The Summer of Cotton Candy (23 page)

“You excited about tonight?” her dad asked.

“Nervous more than anything,” she admitted.

“Maybe it won’t be as bad as you think,” her mom said.

“The best thing you can do is try to have fun no matter who’s on your team. Just give the best you can. No one can ask anything more,” her dad encouraged.

“Thanks,” she said, feeling a little bit better despite her misgivings.

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 returned 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.

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?