriss finally caught up to Ahsoka, scanning the crowd wild-eyed for her goat. "Do you see her? We're so close to the gate!"

"Steela's going to block it." Ahsoka puffed. "Do you see her?"

"Yes!" Barriss cried. "She's coming up on the beef barn!"

Another 4-Her named Jinx chose that exact moment to lean out of the window of the 4-H run milkshake barn and yell "Hey Ahsoka, you need a milkshake!"

Ahsoka didn't bother with shooting a dirty look at Jinx. She was too busy trying to catch the goat that she could see, but kept itself tantalizingly out of reach.

"Stop that goat!"

The girls' yelling had started to attract the attention of some of the other fairgoers, namely two of them. Obi-Wan Kenobi and his wife Satine were sitting in front of the beef barn, sipping on the milkshakes Jinx had heckled them into buying.

"Obi, is that a loose goat?" Satine gawked.

Obi-Wan blinked, then quickly handed his milkshake to Satine. Quick as spit, he raced into the midway and grabbed Cody Jr's leash, digging his heels into the midway to gain some traction.

"Woah!" he ordered, yanking hard.

And just like that, Cody stopped. Maybe she was too tired to run any farther. Maybe she realized that Obi-Wan was in control. Maybe she just lost interest.

But Barriss couldn't care less what her goat's reasons were. She ran up to Obi-Wan and gratefully took the leash from his hands. "Thank you so much, Mr. Kenobi. I don't know what I would have done."

"It's all right, Barriss. Do you need any help taking her back to the barn?"

"No, I'm all right," Barriss panted and double-checked Cody's leash just as Riyo and Ganodi's volunteer golf cart rolled onto the scene.

"You got her!" Ganodi cheered.

"Thanks to Mr. Kenobi," Barriss thanked him once more, then tugged at Cody's leash. "Come on, Cody. You've had enough exercise for now."

Riyo smiled to Ganodi, still sitting in the golf cart with the funnel cake-eating drivers.

"When this is over, we can go see Steela's horse," she whispered.

…

"Wow," Ganodi gaped, staring at Steela's chestnut horse. "He's beautiful."

"Do you want to pet him? He loves people." Steela led Ganodi into the stall and spoke lovingly to her gelding while showing Katooni the correct way to pet him.

"Hey, he's looking at you." She pointed out. "See, he points his ears at whatever he's looking at."

"I've never touched a horse before." Ganodi said in awe.

"Well, this is a very good one to start with. Steela won first place with him yesterday." Riyo said and looked up to Steela's name plaque for the evidence. "Steela, did you put your ribbon in your show box?"

Steela craned her neck. "No…"

Ahsoka cleared her throat and pointed. "I think I just found it."

Everyone followed her finger. Sure enough, there was Steela's blue ribbon. And it was clipped to a plaque reading SANJAY.

Immediately, Steela checked her horse. Thank God, there didn't seem to be any marks on him and his food and water were okay. That left the next task. "Hang on," she growled, brought Ganodi out of the stall, and sauntered down the aisle to where Sanjay Rash leaned against the wall eating taffy apples.

"Hey Sanjay, I think you accidentally grabbed the wrong ribbon."

Sanjay chomped the apple. "No, they're hung correctly."

"No, they're not." Steela argued. Normally she would have simply switched the ribbons back without incident, but this was the last straw. First place meant premium money that she needed, and without a ribbon she couldn't prove it. "My ribbon is hanging on your plaque. I won that; it was clipped to my saddle during judging. My name is on the back of it. I want it back."

Sanjay rolled his eyes. "Here's the deal, Steela. The only reason my Mr. Dendup let you show that horse instead of giving him to me is because he's friends with Tandin. And everyone knows the only reason Tandin takes care of you is because the government pays him to do it."

Ahsoka, Barriss, and Riyo all sucked in breath. Nobody got away with insulting Steela's loving foster father. Nobody. And anyway, what grounds did Sanjay have to base that on? Tandin was probably the kindest and most attentive foster parent in the world, besides Anakin of course.

But Sanjay, oblivious to the mortal danger he'd just put himself in, continued. "That horse should be mine, and since he won the ribbon, it's mine too." With that he grabbed the front of Steela's shirt in his fist.

"Sanjay, let me go." Steela ordered, instinctively grabbing his wrist.

"Or what?" Sanjay sneered and pulled her close. "Keep out of my way, or your ribbon won't be the only thing that's blue. Maybe I should show you what I mean."

Steela balled her fist. "A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do…"

THWAP!

"OW!"

Sanjay released Steela's shirt and wheeled backward, holding his nose. "Assault! Assault!"

"No, you're mean! She was protecting herself." Ganodi yelled.

Sanjay stared at her and at Steela like they were nuts. "She broke my nose!"

Barriss gave his face a cursory examination, then pinched the bridge of his nose and tilted his head back. "It's only bruised."

Ahsoka clipped Steela's ribbon back to its rightful place on her name plaque. "Sanjay, isn't it time for your club to work at the milkshake barn?"

It wasn't, but Sanjay gave her a dirty look, chucked his taffy apple at Steela, and stalked away.

"Did he mess with your horse?" Ahsoka asked. If Sanjay had dared to harm Steela's beloved gelding and insulted the foster dad she practically worshipped, then Ahsoka wouldn't be able to stop her from murdering him. Heck, she might even help her.

But Steela shook her head. "Sanjay's a lot of things, but he doesn't hurt horses. Come on Ganodi, let's go see Riyo's rabbit."

…

"Now this I like!" Ganodi said, holding Riyo's rabbit on her lap. "No running goats, no mean guys, and he's so cute!"

Riyo fished a few treats from her pocket and fed them to the rabbit. "His name is Pantora, if you'd like to know."

Ganodi smiled and stroked Pantora's fur. "Hi Pantora. I'm Ganodi."

"Now that we don't have anything to worry about let's concentrate on finding your club. They have to notice you're missing now." Barriss suggested. "Ahsoka? Steela? Will you call the chaperones?"

"I texted Lux when we first found her, but -."

"Hey, there she is! And she has a bunny!"

"Ganodi, where were you? We're been looking for you all over the fair."

Katooni, Petro, Zatt, Byph, and Gungi poured into the barn and around Ganodi, followed by a very relieved-looking Lux and Saw.

"Ganodi! What were you thinking, running away from us?" Lux demanded.

"Lux, you're in so much trouble I didn't even think it was possible," Ahsoka informed him.

Lux swallowed. "Ahsoka, I swear it was an accident. Saw and I turned around for one second to help the kids on the ride and when we turned around, she was gone."

On the surface it was a good excuse. But no lie could pass the BS detectors of Ahsoka Tano and her rather acute sense of smell. When Lux closed ranks with the rest of the kids who were petting Pantora, she sniffed him and announced "I smell ribbon fries."

The illusion of any competence on Lux and Saw's part popped like a soap bubble.

Saw stammered. "I-it isn't like that!"

"Not a word, Saw." Steela threatened, holding her phone. "All I have to do is press SEND, and Tandin knows everything. First you ditched the trash pickup, now you lost one of your Cloverbuds for ribbon fries?"

Ahsoka started to say something, but one look from Riyo snapped her mouth shut. She would give Lux a hard time for this later, but right now it was her friend's moment to vent her frustration.

Riyo checked to make sure the Cloverbuds were still occupied petting Pantora, then drew herself up to her full height. "Did you really lose a Cloverbud over food?" she demanded. "Saw, Lux, I thought you had better common sense than this! When did you notice she was gone?"

Zatt spoke up before his chaperones could answer. "They realized they had an extra voucher when we went to the milkshake barn."

The rides and the milkshakes were on opposite ends of the fairgrounds.

Riyo breathed in for a count of ten, and then out. "You made it all the way from the rides to the milkshake barn without noticing you were missing her?"

Saw and Lux wisely chose not to say anything while Riyo dressed them down about everything from losing Ganodi in the first place ("Is it really so difficult to count to six?") to violating the very principles of the 4-H pledge. ("'I pledge my hands to larger service'? More like 'I pledge my hands to eating ribbon fries'!").

Back with the rabbit, Byph pulled on Barriss' sleeve. "Is she going to keep yelling at them forever?"

"Riyo makes her points quickly, and with force." Barriss informed him. "Why don't we keep out of her way and pet the rabbit?"

But the lecture went on, and would have continued had Ahsoka's cell phone not rung and she stepped aside to answer.

"Hello?"

"Ahsoka, where are you? We're on deck!" Her foster mother Padme cried.

Ahsoka froze.

"What?"

"Have you been listening to the loudspeaker?" Padme demanded. "Ahsoka, you're going next for judging. Anakin has your steer and your show stick in the holding arena, and I checked for you at the picnic tables and you weren't there! You need to get here immediately!"

"Ahsoka, is something up?" Lux asked, craning his neck past Riyo.

Ahsoka jumped to her feet, still on the phone with Padme. "I'm coming!" she yelled and hung up. "Guys, I missed the loudspeaker announcement and I'm being judged next!"

Riyo grabbed Pantora from Ganodi's hands and plopped him back in his cage. "I'll flag you a golf cart. Ladies, let's go!"

"We all can't fit on the golf cart," Gungi pointed out.

"Lux and Saw will take you to the show arena, and they won't lose any of you this time." Barriss answered, giving the chaperones a fierce side-eye. "Steela, find a sheriff-run golf cart. Maybe they'll take us if they work with Tandin."

"Forget Tandin's coworkers," Riyo said and waved down the nearest passing golf cart. "Hey! Stop!"

It was the cart belonging to the funnel-cake eating sheriffs, who currently had two lemonades in their cupholders. They slammed on the brakes.

"Get us to the beef show arena and the sheriff might not hear about this," Riyo demanded, waving her hand toward the lemonades as her friends piled onto the cart. "Hurry! She's going to show next."

…

"Where have you been?" Anakin demanded and Ahsoka climbed the fence of the holding arena and speed-walked over to take her steer from him.

"We found a lost Cloverbud," Ahsoka panted, taking her steer's halter. "But hey, I made it. No one knows a difference that you took him to the holding arena."

"True," Anakin admitted and let himself out through the side gate. "Remember to look at the judge, keep his head up -."

"And get him into position as soon as we stop moving. I know, Skyguy." Ahsoka smiled first at him, then at her steer. "All right, Artoo. Let's impress this judge."

The rest of the girls filed into the bleachers surrounding the show arena, making sure they had a good seat.

"Ahsoka's in the back with Artoo. She made it," Barriss informed them.

"Thank goodness," Riyo leaned back as much as possible on a bleacher. "Ahsoka made it here on time, Cody Jr. is secured, Sanjay is in his place, and Ganodi is back with her club. I think we deserve a break after all this excitement."

"Excitement?" Asked a voice from behind them.

Riyo turned her head. Obi-Wan Kenobi, the man who had caught Barriss' goat, and Steela's foster father Tandin sat perched a few bleachers above them.

"We had to help a lost child, Mr. Kenobi," Riyo explained, covering beautifully for Lux and Saw. "It's all right now; she found the rest of her group."

"That's good," Obi-Wan said. "Barriss, how is your goat?"

"She's safe in her pen, thanks to you," Barriss said. "Thank you again Mr. Kenobi. I don't know how we would have caught her without you."

Tandin cleared his throat. "Steela, I ran into Sanjay Rash at the milkshake barn a few minutes ago. He didn't seem very happy," he said, holding out his hand expectantly.

Steela gulped as Tandin gently took her wrist in his hand and examined her knuckles, which were starting to turn red.

"Next time aim for the groin, not the nose." He advised, grumbling something about Sanjay and an inability to reproduce.

But the drama of the hours past was soon to evaporate: the judge announced the entrance of Ahsoka's group, and her friends directed their attention to the show ring to cheer her and Artoo on.

…

"And then we got to pet a rabbit, and Lux and Saw said they would get me anything I wanted if I didn't tell anybody, and I said I wanted a goldfish!" Ganodi told her parents, admiring her goldfish in the backseat of the car.

"They did?" her mom asked, trying to decide whether Ganodi was making up stories or not. The chaperones had insisted that Ganodi won the fish while playing the ring toss, but their charges had giggled the whole time. Still, an afternoon of getting left behind, chasing a runaway goat, watching a girl fight a bully, and madly racing to the beef show arena seemed far-fetched to say the least.

"Yeah," Ganodi said, glancing out the window at the passing fairgrounds.

Her father decided to change the subject. "That's a nice fish, Ganodi. I'll help you put him in a bowl when we get home. What are you going to name him?"

"Ribbon Fries," Ganodi said, lifting the plastic bag so the fish was at her eye level.

"I'm gonna name him Ribbon Fries."

With the end of county fair season upon us, I just wanted to get this out to celebrate another year. Congratulations to everyone in 4-H this year for a job well done!

If you don't know what 4-H is, it is a youth organization which is very popular throughout the Midwestern United States. Kids complete projects, a majority of which involve raising a livestock animal and then showing it at their local fair. At the end of the fair the animals are auctioned off to teach the kids a lesson in money management. It was a big part of my life when I was younger, and I figured that some of our favorite characters would also enjoy it in their youth.

A quick glossary of terms for those who might not know them:

Cloverbud: a member of 4-H who is five to eight years old. Cloverbuds do not do projects or compete in the fair, they instead have group activities (like crafts) during meetings.

Club: A group of 4-Hers who meet to do community service and help each other with projects. Clubs charge dues which can be worked off by volunteering.

Premium: Money given to a 4-H'er for their work on the project, sponsored by local businesses and individual farmers. Premiums vary depending on the type and quality of the animal. (A premium for a prize-winning horse like Steela's would be substantial.)

4-H Pledge: A four-line pledge meant to direct 4-H activities: "I pledge my head to clearer thinking, my heart to greater loyalty, my hands to larger service, my health to better living."

Until next time,

LS