“No! No! Noooo!” Kelsey screamed when she heard the explosion.

“I won!” Drew shouted. “I won!”

Kelsey glared at the clown she had been aiming at. Its inflated balloon head bobbed from side to side.

She set down her water pistol, defeated. “Only because I let you win,” she shot back.

Drew just laughed as the carnival barker handed him his prize – a giant pretzel. He broke it in two and gave her half.

“Thanks.” She smiled. “What should we do next?”

“Let’s go through the haunted house again,”! he suggested. “The Shadyside Carnival has the best haunted house!”

“That’s because Shadyside is the best haunted town,” Kelsey joked.

“I’m glad we made it back from the beach in time for the carnival,” Drew said as the two headed for the haunted house ride.

“I’m glad we made it back at all,” Kelsey replied.

“Oh, brother!” Drew pointed up ahead. “Look at that line!”

The line for the haunted house curved all the way around the ride twice.

“We’ll be here forever,” Kelsey complained. “Let’s find something else to do.”

“Like what?” Drew asked. Then he gasped.

“What?” Kelsey cried.

“Look!” He pointed to a sign that read “Gypsy Fortuneteller.”

“That?” She laughed. “That’s nothing. It’s just a mechanical fortuneteller inside a glass box. Come on, I’ll show you.”

Drew hesitated.

“Come on!” she said again, tugging him over to the glass box.

As they neared it, a little girl slipped a quarter into the slot and waited for the mechanical fortuneteller to whirl around and tell her fortune.

She waited. And waited. And waited.

“This stupid thing is broken,” the little girl complained, kicking the box. Then she gave up and walked away.

“See?” Kelsey said. “Nothing to be afraid of.”

Drew stared at the box. “Just a machine,” he said, breathing a sigh of relief.

Then she and Drew turned and walked away.

“Not afraid?” a voice called after them.

They stopped.

“Fool! Fool! Fool!” The voice cackled now. “Only a fool is not afraid!”