The Summer of Cotton Candy

by Viguié, Debbie

  Now Candace was really upset. “You know I can’t, I’m working tomorrow.”

  “Are you?” Tamara asked, eyes wide with innocence.

  “Yes, and you know that. What is wrong with you?”

  Tamara looked down at her nails, seemingly studying their perfect, red-painted shapes. “I’m tired of your job,” she said at last.

  “What does that mean?”

  “Your job is getting in the way of all our summer plans. I don’t want you to be miserable, but I don’t want you to actually like it. And I don’t like the fact that Josh gets to hear stuff before I do.”

  Candace had no idea how to respond to that. It made her feel sad, and a little bit guilty, but mostly just angry. “Then maybe next summer,” she said, trying to keep her voice even and emotionless, “we can get jobs together.”

  “Please,” Tamara said, rolling her eyes. “Why would I want to work?”

  7

  Why would I want to work? Tamara’s words still echoed around in Candace’s head. She didn’t have a good answer for Tamara, and she was still trying to come up with one. Of course, part of the problem was Candace still didn’t have a good answer to that question for herself. Realistically, she had to work. Her dad was forcing her. Still, that didn’t necessarily mean that work was evil. Lots of people did it. If work was completely evil, couldn’t the whole world rebel or something?

  It was because of work that she had met Josh and Kurt. That was certainly worth a measure of inconvenience and frustration. And today was the first payday, and money meant she could do stuff in her free time. So making friends and making money was certainly better than sitting in her room all day wishing she had money.

  She glanced at her watch. She was fifteen minutes overdue for her morning break, and she still hadn’t seen her replacement. Another five minutes passed before she saw Martha trudging toward her across the length of the Thrill Zone.

  “What’s up?” Candace asked when Martha came to a stop beside her.

  “Megan’s mom called in, and it seems she won’t be working today. I’m trying to make sure everyone gets at least one break and their lunch. I’m sorry, but you’ll probably have to skip your afternoon break.”

  “That’s okay. What happened to Megan? Is she sick?”

  “Love sick is more like it. She was dating a guy who worked in rides who was all wrong for her. They broke it off last night.”

  “Oh, that’s sad.”

  “What’s sad is that anyone with a lick of sense could have seen it coming,” Martha said with a sigh. “Never date a guy you ain’t willing to marry. No good can come out of that, just a lot of pain for everybody.”

  Wow, that’s harsh, Candace thought, but she didn’t say anything.

  “Now go on, take your fifteen. Time’s a-wasting, and it’s going to be a long day,” Martha said.

  She sounded so tired, Candace wished there was something she could say or do to help. Since she couldn’t think of anything, she scurried off to take her break. She reached the cantina at the same time as Sue.

  “Aren’t they supposed to post teams for Scavenger Hunt today?” Sue asked.

  “I think they already have,” Candace said, pointing to a crowd of people milling near one wall.

  The two girls elbowed their way into the throng until they were close enough to see the list. It took a minute but they finally found their names. Sue read aloud. “Candace. Sue. Roger. Who’s Pete?” she asked.

  “Oh no!” Candace said. “Crazy Train Guy.”

  “You are kidding me!” Sue practically shouted, drawing looks from those around.

  Candace had a sinking sensation in her stomach. There was only one way things could get worse. “Who is the fifth?”

  “Lisa who works food carts. Do you know her?”

  “Unfortunately.”

  The two waded back out of the throng and stood for a moment staring at each other. “I’m sorry,” Candace said, finally. “I think I just pulled you into my nightmare.”

  Sue shrugged. “Hey, that’s better than living in mine.”

  Candace made it back to her cart just before her fifteen minutes were up. Martha looked relieved to see her. “How’d it go?” Candace asked.

  “I had eight crying kids, one mother, and a grandfather that I almost had to slap.”

  “Ouch. What did he do?”

  “Tried to pinch me, the dirty old man.”

  Candace bit her lip to keep from laughing. It would seem that no matter who you were or how old you were, running a cotton candy cart opened you up to all sorts of unwanted attention.

  Apparently, Martha had gotten the main rush. The cart seemed in no hurry to change locations, though, so Candace had some time to people watch.

  All the coaster fanatics and thrill seekers ended up in the Thrill Zone. With nine heart-pounding attractions, four of which were major-league coasters, it had something for everyone.

  For people who loved going upside down, the Spiral was a must ride. Players were loaded into cars shaped like footballs, with two seats in the front, two seats in the back, and two rows of three seats in the middle. From the loading dock, the cars moved sideways onto the track. The cars would then back up slightly, lift up into the air, and back up slightly again, before being catapulted at sixty miles an hour by a giant hand, to race along the track doing continuous 360-degree barrel rolls. Coming back into the station, an optical illusion of a giant pair of hands would catch the football car, and players would hear an announcer screaming “touchdown!” and the sound of cheering fans. Candace had been on the ride exactly twice. After the second time, Tamara had bought her an “I Survived the Spiral” jersey to replace the shirt she had thrown up on.

  Having her cart parked near the exit of the ride gave Candace a great opportunity to watch and laugh at the riders coming off. Many couldn’t walk straight and bounced into one handrail and then the other. Some were staggering and being held up by their friends. One guy didn’t seem to have any problem at all. He walked straight and steady, but he looked out of place wearing a dark suit with a baseball cap. A guy behind him tried to walk down the ramp and ended up falling on his rump. She laughed out loud at his bewildered expression. She couldn’t help but feel sorry, though, for one ten-year-old girl who was in her father’s arms crying her heart out. Just because you were tall enough to ride didn’t mean you should. The Spiral definitely wasn’t for everyone.

  Candace’s thoughts drifted from the people and the roller coasters to the Scavenger Hunt. It was some kind of rotten luck that she was on the same team as the park’s biggest klutz, the guy who tried to kill everybody, and the girl who had it in for her. I mean, that had to be more than random chance. She looked up toward the heavens. “Are you punishing me for something, God?”

  There seemed no ready answer, but she stood like that for a moment until a high-pitched voice spoke. God? That’s not what I thought you would sound like. She shook her head and looked down. There in front of her cart was a young girl with pigtails who was standing with a hand on her hip and staring at her like she was crazy.

  “Who are you talking to?”

  “God,” Candace said.

  “Puh-leeze. There is no such thing. My mother told me so.”

  “Do you believe everything your mother tells you?” Candace asked.

  “Of course, she wouldn’t lie to me.”

  Candace should have let it go. She should have stopped there and just gotten the little brat some cotton candy. She didn’t though. “Does your mother tell you that you are a beautiful little girl?”

  The girl tossed her head proudly. “Every day.”

  “Then I’ve got news for you. Your mother lies.”

  The little girl’s eyes opened wide, and her bottom lip began to tremble. Then she turned and ran off.

  I’m a bad, bad person. She’s probably going to have self-esteem issues for the rest of her life because of me, Candace thought. So very bad. Candace shot up a quick prayer, God, forgive me
for that awful thing I just said. That’s not the way to make friends and convert people.

  She had to try to be nicer to Lisa too. From there, though, her thoughts naturally flashed to Kurt. Josh had said that he liked her. How on earth do I put myself in the way of being asked out? I mean, it made sense when Josh said it, but now I have no idea what that even means.

  A vibration in the cart caught her attention. Apparently there had been a long enough period of time without any activity that the cart was getting ready to move elsewhere. Candace took a step backward and let it do its thing. Less than a minute later it began to roll, and she walked alongside it. A few minutes later they arrived at their destination: the colonial area of the History Zone.

  In the colonial section of the History Zone, the architecture reflected Revolutionary War-era America. A group of shops and restaurants were arrayed to give the feeling of a town. On the one end of the town was a building split in two. The left side was the printing press, a mini museum where you could learn about the history of the printed word and get a hands-on demonstration of a real old-fashioned printing press, like Benjamin Franklin might have used. On the right side was The Fine Print, a bookstore selling everything from copies of Revolutionary War pamphlets like Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” to modern fiction and nonfiction books. They also sold a large selection of writing supplies, including pens, pencils, quills, colored inks, parchment, journals, and specialty papers. Next door to that building was the pub, named Poor Richard’s. The pub offered a variety of authentic dishes as well as modern fare. As they dined, patrons listened to stories from costumed characters like Ben Franklin or observed clandestine meetings between revolutionaries under the watchful eye of several Redcoats. On the other side of the pub, an antique store called Brick-a-Brack offered a wide variety of treasures for sale.

  The next cluster of buildings contained several shops. The Betsy Ross Flag Shoppe specialized in anything with a flag motif and also featured a wide variety of patriotic music. Minute Men was a store where collectors could find miniatures to re-enact key events of the Revolution. Next door was Tory Towne, a shop which specialized in British merchandise both past and present and included a large variety of imported candies and chocolates. Last was Smith’s Teashoppe, which was a refined place where players could get high tea at any time of the day. Then after they had partaken, they could find themselves re-enacting the Boston Tea Party on a ship moored on a small lagoon.

  The cart rolled to a stop near Paul Revere’s Ride where huge numbers of kids waited in line. Within a minute Candace had sold three cones full.

  Paul Revere’s Ride was a giant, antique-looking carousel. Candace hadn’t ridden on it in ten years, but now she had a chance to look at it closely. It was beautiful. Each horse was ornately carved with a saddle and bridle, and some sported roses, jewels, and armor. The “lead” horse carried a lantern in his teeth. The three-minute carousel ride started with an operator ringing a bell and shouting, “The British are coming, the British are coming!” Tinny versions of several old songs looped over the speakers, and most recognizable was “Yankee Doodle Dandy.” After a while Candace found herself humming along. She also found herself keeping a sharp eye out for a certain handsome masked stranger.

  And like magic, he appeared. Candace blinked, thinking for a moment he was a figment of her imagination. But there he was, walking toward her, larger than life.

  He stopped in front of her and just stared at her for a moment, a little smile twisting the corners of his mouth.

  “Can I help you?” she blurted out.

  “You sure can,” he said. “I’m looking for a young lady to take out to dinner tonight, and I was wondering if you knew of any young ladies who were free for dinner and not adverse to being seen in public with the likes of me?”

  Over the sudden pounding of her heart, Candace thought she had just heard him ask her out. Be cool, be cool, she told herself. Think of something clever.

  “That’s me.” Smooth, Candace, real smooth.

  “Wonderful. What time are you available?”

  “I get off at five, but I’d like to go home and change,” she said, pointing to her pink-striped blouse.

  “Shall I pick you up at six thirty then?”

  She nodded. From somewhere he produced a pen and paper and she wrote down her address and phone number.

  “Until tonight then,” he said, giving her a bow.

  “Yes,” she said, breathlessly.

  He moved on then, walking past her cart. It was then that she noticed that her cart was parked in the middle of the road on which he had been walking. She was literally in his path! She laughed out loud and patted the cotton candy cart. “You did just fine, thank you.”

  8

  Candace couldn’t focus the rest of the morning. When Martha finally relieved her for lunch, an hour late, she raced toward the Splash Zone. Josh saw her coming from a ways off and waved to her.

  “Guess what?” she said.

  He looked at her closely, squinting. “Well, either you just got named Referee of the Month or Kurt asked you out.”

  “Kurt. Me. Asked.”

  “Awesome! And when is the happy date?”

  “Tonight!” she squealed.

  “Dude doesn’t waste time. Where are you going?”

  “I don’t know. He didn’t say. He’s picking me up at my house at six thirty.”

  “Sweet. You’ll have to tell me all about it tomorrow.”

  “I don’t work Wednesdays,” Candace said.

  “Then Thursday. Or you can email me. ZonerJosh at yahoo dot com.”

  “Got it,” she said. “I’m so nervous.”

  “Just be yourself — you know, the sweet Cotton Candy we’ve all come to know and love.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Come on, Josh. He barely knows me. You barely know me. How do you even know I’m sweet?”

  “Because it’s obvious. Duh. Besides, we swapped secrets. You can tell a lot about a person when you do that.”

  “Like what?” she asked.

  “Like you’re trustworthy. If you weren’t, the whole park would know my secret by now.”

  She blushed. “It’s not my secret to tell.”

  “Exactly. And that tells me that you are a good, kind person.”

  “You are something else, Josh.”

  “Thank you, I take that as a compliment. Now you better take off. I see a whole group of kids coming my way, and I can already tell you that half of them aren’t going to pass the height requirement. It could get ugly.”

  “Good luck,” she said, before heading off.

  She found she was too excited to eat her lunch, so she returned to her cart early. Martha looked at her in surprise. “You’re back early.”

  “Nothing better to do at the moment,” Candace confessed.

  “You sure? There won’t be an afternoon break.”

  “That’s okay. I’m good. Just make sure someone relieves me at five.”

  Martha looked at her closely. “Got somewhere to be tonight?”

  “I have a date,” Candace said, blushing.

  Martha smiled. “Have fun, dear. I’ll make sure you get off in time.” Martha left without warning Candace about not dating guys she wouldn’t want to marry. Candace was relieved. That would have been a lot of pressure to put on a first date.

  She thought five o’clock would never come, but it finally did, bringing Martha with it. “I brought you your check to save you some time,” Martha said, handing Candace an envelope with her name on it.

  “Great!” Candace said, eagerly tearing open the envelope. She pulled out the check. It had her name, Candace Thompson, on it. At least the accounting department got her name right! She looked at the amount. “Three hundred and ninety-six dollars. That’s it? Where did all my money go?”

  Martha laughed. “Candace, the real world. The real world, Candace,” she said as though making introductions. “Read your check stub, and it will show you where all your money
went.”

  Candace did as Martha instructed. “Why does the government need so much of my money?” she asked, bewildered. “They didn’t earn it, I did. Oh man, that stinks.”

  “Tell me about it. Now you better go on and get out of here so you’ll be ready for your date.”

  “Thanks,” Candace said, cheering up at the thought. “I’ll see you later.”

  As soon as Candace got her purse out of the Locker Room, she tried calling Tamara’s cell. “Come on, Tam, pick up.”

  The phone rang several times before going to her voicemail.

  “Tam, guess what? The cute guy in the Zorro costume asked me out! We’re going out tonight. Call and help me figure out what to wear.” She slipped the phone and the check into her purse and headed for the car.

  Once home, she raced up the stairs and peeled off her uniform, then threw open her closet doors and stared in dismay at her wardrobe. She picked up her phone and called Tamara again. “Please, Tam. I’ve got an hour and I don’t know what to wear. Call soon.”

  She stood in front of the closet touching first one thing and then another. Finally she threw herself down on her bed and grabbed her stuffed bear.

  “Mr. Huggles, what am I going to wear?” she asked him. He stared back at her with his warm, supportive eyes but seemed to have nothing to say on the matter. He was much better at protecting her from monsters than helping her deal with boys. She hadn’t even thought to ask Kurt where they were going, so she had no idea how casual or how fancy to dress up.

  Tamara would know. Tamara could tell her exactly what to wear, if only she would call. Candace grabbed her phone and flipped it open, just to make sure she didn’t have the phone on vibrate. Nope. It wasn’t, and there were no voice or text messages for her. There was no help for it; she had no way of knowing when Tamara was going to call.

  She heard the front door open and the click of her mom’s heels in the entryway. She got up and crossed to her door. “Mom, could you come help me, please?”

  There was a pause from downstairs and then she heard her mom’s steps on the stairs. “Is everything okay?”