After she finished eating, she decided to head to the park. At least she would be there and settled instead of home pacing the floor. When she reached the park, she found everything in a fever pitch. The normal referee entrance was closed, and the security guard standing there was directing everyone around to the main entrance.
The park had closed to players at six. Referees, mascots, and corporate types were all being corralled into the Home Stretch at the front of the park. A rope stretched across the far end of the area, cutting off access to the rest of the park. Security staff who were not participating in the Hunt guarded the rope and roved through the park making safety checks and assisting in the planting of clues.
The only other member of her team who was already there was Roger. He was sitting, pale and nervous-looking, at one of the tables in front of the ice-cream parlor. She joined him. “How you doing?” she asked.
“I’m okay,” he said.
“Anything happened yet?”
He shook his head. “They rounded us all up over here. That was about half an hour ago. People keep arriving, but there haven’t been any announcements yet or anything.”
“You haven’t seen Sue, Pete, or Lisa have you?”
“Didn’t you hear about Lisa?”
“No, what?”
“She left work early, stomach flu.”
“Yes!” Candace shouted.
Roger jumped but everyone else around seemed to ignore her. “What is it?” he asked.
“A miracle. We’re David, and Josh’s team is Goliath. And now for the first time, I actually believe we can slay that giant.”
“Really? I’m not sure how, especially now that we only have four people. That’s one less mind to think and remember and figure stuff out. We’re almost guaranteed to lose.”
Candace threw her arms around him in a spontaneous hug. “We’re not going to lose, Roger. Just you wait and see. David was small but he put everything in God’s hands. We may not win, but let’s play like we can.”
“Wow,” Josh said, walking up. “You seem to have caught the spirit.”
Candace hugged him next. “Lisa’s sick. Isn’t that the best news you’ve ever heard?”
“No, but I take it that’s the best news you ever had,” Josh said, laughing and hugging her back.
“I’m not going to die! And our team’s going to win!”
“Wow, that’s pretty tough talk from a team that’s down one member. Care to up the wager?”
“Nope, pizza will be enough of a victory prize for me,” she said.
Josh blinked in surprise. “My gosh, you’re confident.”
“What’s going on?” Becca asked, walking over.
Becca had been avoiding Candace ever since her co-workers threatened Candace. Candace jumped to hug Becca as well. “Dear, sugar-addicted Becca. My team’s going to win!”
Becca laughed. “Are you sure you’re not the one who’s on some sort of sugar rush?”
“No sugar, just faith. That’s all David needed, and that’s all we need.”
“Is she making any sense to anyone?” Roger asked, bewildered-sounding.
“She is to me,” Sue said quietly, having slipped up unnoticed.
Candace hugged her too. Before she could say anything, though, Sue said, “I heard. We’re going to win.”
“Yes, isn’t that great?”
The Home Stretch was getting really packed as more and more people showed up. Everyone moved quickly, finding their teammates and huddling with them. Soon Becca moved off to find her team. Josh’s team gravitated to him. They were all wearing zippered sweatshirts. Once they were all together, they unzipped them to reveal matching T-shirts underneath that said We Want Pizza!
“Sorry, couldn’t resist,” Josh said with a smirk.
Candace stuck her tongue out at him before sitting back down next to Roger and Sue. “So, how exactly is this played?” she asked.
“I’ll tell you how it’s played,” a deep, craggy voice answered. Candace looked up and saw Pete standing there, glaring at them. “Hard and fast.”
He pulled up the remaining chair at their table and sat down. “Usually the first thing they give you is a list of questions you have to find the answers to. When you do, you turn your list in to your designated Game Master and they give you a clue. That clue will take you somewhere in the park where you’ll find your next clue, and that will lead to your next. Each team gets the same number of questions and the same number of clues. But not everyone gets the same ones, or if they do, in the same order. The first team to complete their challenge and make it back here to the Home Stretch wins.”
He looked slowly around the table at each of them. “I’ve been on the winning team the last four years. I hope you’ve all been paying careful attention to everything you’ve seen in this park.”
“What are the boundaries?” Sue asked.
“You can only go where players can go. No going off field.”
The crowd began to quiet suddenly. Candace stood up and tried to see, but there were too many people in the way. Finally, she heard a woman’s voice, which she recognized as Martha’s, coming through a bullhorn.
“Okay hunters, if you haven’t found your group, report to the nearest Game Master. We’re the ones wearing the red sweat suits. I want you to form rows, starting here at the front. Teams 1 – 10 make up the first row. Teams 11 – 20 make up the second row, and so on. Once you’re lined up, Game Masters will be by to tie you to your teammates. If, during the course of the Hunt you need to use the restroom, report to the restroom by the Painting Wall in the Kids Zone, by Kowabunga in the Splash Zone, or by The Temple of Hermes in Greece. There Game Masters will assist you in disconnecting and reconnecting from your teammates. Any other disconnecting is forbidden. Any team found without all its members connected will be instantly disqualified. Now take your places.”
“What number are we?” Candace asked.
“One hundred forty-three, all the way back by the gates,” Pete said. “Now would be the time to use the restroom. Go now or forever hold your —”
“Eew!” Candace and Sue burst out together. Then they both took off running to the bathroom by the front gate. A minute later they returned to stand next to Roger and Pete in the last row.
A Game Master came up to them after a couple of minutes. “Team number?”
“Team 143,” Candace spoke up.
“Names?”
“Roger.”
“Sue.”
“Pete.”
She hesitated only a moment and then said, “Candy.” It was her theme-park name, and it was time to embrace it.
“I have Lisa down as home with the stomach flu. That puts you a man down.”
They nodded. She handed them each a heavy nylon belt which they buckled around their waists. Each belt had a solid ring on the front of it, and through this ring on each of their belts she passed a rope, allowing for about two feet of slack between each of them. She tied the rope off on the two end rings. Pete was on one end, with Candace next to him, Roger on her other side, and Sue on the other end. How she got stuck between Pete and Roger she wasn’t entirely certain, but the deed was done.
Martha hailed them all again through the bullhorn. “Your list of questions is being passed out to you now. Do not open them. On my signal, the front row will open their lists and begin their Hunt. After one minute, on my signal the second row will open their lists and begin their Hunt, and so on. Each row’s starting time will be noted and taken into consideration when making the final tallies.”
That meant that Candace’s team would be starting fifteen minutes after the front row, where Josh and his team were. Two rows ahead of her, Candace saw Becca with her teammates. They looked like people from the bakery; Candace recognized Gib.
She didn’t know which row Kurt and his team were in. She didn’t even know who was on his team, but she thought it might be some of his roommates. It would make sense.
The Game Master returne
d to their row, and Candace was shocked to see that she carried a box with cotton candy in it. The exact same cones that she and Sue had been making up earlier. She heard Sue groan.
“No way,” Candace said. “Martha had us making those up all morning. She said it was for a big game over at the stadium.”
Pete laughed. “Every year it’s always something clever, and every year they pick new refs to do their dirty work unknowingly.” When the Game Master reached them, Candace took the cotton candy. It was only right.
Martha went at it again with the bullhorn. “Okay, first row. Go!”
Shouts filled the air, and Candace counted three balls of pink sugary fluff as they were tossed into the air. “How rude!” She had worked hard to create that; someone should at least have the decency to eat it.
“The questions are wrapped inside the cone,” Pete said.
“So I figured.”
“Row two. Go!”
More cotton candy went flying. The remaining rows took three quick strides forward as they moved closer to the front.
By the time they sent off row five Candace’s stomach was churning with anticipation. Her hands had started to sweat, and she wiped them impatiently on her jeans.
By the time row ten was off her hands had started to shake, and her breathing was becoming ragged. She saw now why everybody signed up in March. It wasn’t to get a good team, it was to get good line space. Having to wait was unbearable, and the tension mounted as each new row was sent off.
“Row twelve. Off!”
They all stepped forward, and now Candace saw that Becca’s row was at the front. She also noted that unlike the others, Becca’s team had no cotton candy. She stared, trying to figure out how that was going to work. Suddenly a security guard stepped forward and handed an envelope to Gib. He rushed to the side just as Martha yelled, “Row thirteen. Off!”
Poor Becca! She couldn’t even dream of getting at the cotton candy. Or at least, that was what Candace thought until she saw another ball of pink fluff arcing through the air, headed straight for Becca’s upraised hands. A moment before she could catch it, her team lurched forward and away from it, knocking her off balance. The man next to her physically picked her up and ran a few feet with her before dropping her. Candace’s blood chilled as she heard a terrible screech fill the air. “Give me the candy!” She shivered, remembering what the security guard had told her about last year with Becca and the Jelly Bellies.
“Row fourteen. Off!”
And suddenly they were at the front. She could see teams running for different parts of the park. Others had only gone a little way and then pulled over somewhere to read over their papers. Two of the teams in row fourteen collided with the group from the bakery, and Candace saw Becca reaching for someone’s cotton candy.
She forced her eyes to the cotton candy in her own shaking hands. And finally, she heard, “Row fifteen. Off!”
She tore open the bag. Her cotton candy tumbled to the ground to join so many others, and suddenly she didn’t care because she had the stick, and as she unwound it, a piece of paper came loose and she could see the first question.
21
They all crowded in around her to read the paper in her hand.
Question One: How many men signed the Declaration of Independence?
“Fifty-six!” Candace shrieked. Sue handed her a pen and she wrote it down, silently thanking Kurt’s history lessons.
Around them teams were running like crazy, shouting questions to each other and arguing about the answers. Candace forced herself to tune it all out and focus on the words before her.
Question Two: How many sit-down restaurants are in the History Zone?
“We need to find a map,” Sue said.
“No, we just need to think,” Candace said. “There’s Aphrodite’s.”
“King Tut’s,” Roger said.
“No, that’s a buffet, that doesn’t count as sit-down,” Pete pointed out.
“There’s King Richard’s Feast in the medieval area, that makes two,” Candace said. “At Poor Richard’s Pub you order at the bar, so that doesn’t count.”
“Smith’s Tea Shoppe is table ser vice if you’re having high tea,” Pete pointed out.
“Okay, we’ll count that one as three,” Candace said. “That leaves the Wild West area. The Chuck Wagon and the Saloon aren’t table ser vice. So, three?”
“Isn’t there a restaurant on top of the fort?” Sue asked.
“Yes, Boone’s. It’s not open to the public, though,” Pete pointed out.
“I say we count it,” Sue said.
“So, four for sure,” Roger said.
Candace wrote down three open to the public plus Boone’s. Everybody nodded agreement.
Question Three: How many types of muffins are on the menu at the Muffin Mansion?
“We better get over there and count,” Pete said.
“No, hang on, I know this,” Candace said. What was it Becca had told her that first day they’d met?
“Seventeen! No, wait. That was before the poppy seed ones.”
“Do they still carry those?” Roger asked skeptically. “After all the trouble they caused.”
“I think so.”
“But you’re not sure?”
Candace shook her head. And then they all turned and looked at Pete.
“We have to save time on running if we possibly can. Put down eighteen including poppy seed,” Pete said.
Candace wrote that down.
Question Four: Name four mascots from the History Zone.
Candace didn’t even stop to talk. She just wrote: Zorro, the Lone Ranger, Robin Hood, and Ben Franklin.
Question Five: Besides sports cards and memorabilia, what personal item can you get at the Dug Out?
“Oh, that’s me!” said Roger. “It’s vanity cards with your picture and stats on them.”
Candace wrote that down. They were halfway through, and so far they hadn’t had to go looking for an answer. She hoped their luck held.
Question Six: What is the actual name of the Twirl and Hurl?
“Oh, I know, Atomic Coaster!” Sue said.
“Correction, it’s The Atomic Coaster,” Roger said.
Candace wrote it down.
Question Seven: How many women’s restrooms are open to players?
“Twenty-seven and I clean every dang one of them!” Sue shouted.
Question Eight: How many train cars total are used in The Zone?
“Twenty-two,” Pete said.
Candace wrote it down.
Question Nine: What is the song that plays in the Kids Zone?
“I Want Candy!” she screamed while writing it down.
Question Ten: Where can you see the Founding Fathers?
“The colonial area,” Roger said.
“Too obvious,” Pete said.
“Oh, I know. That’s the show at the big theater in the Holiday Zone!” Candace said.
She wrote down Holiday Zone Theater.
There was one last line on the paper.
GO THERE!!
“What does that mean?” Candace asked.
“It means, run!” Pete yelled, already in motion.
In a moment they were all running toward the Holiday Zone as fast as they could. When they reached the theater, the main doors were open and they dashed inside. On the stage was a Game Master, sitting in a chair and calmly waiting.
“Team number?” she asked, as they thrust their sheet of paper at her.
“Team 143,” Roger said. Candace glanced sideways at him, amazed that he had run all that way without incident.
The woman wrote their team number on the top of the page and then picked up an envelope from a stack. She wrote something else down on the paper before handing them the envelope.
“How many teams before us?” Pete asked.
“Only one. From now on, you’ll be following Treasure Track 5B. Good luck.”
They ran back outside and then stopped as Pete ripp
ed open the envelope. They read the message in bold letters: Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. And all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t write Humpty Dumpty again.
“There’s nothing about Humpty Dumpty in this park,” Roger said.
“Maybe it has something to do with fairy tales,” Pete suggested.
“It’s wrong,” Sue said. “It should end with ‘couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty back together again.’ The ‘couldn’t write Humpty Dumpty again’ is wrong.”
There was something tickling at the back of Candace’s brain. She could feel it, but couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
“Maybe it’s in some kind of code,” Roger suggested. “Or maybe only some of the words mean something.”
“That’s it — the word write — I wouldn’t expect it to be spelled that way. That doesn’t mean to set him right, but to write something about him.”
“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, fell off, and they couldn’t write anything more about him. What does that mean?” Pete asked.
“I think Roger is correct. There are only two words here that are really important: write and wall. It’s the Painting Wall!” Candace said.
They turned and raced to the Kids Zone, dodging several other teams as they went. There on the Painting Wall was stuck an envelope marked 5B. Candace grabbed it and tore it open.
She read, “He rode fast, long, and hard, and yet he did not carry this sword.”
“Oh, oh, I got it!” Sue shrieked. “The sword… King Arthur… the one in the stone that you have to pull out!”
There was a moment of silence before Pete grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. “Pull yourself together, woman, that’s at Disneyland!”
“He rode fast! It’s got to be something to do with Paul Revere!” Roger yelled.
Before he could finish his sentence, they were all off running. There was a jerk and the rope stretched taut before Roger starting running too. They ran toward the History Zone, all four abreast. They entered the medieval area and then raced along the edge of the river until Paul Revere’s Ride came into sight.
“Now what?” Sue asked as they came to a halt in front of the carousel.
“Does one of the horses have a sword carved into the saddle?” Candace asked.
The Summer of Cotton Candy Page 16