Page 19 of Big Bad Single Wolf Dad

Ethan nods his head in agreement. “Lily got one, so it's only fair everyone else gets one too.”

“Ethan, you know that’s not how games work right?” I ask, genuinely unsure if he understands what chance, luck, and rigged mean.

“Well, we can try. I’m sure there’s games that reward every level of ability. Like that rubber duck one,” Greg offers. I snap my fingers and nod. Of course! How could I forget that game?

“Actually, I think we should do that one first,” I say. It’s right around the corner, and yes, everyone wins something. It may be something very small, but each kid will get a prize for trying.

We arrive there, only waiting a short time before it’s our group's turn.

“Every duck is a winner!” the attendant declares, paying special attention to little Ollie. The four-year-old is staring wide-eyed at a very large stuffed dog. It looks like a husky. Unfortunately, that’s marked as a red prize. And it’s doubtful if there’s a single duck with a red dot underneath its belly at all.

Greg hands over the tickets for each kid and wrangles the oldest three around the tub.

“How do you know which one to pick? There’s no strategy,” Mia whines.

“The strategy is to pick which duck you like best,” Lily proclaims. She darts her hand out and picks up a duck painted to resemble an astronaut. Underneath its belly is a blue dot, for a small prize. “Oh well, I already got what I wanted.” Lily picks a rainbow-colored plastic bracelet and retrieves her gigantic bear back from Greg.

Noah is next. He thinks hard about it before grabbing the superhero duck. Another blue dot greets him underneath.

“Man!” Noah cries. He asks for a kazoo, and I can see Greg visibly wince at his selection.

“There’s too many!” Mia says. She folds her arms and pouts. “I don’t know which one to pick. How can I win if I can’t make a plan?!”

I sigh. Every family game night is exactly like this. Ethan wants to play for fun, but Mia is in it to win it. Games of chance upset her so much.

“How about you pick a duck you like best? And if you don’t get the prize you like, we can try something that takes skill next,” Greg suggests. Mia rocks back and forth, taking his offer into consideration. “You can’t always win, even if you try your best. So if you can’t win through skill, you may as well have fun with it!”

Mia carefully studies the ducks one more time, then squeaks in joy. “Ah ha!” she cries before grabbing a duck from the center. The dot underneath is green. Medium prize. “Yes! I want the kitty!” she yells. The attendant grabs a regular-sized black cat plushie and hands it to her. Mia squeezes it tight.

“How did you do it?” Noah asks with suspicion.

“I’m also curious. You didn’t cheat, did you?” I ask. Though I know there’s almost no way to cheat in this game.

“I picked a duck with the least smudges on it. Those get picked the least, which means they’re likely to have the least-won prizes.” Mia beams with pride at her little hack, and I have to admit I’m impressed she found a way to break a game of complete chance.

“Did you catch that, Ollie?” Ethan asks before picking up his duck. Another blue, but Ethan happily takes a fake mustache from the small prize pool.

Ollie walks up onto the little step stool for younger kids. But even up there, he’s having a hard time seeing all the ducks.

So I lift him up. Ollie wastes no time picking his duck, a tennis player. There was no strategy involved in his selection, obviously, yet I help him turn the duck over, and right there on the bottom is a red dot.

“What the – uh, I mean, congratulations! You can have any prize at all!” the attendant says. He looks about ready to kick us out completely.

“That one!” Ollie gestures with both hands at the stuffed husky that looks bigger than a real dog.

The attendant, looking morose, takes it down and hands it to Greg. I turn to the man, whose face is radiating as much misery as the attendant’s. It’s almost too big to carry, even for him.

“How about we take a quick trip back to the car, and then we can continue with our fun?” I ask, unable to contain my laughter as Greg tries to hold Ollie’s new dog.

“Thank you, by the way,” Greg whispers as we make our way back from the car into the fair again.

“For what?” I ask.

“Helping Ollie. I was distracted by Noah and Lily bickering over who had the better duck, I completely missed Ollie’s height. He wouldn’t have gotten the prize if it weren’t for you.”

I smile at him. “Oh, is that all? Well, you’re welcome for bringing that into your house.” I gesture back towards the car.

Greg smiles a big toothy grin, and the sight of it makes me blush. How can one man be so stunningly handsome, even when he’s sweaty and exhausted like this?

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