The Summer of Cotton Candy Page 4

  The cart had almost reached the other side. She couldn’t lose it. Besides, the train was far enough away that it should be safe to cross. She stepped forward and instantly the train began to accelerate towards her. She jumped forward and tried to push at the cart — for the moment more terrified of something happening to it and her employer trying to take it out of her salary than concerned for her own well-being.

  She could hear the train bearing down on her, the whistle piercing the air around her and making her head throb. And suddenly she was sure she was going to die. Two more jumps and she would be safe. She sprang, but her foot caught in the track and she started to fall. Twisting, she grabbed hold of the cart. She kicked her foot free and the cart dragged her off the tracks, banging her ankles hard against the pavement.

  She and the cart reached the other side and the train roared past. Candace let go of the cart and fell onto her hands and knees. She twisted around to a sitting position and, raising her fist, shook it at the retreating caboose. She just wanted to sit and cry. She glanced down and saw that her ankles were bleeding. Unswayed by ankles and trains, the cart continued on its way. She scrambled to her feet and followed it, limping, until it came to a stop just inside the Game Zone.

  Looking around at the kids in their baseball hats and the harried fathers trying to win stuffed animals and other prizes, she saw where everyone from the Exploration Zone had ended up.

  And they all wanted cotton candy. Candy held up a hand to fend them off. She was still bleeding, and there was no way she was dispensing sticky sugary goodness in that state. Now that the cart was stable, it was seemingly easy to find the red button. And to their credit, security was there inside twenty seconds.

  The lead guard took one look at her, called something in on his radio, and took charge of the situation. “This cart is temporarily closed,” he told the gathering crowd.

  His partner, a guy that reminded her vaguely of some TV cop, put an arm around her and moved her quickly away. “It’s off to the nurse with you,” he said.

  Fortunately, the nurse’s station wasn’t that far away, and Candace soon found herself sitting on a table while a grandmotherly sort swabbed and bandaged her cuts and scrapes.

  “And just what happened to you, dear?” the woman asked sympathetically.

  Candace blurted out the whole story. To her relief she did so without crying, although she could feel her lower lip trembling.

  “They put those new carts in last year. They’re all computer controlled. When they decide business is slow and another location would be better, they move on their own. There’s nothing you can do to stop them,” the woman explained. “Someone should have warned you about that,” she sighed. “I think it’s become a bit of a prank to play on newcomers not to tell them.”

  “It’s mean,” Candace said.

  “Yes. It’s just lucky you weren’t injured more seriously by the cart or the train.” She gave Candace a cup of water and some aspirin. “Honestly, that man’s a menace. I’m surprised they let him play with those two trains. Eleven cars each — that’s an accident waiting to happen. I wouldn’t trust him with a toy train around the Christmas tree.

  “Now you just lie down and get some rest. I’ll be back to check on you.”

  Candace lay down and shut her eyes. She tried not to think about what had happened, but instead thought about meeting Tamara for dinner at Rigatoni’s. She was supposed to get off at nine and meet Tamara at their favorite Italian restaurant at nine fifteen. She knew it would be cutting it close, but Rigatoni’s was only a couple of blocks from the park. The park was going to be open until eleven, and she was glad she wasn’t stuck there that late. Then again, she was injured, so maybe that meant she could go early. Within minutes she was asleep.

  “Dear, are you okay?” It was the nurse’s voice, and Candace could feel her shaking her shoulder.

  Candace sat up groggily. “What time is it?” she asked.

  “It’s almost eleven. The park’s about to close. Do you feel well enough to get home by yourself, or do you need me to have someone take you home?”

  Candace sat straight up. “Eleven? Tamara!”

  She thanked the concerned-looking nurse before stumbling out of bed. She headed for the Locker Room, where she had stowed her purse and cell phone. Once she had them, she flipped open her cell and saw that she had six missed calls, all from Tamara.

  She groaned and dialed her number.

  “Hey, Tam, where are you?” Candace asked when Tamara picked up.

  There was a long pause on the other end. “Well, I’ll tell you where I’m not. I’m not eating dinner at Rigatoni’s by myself because I finished eating dinner there by myself over an hour ago.”

  Candace winced. “I am so sorry. My cart went crazy and the railroad guy tried to kill me, and I’ve been in the infirmary.”

  “Are you okay?” Tamara asked.

  “Yes, I think so.”

  “I am still mad at you,” Tamara admitted.

  “I’m sorry. I can’t have my cell phone on me in the park, and when I got hurt they took me straight to the nurse.”

  “Well, I guess that’s not your fault.”

  “Do you forgive me?”

  “Yes, but I’m still mad.”

  “That’s okay,” Candace said.

  “I left you messages.”

  “I saw, but I haven’t listened to them yet. I called you first.”

  “Well, don’t listen to the sixth one.”

  “Okay.”

  “Come to think of it, not the fourth one either.”

  “Okay.”

  “In fact, just erase them all.”

  “Consider it done.”

  “Okay.”

  “So, are we good?” Candace asked.

  “Yeah, we’re good. We can go have some ice cream,” Tamara suggested.

  “But I haven’t had dinner yet,” Candace protested.

  “In that case you’ll have a banana split,” Tamara said.

  “Fair enough.”

  Twenty minutes later, seated across from Tamara at Big D’s ice cream shop, Candace still felt awful. They gave their orders to the waitress and Candace began to sip her water, waiting for Tamara to speak first.

  “I told you this was going to happen,” she finally said.

  “I know,” Candace answered.

  “It’s going to be like this all summer.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Then quit,” Tamara said. “This is so not worth it.”

  “I can’t.”

  Tamara held up a hand. “Your expenses are covered.”

  “Come on, Tam, you can’t support me the rest of my life,” Candace protested.

  Tamara looked like she was about to contradict her, so Candace hurried on. “And even if you could, I wouldn’t want you to. Sooner or later I’m going to have to get a job. Sure, this one has its problems, but I think I need to give it more than two days. I mean, sooner or later I’ll get the hang of it.”

  “If this is about that guy, then just give him your phone number.”

  Candace could feel herself starting to get angry. Tamara didn’t understand, and she didn’t seem to want to try to either. “This is not about a guy. This is about my life and my future. How am I going to live in the real world if I can’t handle one stupid summer job?”

  Tamara studied her for a moment before saying, “You sound like your mother.”

  “Well, as much as I hate to admit it, she has to make sense sometimes, and this is one of those things. Please, please, please. I have to try and get through this. Can’t you just try and support me emotionally?”

  Tamara gave an exaggerated sigh, complete with a full eye roll. “Fine. I mean, if I don’t who will?”

  “That’s what I’m talking about,” Candace said. It seemed like a hugging kind of moment but the table was in the way. “VH?” Candace asked.

  “VH.”

  VH stood for virtual hug, something they had made up when
actual hugs were not possible. It was usually a phone thing, but it worked just as well now, and Candace could already feel her mood improving. She saw the waitress headed towards their table, and she picked up her spoon in anticipation. “Banana split, you are all mine.”

  “I want to quit,” Candace wailed.

  Martha patted her shoulder sympathetically. “There, there, dear. It will be all right.”

  “But you weren’t there yesterday, Martha. It was terrible.”

  It had taken all of her courage to show up to work. She hadn’t wanted to. She had been sore and embarrassed and more than a little frightened. She knew there was no way she could go back later, though, if she called in sick for a few days.

  “I didn’t have to be there to understand. All of us have a story like that one — some of us more than one. It’s part of life and learning. Why, if babies stopped trying to walk the first time they fell down, the whole world would be full of people who crawled.”

  Candace smiled at the image. “It’s so hard, though.”

  “Well, if it was easy, they wouldn’t call it work, would they? You just need to stick in there. You’ll get the hang of it, I promise. And who knows, you might start to like working here. I just know that whenever you start out anywhere, it’s hard. And a theme park, fun as it is, is no exception.”

  Candace thought about it for a moment before she had to admit, “You know, Martha, you’re really smart.”

  “Comes with age and experience,” the older woman said. “Mark my words, in another week, you’ll start to feel better about all this.”

  5

  Candace had to admit that Martha was right. She had made it to the next Saturday, and things were starting to feel easier. The scratches on her ankles had healed, and she was starting to feel like she was getting the hang of the cotton candy cart. It had moved two more times on her now, and she had walked calmly beside it to the new locations without incident.

  Better yet, she was beginning to appreciate the freedom that came with working a cart instead of one of the attractions. The biggest advantage was that you never knew where you would be next. After spending the previous day stuck in the Game Zone and listening to the sounds of all the midway games — loud music, popping balloons, buzzers, and the other dozen things mixed in — she was glad for a change of pace. It was with relief that she found out she’d be spending the day in the History Zone. The History Zone was broken into five sections: Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, Medieval Europe, Colonial America, and the Old West. Her first stop of the day was in the medieval area.

  The medieval area of the History Zone was one of Candace’s favorite parts of the park. The fairy-tale castle wrapped around a courtyard where vendors sold fresh apples with slices of cheese and a caramel dipping sauce, roasted turkey legs, and a variety of princess- and dragon-themed merchandise. Inside the castle you could visit Marion’s Shop, which was filled with everything a little girl could want, or Prince John’s Ill-Gotten Gains, where young Robin Hoods could find all the plunder they dreamed of.

  The castle walls extended along a massive banquet hall that was home to King Richard’s Feast. Diners ate family style at the long tables and joined King Richard in a celebration of the engagement of Robin Hood and Maid Marion. There were four seatings a day during the summer: at eleven, two, five, and eight. Candace had celebrated several of her birthdays there when she was younger.

  An archway in the other castle wall led to the entrance of A Very Grimm Adventure: a dark ride through the twisted tales of the Brothers Grimm. The ride was much more frightening than any of the fairy-tale rides in the Kids Zone. As a little girl it had always scared Candace, and she had loved every minute of it.

  Outside the castle walls was an area where everyone in the family could try their hand at archery. Farther on was the forest that was the home of the Merry Men. Players took a coach ride through the forest and were stopped by Robin’s band of thieves who would playfully harass the passengers.

  Through the month of July the medieval area was host to the Lady-in-Waiting and Squire Training Camps, which were half-day camps for kids under the age of twelve. In this training camp, boys and girls would learn all the skills they needed to be the perfect squire to a knight or lady-in-waiting to a princess. When she was ten, Candace had spent a whole week one summer in Lady-in-Waiting Training Camp.

  The cart was set up close to the archery range, where players were honing their skills with bows and arrows under the tutelage of Robin Hood himself. Candace strained to get a better glimpse of the green-clad figure but couldn’t tell if he was the same guy she had a crush on.

  “Hey, Candace!” She turned to see Becca approaching with a small bakery bag in her hand.

  “Hi, Becca,” Candace called, smiling.

  “Still haven’t gotten your new name tag yet?” she asked.

  Candace shook her head. “I’ve been promised that I’ll get it soon.”

  “You better, otherwise your name will permanently be Cotton Candy.”

  “Great.”

  “Here, I brought you a muffin. It’s a new kind we’re trying out at the bakery, and lots of people are hooked.”

  “Thanks,” Candace said, taking the bag and stowing it away to eat on her break. She grabbed a stick and swirled it around in the vat until she had a fluffy mound of pink to hand to Becca.

  “Awesome,” Becca said as she took the cotton candy.

  “This is getting to be a regular thing with us,” Candace noted.

  Becca nodded, her eyes wide. She stepped closer to Candace and lowered her voice. “I was thinking we could make this a permanent arrangement.”

  Something in her voice creeped Candace out, although she wasn’t sure why. When she was a kid, a traveling evangelist had done a revival at her church. She remembered the way his eyes had glittered and how much he had overwhelmed her with the sheer force of his belief. Becca had that same look in her eyes. The only word that Candace could think of to describe it was obsession.

  “Um, sure,” Candace said, holding up her hand as though to fend off an attack.

  “Awwwesome,” Becca said, dragging the word out. She turned and walked away, clutching her cotton candy in her fist. Candace shuddered as she watched her go.

  Once Becca was out of sight, Candace returned her attention to the archery area. She was startled to discover that Robin Hood was headed her way.

  She got a good look at his face. He was Orlando-Bloom handsome. With the dark hair and crackling eyes, he was more like Orlando Bloom in Pirates of the Caribbean than in Lord of the Rings. Several clusters of girls scattered throughout the area stopped to stare and point. From the way her heart started pounding, Candace knew that he was her mysterious masked stranger.

  When he stopped beside her, she felt like she couldn’t breathe as she stared up at him.

  “Milady,” he said, sweeping off his cap and giving her a courtly bow. When he straightened and put the cap on, his eyes met hers and she felt dizzy. “You are both fair and highly skilled,” he said, indicating the vat of cotton candy.

  “Thank you, good sir,” she said, struggling to play along. She knew mascots were rigorously trained so that they could stay in character at all times. As a lowly cart operator, she lacked such training and realized she would be lucky to remember her own name. Fortunately his admiring female worshipers were standing far enough away that they couldn’t hear what was being said. Candace did have the distinct, unnerving sensation of being onstage, though.

  “We haven’t been formally introduced. I’m Kurt,” he said.

  “Not Robin Hood, then?” she asked, beginning to relax a little.

  He held his finger up to his lips. “Do not give away my secret identity.”

  “Your secret is safe with me,” she said in an exaggerated whisper. “I’m Candace.”

  “Not Candy, then?”

  “No, Candace.”

  “Very good, Lady Candace. It has been a pleasure, and we shall meet again soon.”<
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  With that he swept off, and his admiring fans followed from afar.

  “He’s something, isn’t he?” Jennifer, the girl who gave Candace her breaks, said as she walked up.

  “Yes,” Candace said, not trusting herself to say more.

  “It’s hard to believe a guy like that ever went out with Lisa.”

  Candace felt something twist in her stomach. “Lisa, the cotton candy operator?”

  “One and the same. There’s no accounting for taste. Rumor has it she wants to get back together.”

  “What does he want?” Candace asked.

  Jennifer shrugged. “He’s a guy. Who can tell?”

  Jennifer stepped behind the machine. “I’ve got it. Go take your break.”

  Candace remembered to grab her muffin, and she headed to the Locker Room. As soon as she was in a referee-only area, away from the eyes of the public, she tore into the muffin. It had little seeds sprinkled on the top of it and a nice lemony zest to the whole thing.

  As she ate she thought about Kurt and Lisa. Lisa already didn’t like her. What if she found out Candace had a crush on her Kurt? But who would tell her? Nobody at work knew. Then again, Candace figured that anyone witnessing their little meeting would have to be blind not to see that she liked him. She sighed. Any way she looked at it, Kurt was trouble. Cute, adorable trouble, but trouble nonetheless.

  She finished eating and had ten minutes left to her break, so she wandered over to one of the bulletin boards and began reading.

  A huge sign reminded, Don’t Forget to Sign Up with Your Team for the Scavenger Hunt. Smaller notices, some handwritten and some printed, advertised everything from Roommate Wanted to TV for Sale. She turned away and saw Josh heading toward her. She waved and he trotted over.