Five-year-old Maria skipped ahead of her mother, feeling the sharp autumn wind against her face.

“Mommy can I have an apple?” she asked, pushing her straight black hair out of her face.

“You have five dollars to spend. Do you want to buy an Apple with some of it?” he mother asked, smiling.

Maria stopped for a moment, thinking.

Finally, she shook her head.

“We have some apples at home. Can I buy me quilt?” she questioned, skipping past a booth selling quilts.

She did not wait for an answer, however, for she caught sight of something else and gave a scream of delight.

“Mommy can I go on the merry-go-round? Please, please, please? How much does it cost, Mommy?”

Mrs. Garcia smiled down at her excited little daughter.

“It doesn't cost anything, dear. Come on, and you can get on before it starts again.”

Maria came back five minutes later, pink-cheeked and smiling.

“That was fun,” she said, looking about a all the other delights.

“Can buy some cotton candy?” she asked, her dark eyes landing on the colorful bags of candy.

“It costs a dollar,” her mother warned.

Maria bought it, and sat on a convenient bench to eat it.

When she was done, she began looking around for something else to do. Her eyes found the booth where a line of giggling children were attempting to hit a mans face with a sponge.

She waited in line for a few minutes and when it was her turn, took the sponge determinedly. She threw it with all her strength and walked away with a stuffed unicorn and a grin on her sticky face. She had hit her target.

“It was so fun, Daddy,” she bragged that night. “I ate cotton candy and hit a man with a sponge and rode on the merry-go-round and rode in a train and petted some kitties.”