Chapter Twenty-One
Chloe kept moving, her eyes peeled for just the right prize that she wanted that night, other than Clark. She purposely prevented Clark from both playing the games that Pete chose: shooting basketballs at a warped rim at one booth and filling a balloon with water shot from a pistol at another one. Much to Pete's chagrin, he failed at his attempts to win a prize for Erica.
"Ooo! There!" Chloe screamed and let go of Clark's hand. Clark was amazed that she ran without a 'meteor freak' in sight. She scampered the last eight feet to the "Firestorm Toss" game booth. He saw why: the prizes were plush teddy bears, ranging in size from the smallest the size of a 'Beanie Baby' to an enormous plushie about the size of Chloe herself. "You said you'd win me a teddie bear," Chloe reminded Clark with a big grin.
"What?" Clark said and smiled; he knew full well that he wrote the night before in their AOL chatroom that he was going win her a prize. What he didn't know was that Chloe was actually referring to him as the big stuffed bear.
"Yup Bro, you did," Pete said, patted Clark on the back; he was also in the chat room.
"Ahem," Erica coughed-spoke.
"And I promised Erica, too," Pete added.
"Among other things," She said back.
"Really?" Chloe saddled close to her. "Tell!" They whispered and giggled and they walked to the booth.
"The object of this game is ta knock down a pyramid of glass bottles you see before with this mushy softball," Joe the carny droned on loudly to passer-by in a bored southern twang. He sparked up when he saw Chloe and Erica approach. He scratched where his cropped Bob Segar tour tee-shirt exposed his stomach. "Well, hellllllo, lil' ladies."
"No," Chloe said simply. "We have boyfriends."
"Daaaaang!" Joe said. "Well, get them to knock down all 3 bottles and you get a bear." He waved a little bear with "Carnival 2000" embroidered on the stomach at the girls. "It's harder than it looks. The bottles are 6 looong feet away." He shook his long mullet and wiped his scraggly mustache with one finger looking at the girls. Chloe and Erica just laughed him.
"Step on up and win your chickies a prize." Joe got serious when he saw Clark and Pete, and their muscular builds. "To get the bigger bears, you guys hafta knock them all down with every ball." Clark looked at Chloe and she smiled and pointed at the biggest bear. "The lil' lady likes the big ones."
"You know it," Chloe said.
"I guess you like the little ones," Joe said to Erica. Pete slammed his $3 dollars for 3 balls into Joe's hand. "Daaaaaang! Hit the bottles, not my hand." After Joe gave Pete a basket with 3 red balls with flames painted on them, Chloe looked at Clark and nodded. Clark bought 3 balls (Joe gave him a basket filled with blue balls), too, and lined up next to Pete and eyed the bottles.
"Win my teddie!" Chloe said, and remembered what she saw on a baseball telecast. She patted Clark on the butt.
"Eep!" Clark jumped and spilled a couple of balls from the basket. "Chloe!"
"Hey...don't distract him," Pete said. "How's he gunna get your prize?"
"Oh yeah," Chloe said and quickly hefted Clark's blue balls back into the container.
"Win me my teddie, too!" Erica said.
"Your command is my wish," Pete winked at her. He rolled his neck, wound up his arm, kicked out his leg and threw with a flourish. For all Pete's machinations, the red ball hit and knocked down just 1 bottle. Still, the girls cheered for him. Clark heard a slight metallic clank when the bottle hit the dirt. 'That didn't sound like glass,' Clark thought, stared and activated his x-ray vision. He saw that the bottles were made of metal, and seemed to be weighted more at the bottom. Clark looked at Chloe and wanted to pull her aside and tell her about the scam. But the way she looked at him, so happy, and just the way she smiled, Clark decided to just get her teddie, and to help Pete out, too.
"I think the lights got in my eyes," Pete said and Erica laughed.
"Heaven forbid you give up after just the first throw," Joe the carny chattered.
"Throw harder Pete," Clark advised. Pete nodded and threw with all his strength. He barely clipped another bottle and held his breath and watched the top bottle wobble; he prayed that the bottle would somehow collapse the bottom two bottles. Finally, the bottle fell...away from the base.
"Yes!" Erica cheered but Pete kicked the booth's wood wall because he didn't win a bear.
"Ok Hard Hat," Joe said. "One last throw."
Pete rubbed the ball in his hand, whispered 'please' to it and he flung toward the bottles. While the girls tracked the ball in flight, Clark decided to use his newly discovered heat vision. He concentrated and eye-jaculated a burst of heat energy at the bottom bottles, melting their base just when the ball struck the top bottle again. All 3 bottles fell and the girls cheered. Pete jumped with both fists in the air.
"Yes!" Pete said. Joe handed Erica a small-sized bear.
"You're up, Big Boy," Chloe said, all smiley to Clark. Clark wondered if he should miss, be Pete-like in normality. "I know you can do it, Clark," Chloe said and rubbed her palms in anticipation of getting a teddy bear. Clark shook his head; he couldn't fail her. He threw the ball and easily knocked down all 3 bottles. Chloe hugged him from behind and Pete slapped Clark on the back. Erica whooped.
"Daaaang!" Joe said to Clark and handed Chloe the teddy. "Wanna try and upgrade to a bigger teddy?"
"Yes he does!" Chloe shouted "Right?" She asked and looked expectantly at Clark. He nodded. He thought of all the times that she risked her life for him, spent her time helping him chase down 'meteor freaks', and if she wanted a teddy bear, he was going to do it. He watched the carny's helper struggle to set up another pyramid; Clark guessed correctly that they used heavier bottles for the base, making it much harder to topple them. It didn't matter: Clark rifled the mushy blue ball twice and scattered the bottles each time. Pete wondered what was Clark's secret, and lamented that he wasn't on the school's baseball team.
"Get the white fuzzy bear," Erica said when Joe offered Chloe a choice from the bigger bears.
"How many in a row to get the HUGE one?" Chloe and hugged the newest bear.
"10 groups in a row," Joe said. "No one has ever done it...I came close, tho," he sniffed. "But, of you say you're going for the big one...you forfeit all the others..."
"Clark has 3 in a row!" She spun to him. She thought the times saved her life, how he somehow stopped 'meteor freaks' and, of what she had seen of Clark, knocking down bottles was nothing to what she knew he could do...or what she had started to suspect he could do. "I know you can do it!"
Clark handed over $7 to Joe for 7 more balls. Chloe, Erica, and Pete held them for Clark. He knocked down 5 sets when he looked back and noticed a small crowd behind him. He loved the attention he was getting from the crowd and really loved how Chloe looked at him adoringly; he noticed that it wasn't any different that how she usually looks at him, and immediately called himself a big dumb alien for pushing Chloe's emotions aside for a year. He knew he had to make it seem that he was lucky on some of his throws. In actuality, the ball toss game, like any other created that he knew about, was far too easy to master.
"Four more!" Chloe yelled to one of her friends. "MY BOYFRIEND is going to go all the way!" The crowd cheered lustily, and Chloe wondered why. Pete whispered to her what the fuss was about and her mortified face made Clark laugh. "I didn't mean it that way!" She shouted. "Heathens!"
"Ok...Just a few more..." Clark said to himself after Chloe and crowd calmed down, trying to pretend he was nervous. He reared back and threw the ball over and over; the ball hit exactly where he aimed: bottom left bottle, bottom right one. Each throw was like a metronome clicking, the pitch's windup, toss, and follow-through was seamless, perfect and all Clark concentrated on was the ball, the bottles...and the racing of Chloe's heartbeat and how she counted off each time he knocked down the bottle.
"One left!" Chloe screamed. She touched Clark's jacket tenderly.
"Ball me," Clark said innocently.
"Gladly," Chloe smiled mischievously, and handed him the last one.
The crowd quieted. Erica hugged Pete. Chloe couldn't wait to kiss Clark.
Clark threw the mushy ball. Everyone held their breath. The ball was soft and a little deformed and it wobbled in mid-flight; Joe hoped the "trick ball" was the last one. Clark watched the ball wiggle and start to arc in trajectory. Chloe followed the ball and saw the new path it was taking was drifting away from the bottles; 'Why am I cursed?' Chloe thought, knowing she wouldn't get the teddy bear...or a kiss.
Clark was set to eye-jaculate when the center of the ball changed again. He smiled and watched the ball careen into the point where all three bottles met.
"DAAAAAAAAAAANG!" Joe yelled.
"YAY!" Chloe screamed and everyone started to cheer.
As the crowd mobbed around Clark, Chloe struggled with the huge teddy bear that Joe gave her; it was her height, and far heavier. She wobbled over to Clark.
"Oh Clark! Thank you so much!" Chloe gushed. She swung the bear to the side and Clark hugged her. They locked eyes. This time, Clark made the move; he leaned in and Chloe closed her eyes, and waited for their lips to touch...