The Columnist Manifesto

State fair theme #2: wickedness

I think of My Home State as more on the wholesome side of the Spectrum of Sin and Corruption, By State.

And I think of the State Fair as a wholesome activity.

Why then does the carnival midway at my State Fair seem so ... so ... lurid?





It makes me think of Pleasure Island, the wicked amusement park in Pinocchio where the wicked boys get turned into donkeys and are forced to work the salt mines.

Look what I saw just outside the midway at my State Fair: oh my gosh, its HIM: Lampwick from Pleasure Island!



Here's what he's saying on his cell phone: "What, you're telling me you take orders from a grasshopper?"*

Lampwick and his friends make up their own tough-kid ride at the fair:




____
*

Jiminy Cricket: (shouting) Pinocchio! So this is where I find you! How do you ever expect to be a real boy? Look at yourself… smoking, playing pool! Oww! You’re comin’ right home with me, this minute!
Lampwick: Hey… who’s the beetle?
Jiminy Cricket: Let go! Put me down! (muffled) Let me out!
Pinocchio: He’s not a beetle. He’s my conscience! He tells me what’s right and wrong.
Lampwick: What? You mean you take orders from a grasshopper?

***