Goldie Bubbles's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

Goldie pulled out a fresh piece of paper and set it on her worktable. The ring toss worked, but she needed to learn how gears moved before she could build the self-spinning wheel. She'd never studied mechanisms like this before—her old carnival days were all sleight of hand and quick talk. Now she needed real skills. She opened a thick book on simple machines and read about wheels, axles, and friction. The diagrams showed how one gear could turn another, creating motion without a hand to push it. She copied the drawings into her notebook, labeling each part. By midnight, she understood the basics. She grabbed wood scraps from her pile and carved small gear teeth with her knife. The pieces fit together roughly at first, but she sanded them smooth until they turned without catching. When she connected three gears in a line, the whole system moved. Her chest tightened with excitement. This was the foundation for her wheel of fortune. She had five weeks left, and now she knew she could make anything spin. The next morning, she walked through the clearing behind her workshop. The ring toss stood ready, but players needed something to win. She'd forgotten the most important part—prizes. Without rewards, nobody would play her games. She spent the afternoon building a wooden stand with three shelves. She painted it in bright reds and yellows, adding purple trim along the edges. The colors needed to catch people's eyes from across the festival grounds. Once the paint dried, she headed into town and bought plush toys, bouncy balls, and inflatable swords. She arranged everything on the shelves, grouping prizes by size. Small toys on top, medium prizes in the middle, large stuffed animals on the bottom shelf. She stepped back and checked the display from different angles. The stand looked full and inviting, exactly what winners would want to see. Her booth was taking shape, one piece at a time. Four weeks remained, and she had two more games to build. But something worried her as she stood in the clearing. Players would spend hours at the festival under the hot sun. They'd get tired and thirsty. If they left her booth to find water, they might not come back. She couldn't let that happen. The next day, she bought materials and built a drinking fountain shaped like a pink water lily. The petals curved around a gentle stream of water that bubbled up from the center. She painted each petal carefully, adding white edges to make them look real. When she finished, she tested the flow—not too strong, not too weak. Perfect. She set it near the prize stand where players could reach it easily. Now they could stay at her booth longer, play more games, and tell their friends about the stand with everything they needed. She wiped paint from her hands and looked at what she'd built. The booth felt more complete now. Three weeks and counting.