crazies at the carnival

we all know that carnies attract a certain type of....fellow americans. mullets, unflattering clothes, and grown men spending their life savings trying to win stuffed animals. well we decided to hang out for the night & see what our little group could add to the excitement that is the carnival. fantasia did not disappoint.

(ps-i decided to stay home because i just had that "feeling that someone was about to do something foolish" as carmella puts it...so caleb & i hung out & missed the action)

fantasia had earned the consequence from a previous problem that she could not have sweet snacks for a few days. today was the first day of that consequence, so it is not like she is unaware. however when it came time to buy snow cones & ben reminded her of her consequence, she became irate & began cursing. carmella made a comment like "you tell him, girl" & she turned on carmella, telling her she was going to "punch her bleep bleep face out" and stormed off. ben looked through the crowds & found her speaking with two police officers. so he walked up & joined them. fantasia immediately put on her "fantasiatude" (she named herself this), which meant pursing out her lips, raising her eyebrows, & half-closing her eyes. without missing a beat she told the officers,

"i don't know him." the officers looked back & forth at ben & this 11-yr old black girl, obviously wondering how they could be connected.

calmly ben said, "um, yes you do fantasia. right now you need to work on calming yourself down & making better choices."

at which point an officer turned to him & said, "oh, which group home are you from?"

but fantasia would not be diverted from her cause.
"i don't live at no group home. i don't know him. i need you to help me."

ben said, "fantasia, would you like to call your mom? i know sometimes talking to her helps you calm down."

"you can call my mom if you want to. i don't wanna talk to her."

the other officer immediately said, "i thought you said you didn't know him. how could he call your mom?"

immediately her lips tucked themselves back in as she realized her mistake. the officer turned his back on her & started talking with the other officer. she stood there for a few seconds...not sure of where to go with this now. so she made a desperate attempt, turned around to ben, put a big ol' smile on her face & yelled out,

"APRIL FOOLS!" with her arms spread out, holding her hands in a position we called "jazz hands" in madrigals.

"um, no fantasia. that's not going to work." ben said. "we're going home." she continued to try begging & pleading but after she realized that she wasn't getting anywhere, finally just decided to eat humble pie.

i have to give her credit, i never would have thought of the "april fools" tactic. but it was yet again another exciting night on the home front.