In the beginning....

In a small Midwestern community, the town festivals were a big deal.  Outside of the beer garden, there was not much special other than concerts put on by local groups and lame carnival games.  Out of the combination of greasy food and porta-rides, the one thing that many people looked forward to, however, was the dunking machine.  

At an elementary school carnival when I was about three or four years old, my aunt pointed out the dunking machine.  A large metal cube-shaped tank with a blonde girl in jeans and a t-shirt sitting on a seat above it.  I could see she was soaking wet, but didn't know how that happened.  Suddenly, I saw her seat give out and she fell in the water with a big splash.  I couldn't see people throwing balls, so to me, she was just sitting there and would randomly fall in the water.  My aunt must have noticed my puzzled look as she then pointed out the people throwing balls at a target.  This was really interesting to me.  I liked seeing this girl get her clothes all wet.  It was kind of funny.  

The girl then got out of the tank and another girl took her place.  This girl was wearing a flowered one piece bathing suit with a logo covered white t-shirt over it.  Her hair was brown and about shoulder length.  Now this got more interesting because she was getting up there dry.  Very carefully, she climbed up the protrusions of the tank and made her way onto the seat.  When she scooted out to the end of the seat that fell to the side, she was acting very nervous.  Her hands were on the seat helping her balance and her feet tensed up and curled in anxious anticipation of a cold swim coming soon.  

People began throwing balls at the target as she watched the balls go by, waiting for that first one that would dunk her.  When it finally happened, she let out a scream and splashed into the water.   There was a strip of metal around the outside of the tank and several kids ran over and climbed up the side to look at the girl in the water.  She climbed out dripping wet and carefully made her way up an awkward, skinny ladder back to the seat to await another dunking.  After the next time she got dunked, she tried to climb out of the tank but slipped off the ladder and back into the water.  The kids still climbed the side of the tank every time she fell in.  

As it was time for me to go, I couldn't take my eyes off this girl getting dunked in this contraption.   I wanted to see her go in again.  I could see her feet from the back curled under and dripping wet.  

This was the first time I ever saw this game.  It impacted me so much, I didn't know what to think.  I replayed that memory many times.  It was the center of attention.  It looked so cool.  Seeing that girl fall in the water, for some reason, left me completely in awe and wanting to see it over and over.  This was the start of a fun thing that I would see quite often.