Plastic Fish, Jolly Jumpers And Smelly Feet

My wife has a bigger heart than mine. That is why she encouraged me to take part in our church Harvest Festival. We spent a long three hours manning the Jolly Jumper. Truth be told last time I did a Harvest Festival Clinton was in office. The last time I manned, solo, a game in which you had to catch plastic fish, or ducks, or something with a fishing rod. I lost my voice that night.

There are no Harvest Festival games for mimes. That’s right. Every booth requires screaming and corralling children. Okay, the children were fun. One little boy stood in line every ten minutes and told us each time, “I am five.” We had the out-of-control little kids and the cute-as-punch little boys and girls. We did a fine job manning the booth as a team but still it entailed much yelling. I think I lost my voice again.

What I didn’t lose was my sense of smell. If you’ve never been in a Jolly Jumper note that you have to remove your shoes to get in. We had children from age (wait for it) five to sixteen. The young ones jumped, sweat, and some looked like they were taking a leak as well. The older ones, “I’m in puberty,” jumped and sweated and went crazy. All that jumping and sweating made Jolly Jump smell like a Middle School locker room.

I’m willing to do it again next year. Can somebody just remind me to bring lozenges and Lysol?