The Fall of Candy Corn (18 page)

“Are those bite marks?” Candace asked in horror.

“Aye. She left her mark on each of us. And we vowed on that day to never let her step foot inside this park if she could reach sugar again. Little Becca spent two days in the hospital recovering from the shock of the sugar. The park spent two weeks recovering from the shock of the events and repairing the damage. And that's why we call it Sugar Shock.”

Candace just stared at him in horror. So many questions were racing through her mind. All she knew for certain was that The Zone had to be a magical place for that little girl to ever want to come back and for those brave, tormented referees to welcome her with open arms. If that wasn't love, she didn't know what was.

“The Muffin Mansion takes care of its own,” she whispered.

“Aye.”

Candace was starting to get desperate when she headed for the Game Zone. She had managed to get only a couple more volunteers, and she was running out of options.

She walked into the Dug Out and found Roger there.

“What are you doing here? I thought you were just working Scare,” she said, confused.

He indicated to her that he was not wearing a uniform. “I'm here as a player. I'm buying my cousin a birthday present.”

“Oh, cool. Can I talk to you for a second?”

“Sure, what's up?”

“I don't know if you've heard, but I'm helping to run Sugar Shock this year.”

“I did hear. That's totally cool.”

“You know what would be even cooler?

“What?”

“If you volunteered to work it.”

“Okay.”

“Really?” she asked, surprised.

“Yes.”

“Thank you! That would be awesome!”

“Having a hard time getting people to say yes?”

“How'd you guess?”

“Word gets around.”

“Has word gotten around about anybody who might be willing to volunteer?” she asked hopefully.

“No. I'll make you a deal, though,” he said.

“What?”

Suddenly he started blushing fiercely. “I'll get you nine other guys if you find out for me if Becca has a boyfriend.”

“Seriously?” Candace asked.

“Yeah.”

“Deal,” she said, shaking his hand.

She didn't know which amazed her more, that he would ask her to find out if Becca had a boyfriend, which felt like a very third-grade request to her, or that he would volunteer nine of his friends for the information.

She went immediately to the Muffin Mansion to track down Becca. She found her and the other pirates in high spirits as they were getting ready for the evening to start.

“Hey, Candace!” Becca said, waving furiously.

“Hey, Becca. Can I see you a sec?”

Becca came over. “What's up?”

“I'm not going to beat around the bush. Someone asked me to find out if you have a boyfriend.”

Becca smiled. “That's valuable information. What are they offering in exchange for it?”

“Nine of their friends as volunteers for Sugar Shock.”

Becca's eyes went wide. “Nine?”

“Nine,” Candace confirmed.

“You can tell this person that I don't have a boyfriend.”

“Do you want to know who's asking?” Candace said.

“No,” Becca said with an impish smile. “It's more fun this way.”

“If you say so,” Candace said, shaking her head. “Thanks for the information.”

“You're welcome,” Becca said before disappearing back into the pirate horde.

Eager to seal the deal, Candace hurried back to the Game Zone where she found Roger right before he entered the maze. “Roger!”

“Yes?” he asked, looking nervous.

“No boyfriend.”

He broke out into a huge grin. “You're sure?”

“I'm sure. You owe me nine other volunteers.”

“You'll have them,” he assured her.

Candace headed for the castle. Now, if only she could find a few other people willing to volunteer their friends, she'd be doing well.

Once inside the Comfort Zone, she taped her list of names to one of the walls.

“It's a start,” Martha said when she perused the list a few minutes later.

“So, what's supposed to happen at Sugar Shock?” Candace asked.

“Generally only a few rides are open. Referees are stationed throughout the park at tables with big bowls of candy they pass out to the trick-or-treaters.”

“That's it?”

“Isn't that enough?” Martha asked. “We have a hard enough time pulling just that off every year.”

“Doesn't Freddie McFly make an appearance?”

“Yeah, he and Mr. Nine Lives do a walk around, signing autographs. Plus they do a little improv show.”

“Not a big show?”

Martha shook her head. “They do the big show on Scare nights, so they have to save their energy for that.”

“Well, that's sad.”

Martha shrugged. “Sugar Shock is more of the afterthought of the holiday. Most of the time, money, and personnel gets funneled into Scare.”

“Speaking of money, do we have any so that we could buy props or stuff besides candy?”

“A little. Why? What are you thinking?”

“I know we don't have a lot of time, but I think this year Sugar Shock needs to be more of an event than an afterthought.”

“Just tell me what you want to do,” Martha said.

15

Candace was waiting when the train rolled into the station. Pete opened the door of the engine and looked down at her first in surprise and then in resignation. She knew he was taking the train on a test run to check the repaired brakes, and she had waited for just this moment.

“You know why I'm here,” Candace said, locking eyes with him.

“Yeah, I reckon I do,” he said with a heavy sigh.

“You had to know this day was coming,” she continued.

“I'd have been a fool not to,” he said.

“And nobody takes you for a fool, Pete.”

“What do I have to do?”

“Run the train. Pass out candy.”

“Is that it?”

“That's enough,” she said.

“All right then.”

“All right.” He climbed back aboard the train and pulled slowly out of the station.

“That's one more happy volunteer,” Candace said to herself. She had already secured quite a few.

She moved on, heading for her next scheduled stop. Dealing with Roger had taught her something. People would volunteer for a price. Know their price and you had them. It was pretty mercenary, but she had the Halloween dreams of little kids to fulfill and very little time to do it.

She checked the schedule printout in her hand and made her way to the Thrill Zone. Once there, it was easy to find the cart she was looking for.

“Megan,” Candace said, as she approached the candy corn vendor.

“Yes?” Megan asked.

“How would you like to work the rest of Scare as a vendor?” Candace asked.

“Do you mean it?” Megan asked excitedly.

“Yes. You can work the remaining nights of Scare.”

“That would be awesome! What's the catch?”

Candace smiled. “You have to volunteer to work Sugar Shock.”

Megan's smile faltered for a moment, but was soon back in place. “You have yourself a deal.”

“Great, finish your shift today, then report to cart storage tomorrow night at six thirty.”

Megan gave her a brief salute, and Candace turned away to hide her smile. Martha and Candace had worked it out that Megan could take Candace's hours since Candace was going to have to put in so much time to finish organizing Sugar Shock. This way, everyone won.

She checked her list and headed for the Exploration Zone.

Gib was locking the door of the Muffin Mansion when Candace made her presence known. She cleared her throat loudly, and he turned to look at her in surprise.

“Candace?”

“Gib, I'm going to be straight with you, because you've always been straight with me.”

He paled as though he sensed what was coming.

“I need five more volunteers.”

“That does sound like a problem,” he said, fidgeting.

“It is. A big problem. I need to find five volunteers someplace. Either that or I need one volunteer with the strength of five,” she said meaningfully.

He turned even paler and lowered his gaze. “I'll get you five,” he said, in a whisper.

“I appreciate that, Gib. And I'm sure I speak on behalf of the entire park when I say thank you.”

He nodded and she went on her way.

Now that she had all her volunteers, there was only one nagging thought left. Would any of them actually show?

Candace awoke with a start. It was Friday morning, and she had just fallen asleep for the third time while taking her history test. She yawned and picked up her pencil off the ground yet again. She glanced up to see her teacher scowling at her. She ducked her head and continued on with her test.

She finished just before the bell rang. After she turned it in, she brought her permission slip to the front of the class. His was the only signature she had left to get. Sugar Shock was a day event, and in order to be there she would have to miss school. So far only one of her teachers had even bothered to look at the paper before signing it.

He took the paper and read it over. His perpetual scowl deepened, and he looked at her over the rims of his glasses.

“School is more important than Halloween,” he lectured her.

“But, it's for my job. I'm in charge of one of the Halloween events at The Zone,” she explained.

“A theme park. Such foolishness. It would be better if you got a job as a secretary, somewhere where you could learn real skills that mean something.”

She folded her arms across her chest. His was the last signature she needed, and she wasn't about to let a cranky, creaky history teacher get in her way.

“You know that Colonial America paper of mine that you liked so well?”

“Yes! Fine piece of work, good research. That's the kind of thing you should be focusing on.”

“You know where I got all my information?”

He shook his head.

“The History Zone.”

She stared into his eyes. He looked away first. He cleared his throat awkwardly. “You know, I haven't been to a theme park since I was a boy. Maybe it's time to go again.”

“I would be happy to give you a tour of the entire History Zone,” she said.

He signed her paper and handed it to her. “Good luck running your event. I just might take you up on that offer one of these days.”

“That would be fine,” she said. “Have a good evening.”

“You too,” he said, still not looking her in the eyes.

“Thank you,” she said. She turned and left the classroom. Once outside she realized that her heart was pounding and her hands were shaking. She had done it though. She had all the signatures she needed.

“Sugar Shock, here I come.”