It was February in Mountainsborough. Philippe and his best friend Larry were in charge of planning the events for this years redneck festival. So far, Philippe and Larry had planned mud wresting, a BBQ cook-off, a tractor pull, and a chainsaw carving contest. They only needed one more event. No matter what they tried, they couldn’t come up with any other ideas, that would work.
Philippe had been bending over backwards for the past few months to prepare for this day. He convinced lots of the local restaurants to set up booths. The festival would have BBQ, pies, fried anything, and lots of sweet tea.
Larry was in charge of contacting all of the restaurants, and finding the music. Him and Larry were at the park working on planning the festival.
“Hey Phillippe”, Larry yelled, “The BBQ place just called, they won’t be able to have a booth at the festival.”
“Well that’s just great. Now we have even more work to do!” Philippe exclaimed.
Larry then began to think about what they could do.
“We could ask the fire department if they are willing to cook and sell BBQ”  Larry exclaimed.
“That’s a great idea! You try to get in touch with them, I still need to think of this last activity!” Philippe said enthusiastically.
Larry and Philippe departed shortly after. Larry headed straight to the fire house. It was not a very long walk for Larry, he only lived about a mile away. Larry knocked on the door of the fire house.
“Hey Larry” the chief said after he opened the door, “What can I do for you?”.
“Hello chief, Philippe and I have been working our tails off to prepare for this redneck festival.” Larry explained, “ As it turns out, the BBQ restaurant here in town can not set up a booth and we’re against the clock now.”
Chief replied by saying, “well is there anything we can do to help?”
“Actually, I was wondering if you guys would be able to cook the BBQ.” Larry asked
“I think that is a fine idea Larry, we should be able to do it.!” Said chief.
“Well thank you! This will be a huge help.” Proclaimed Larry. “Thank you, and I’ll see you in two weeks.” Larry said as we walked down the steps.”
Larry raced home so that he wouldn’t be late for dinner. After a dinner of spaghetti and garlic bread, Him and his family sat around the dining room table for a game of, “Eels and Stairs”. He then went to bed.
Philippe’s night was not so relaxed. He went up into his room and made dozens of phone calls and sent emails to try to finish his part of the festival. Philippe asked a local bluegrass band to play at the festival. They replied and told him that they would not be able to be there in the morning, but they could play the rest of the day.  Philippe then went to bed.
The next morning, Philippe called Larry.
“The band can play, but they won’t be there part of the morning.” He explained.
“Well that’s good. I figured out the BBQ situation and got it under control.” Larry replied.
“Now I still have to figure out this last booth.” Philippe said.
“Well I guess I’ll talk to you later Philippe” Larry replied.
“Yeah, I’ll probably see you later today.” Philippe said as he hung up the phone.
Larry and Philippe decided to meet at Larry’s house after school.
“What we could be is we could have a talent show until the band gets there in the morning.” Philippe suggested.
“That sounds great!” Larry replied as he closed his computer.
“Now we just need to figure out this last booth.” Said Philippe.
Larry’s parents let Philippe stay and eat pizza with them. He also ended up spending the night. He left the next morning, thinking about what he should do.
“I really want to get this finished.” Philippe said. “I’ve been burning the midnight oil for the past few nights.”
“Yeah, we are almost done.” Larry replied. “Just remember, every cloud has a silver lining.”
“This festival was supposed to be a piece of cake, we may have bitten off more than we can chew.”  Philippe stated.
“Yeah, I agree.” Larry replied, “This should have been like shooting fish in a barrel.”
It was at that moment when the lightbulb went on in Philippe’s head.
“That’s it!” Philippe exclaimed. “The last booth can be a contest for shooting fish in a barrel!”
“Well go the whole nine yards.” Philippe explained.
“Real barrels, and live fish!” Philippe exclaimed as he jumped up.
The festival was a huge success, the most popular booth was the fish in a barrel. The boys worked harder than they ever had, and still succeeded. It didn’t even cost them an arm and a leg.