Internet Writing Workshop Weekly Exercise

"In 400 words or less give us a scene where two characters make a deal. Show us what the stakes are for each, what he or she stands to gain or lose."

I was lying out by the pool, really enjoying myself when I felt an object eclipse the sunshine that had been warming my face. I looked up and as my eyes adjusted I could see the face of this little red-headed girl staring right at me.
Totally annoyed, I sat up and asked, “What are you doing?”
She was grinning from ear to ear. Not as if to smile, but rather to show me something in her mouth. I noticed that she was exposing the enormous gap where her two front teeth used to be.
“Rook! I rossst my two fwont teef!” she exclaimed.
Rolling my eyes, I replied, “That’s nice. Now move a little to the left. You’re blocking my sun!”
The girl didn’t move. She just stood there looking at me perplexed that I wasn’t excited for her.
“Did you hear what I said? YOU ARE BLOCKING MY SUN!”
Her mouth sank into a deep frown and her bottom lip started to quiver as tears welled up in her eyes.
My impatience turned to pity and I said, “I’m sorry. Listen, I don’t get much time to relax so it’s easy for me to loose my patience. That’s nice you’re excited about loosing your teeth. Did you get a really good prize from the tooth fairy?”
Her tears turned off quicker than the time it takes to turn the knob on a faucet and said, “No. Whath’a toofairy?”
A glance at my watch told me that I had about twenty minutes left before I had to get ready for my twelve-hour shift at work. I thought, “Do I tell this kid to buzz off so I can enjoy the rest of my precious little time soaking up the sun in solitude? That would just crush her and leave me feeling guilty. Then again, I didn’t want her to make a habit out of interrupting me. She’s obviously in need of some attention since she’s wandering around an apartment complex pool unsupervised. Where are her parents anyway?”
After my inner debate, I was able to muster the compassion it took to tell her the best tooth fairy story I could think of. Her gratefulness beamed out of her eyes and struck a cord in my heart.
She learned about the tooth fairy and I learned that relaxation by the pool doesn't have to be so solitary.