Cotton Candy Machine 

I bought my first cotton candy machine just over a year ago. At that point, it was merely nostalgia and a good bargain that made me buy it. I could remember, as a child, endlessly watching the swirling of the cotton candy machine at the circus, the thin fibers circling through the air and settling on the rotating blades. So when I came across an actual real cotton candy machine – and an old one at that, like the cotton candy machines of my childhood – being sold at a flea market for only $32, I couldn't help but buy it. I didn't even know if it worked or not, but I was so overwhelmed with the idea of being able to watch the cotton candy machine whirl around while it whipped up its sweet, delicious treat, that I couldn't even care.

It wasn't until I hit upon hard times that I came to the idea of using the cotton candy machine to make money. It was pretty informal really. I didn't even get a license, a mistake which could have gotten me in real trouble, but I was too broke and down in the dumps to care. I would set up that cotton candy machine at the local playground on Saturday, and sell candy floss to the kids who came buy for 1 dollar a serving. I did a little business – it was better than being unemployed, which I currently was, but the kids weren't really buying it.

Then I hit upon the solution. The cotton candy was hard to eat without something to drink. Along with the cotton candy machine, I began to set up a little chest of soda pop, along with some free glasses of water. Now, the kids and even their parents came to me for a tasty respite from hot summer games. Soon I was making 15 dollars an hour profit. And all off the books too.

When I pulled myself back up, I bought another cotton candy machine, and this time did everything legal. I hired a high school kid to run it for me at the fair. He was an honest kid, and gave me all of the profits from the cotton candy machine which he was supposed to, in exchange for his wage. Soon I had three, then five kids all working my cotton candy machines. It's not steady work, but still, during festivals I make pretty good money. And all I have to do is watch the fibers go around inside the cotton candy machine.