Best Ride Ever

The small carnival had been coming to town for as far back as most residents remembered, at least fifty years, with its small petting zoo, rides for kids and fun for adults like ring toss and the dunking booth.

Montezuma, Iowa was stereotypical small town America, population of just over 1,400 on a good day. The Diamond Lake campground was the main attraction, and Montezuma Manufacturing the largest employer at several hundred, building car parts and accessories. Quiet, peaceful, and a good place to live is how residents thought of it.

One resident, Joel McElspeth, lived in a nice house off of Barnes City Road and kept mostly to himself. When asked, he said he was retired military, living on a pension and investments. Joel, however, had a secret. Each week he’d go to the local Junior-Senior High School and watch both the JV and Varsity football games in the Fall. In the Winter, it was basketball, and then in the Spring he’d watch field hockey matches. Joel’s obsession was teenage girls, cheerleaders or not. To his credit, he’d never fucked one, never touched one inappropriately, never exposed himself, zip zero nada.

Joel lived for the coming of the carnival. Each year he’d run one attraction, and it was one of the best-kept secrets for the past 30 years. It was called “Guess Your Weight” and carnival goers would step up to Joel, one at a time, pay the $1 fee, and he’d guess their weight. If he was within three pounds either way, they’d get their pick of a small candy bar as a consolation prize. If he was outside the range, they’d get to pick from among a variety of stuffed animals.

Periodically, though, a teenage girl would step up to Joel, and for the most part, they’d shyly mumble the letters “SOMF” to him. He’d nod, guess a weight that he knew was outside the range, and the girl would move off to collect her prize, but not before being passed a special coin-like token from him. After getting the prize, the girl knew to move into the shadows toward the back of the main tents, where an older woman would be sitting in a chair. She’d give the woman the token and do the one other thing that was required.

Jewel Weatherby was 16, and she was with her best friend, Sondra Wollen, who was also 16 but hadn’t been to the carnival before. Jewel had an older sister who had told her how to get a special invite, so when both girls, one after the other, said “SOMF” and got tokens, they both approached the older lady together and presented their coins. The woman took them and then waited for the reveal. Jewel went first and after quickly looking around, lifted the front of her skirt to show the woman that she wasn’t wearing panties, her bare pussy exposed. Sondra’s face was already red, and as she quickly lifted and then dropped her skirt, the woman noted her brown bush. Jewel was to go into tent #2, and Sondra into tent #3.