A Fair is fair

It was a bright morning in the quiet town of Arkham and the residents were just waking up. Pete the postman was busy delivering the mail, and Isabelle, the mayor’s assistant, was on her way to the town hall. She unlocked the door, went inside and stood behind the desk, oblivious to the brightly coloured flyer that had just been posted through the letterbox, now lying on the floor.

The town clock had just struck 10 when Mayor Lizzy walked in. As usual she was late, but Isabelle had no plans to annoy her before she’d had her morning coffee, so she greeted Lizzy with a smile and wave, then went back to her very important post behind the information desk.

Lizzy grumbled a ‘hello’ and sat down at her desk, as she did, the mountain of villagers petitions wobbled, threatening to fall over, so before any more piled up she decided that maybe she should actually sort them out and read them. Many were the same old ones she’d seen – and ignored – before ‘Send flowers and mean it’, ‘Indie rock forever’, ‘Make cheese, not traps’, the list went on and on. But as she was shredding them  one caught her attention as it actually had signatures, and quite a lot at that, it seemed as though everyone in town had signed it ‘Fair’s fair’ was its title and it was asking for a fair to be held in Arkham just before Christmas. “Never going to happen, the town doesn’t have the money for- WHAT?!’ Lizzy exclaimed at seeing a rather shady character had signed the petition AND promised to pay for the whole event, all expenses included. She began writing an announcement to be put up on the notice board outside when a breeze rolled in as Isabelle opened the door, and wafted a flyer up on to her desk, the same one Isabelle hadn’t noticed earlier.
It read,

‘COME SEE THE SPECTACULAR FAIR IN ARKHAM THIS SUNDAY, 1PM-9PM.
GAMES! FORTUNES! FOOD! PRIZES!
 50,000 BELLS PER PERSON (price does not include: game fees, fortunes, food )
Hosted by Redd, your cuz and good friend! Reputable supplier of all your artwork needs!’

And in small print along the bottom,

'Disclaimer:  Redd is not responsible for any damages or loss of property that may occur at this event.’

She knew it seemed too good to be true when she saw that Redd had offered to fund the fair. He was going to bankrupt the villagers! He was even more expensive than Kapp’n, and that was saying something.
Later that day Lizzy gathered all the villagers outside the town hall and tried to get them to calm down, “Everyone, please listen!” she shouted across the crowd, but they were too busy arguing amongst themselves as to what to do.  After reading the flyers, everyone was annoyed and angry with Redd and wanted the Mayor to do something about it, so Lizzy came up with a plan. They were going to organise their own fair and make it open to everyone, free of charge, they just had to find everything they needed before Sunday.
For the rest of the week the villagers, Lizzy and Isabelle collected fruit and shells, made gifts, crafted decorations and even got Tom Nook to donate some things from his store. Saturday came, and everything was going according to plan. They had laid out gifts, food, games and prizes for everyone on the beach. The decorations were amazing and everyone had helped out in some way, Lizzy was happy they would at least get the fair they wanted, without the cost Redd was going to charge.

Sunday arrived and the weather was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky, this was going to be a great day, Lizzy thought to herself.  A loud crash caught her attention and she quickly ran to discover what had happened. As she walked up the hill from the beach towards the noise, she promptly realised what was going on. Redd was trying to set up his fair, oblivious to the fact that no one would be attending, and the noises were from his stands and stalls being built. Lizzy quietly laughed to herself, imagining his face when he realised that his latest scam hadn’t paid off.  Walking back to the beach, she could see their fair fully set up and ready for the rest of the villagers. One by one each resident arrived, bringing a gift as a thank you to the Mayor; they played games, won prizes and ate until the sun went down. All the while Redd was beginning to realise what had gone wrong and decided to try his tricks on another town, so he packed up everything and left.

All in all, Lizzy knew it had been a good week and was happy that the fair was a great success.