“Okay, then, breakfast with the dolphins at Marine Zone.”
“Sorry, work in the morning.”
“Well, then, I’d have to say pizza and a movie.”
“Sounds great! Which pizza place should I meet you at?” There was a pause and then he asked, “Are you sure I’m the one you want to celebrate with?”
“Absolutely. You’re the one that was there for me when things looked bad. You should be able to share the good times too.”
“Works for me. How about California Pizza Kitchen in thirty?”
“See you there,” she said.
It was nearly ten when Candace made it home, stuffed to the gills with gourmet pizza and carrying a to-go box with several slices in it. She had bet Josh she could eat more pizza than him and had lost by several slices. Loser brought home the leftovers, though, so it felt a lot more like winning than losing. It had felt really good just to be out and to be silly. As soon as she made it home, though, reality came crashing back in.
Her phone rang and she flipped it open without looking at the caller ID.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hi,” Tamara replied.
“Oh, hi, Tamara,” Candace said, her good mood evaporating.
“What’s up?” Tamara asked.
“I might ask you the same question, but I already know the answer,” Candace said, barely controlling her anger.
“What are you talking about?”
“Don’t act coy. I saw you this morning at the Coffee Garden with Kurt.”
“Yeah, what of it?” Tamara asked, her voice cold.
“I didn’t think you’d resort to stealing my boyfriend.”
“Stealing? Girl, you are crazy. We ran into each other and we were talking about you. Which you would have known had you bothered to come over.”
Candace was silent for a moment, pondering what she had just heard. Could it be true? If it wasn’t, why would Tamara lie when she had caught them together? Then again, why had it taken more than a day for Tamara to return any of her phone calls?
She voiced the last question. “Then why have you been avoiding me and not returning my calls?”
“I don’t owe you an explanation for anything. Besides, I’m returning your call now, aren’t I? And you know, how dare you think I would steal your guy? I’m not that kind of person, and I would have thought you of all people would know better than that.”
“Well, you’ve been doing a lot of things lately that I don’t get,” Candace said. “You’ve been blowing me off all summer.”
“I’ve been blowing you off? Please, you’re the one who’s so wrapped up in her new job and new friends that you don’t have any time for me.”
“That is not even true! And what, you want me to be miserable all day at my job and hate everyone there?”
“Yes!”
“Well maybe if you’d answer your phone once in a while you’d get to hear how crappy my life has been. Where were you when I needed you? ‘Cause you certainly weren’t anywhere to be found.”
“Tell it to one of your new friends.”
“I guess I’ll have to because it seems I lost my old one.”
“Seems so.”
“Fine,” Candace said, on the verge of tears.
“Fine,” Tamara said.
There was a click as Tamara hung up. Candace grabbed Mr. Huggles and began to cry.
13
The sun was already broiling at eight thirty in the morning, and Candace was sweating. Her pink and white-striped blouse was sticking to her uncomfortably, and she was afraid that it was starting to become semi-transparent. It was going to be one of those days, she just knew it. Josh walked by, and she envied him his shorts and tank top. “I should have signed up in March,” she muttered under her breath.
It was the Fourth of July, and for the first time her cart was in the Holiday Zone. She credited the new sights and sounds with being the only things keeping her sane in the heat. In the Holiday Zone every amusement got a holiday-themed overhaul every couple of months. The massive hedge maze was the center of The Zone, and was currently festooned with red, white, and blue bunting and patriotic quotes and slogans.
A live stage show featuring the park’s cartoon mascots Freddie McFly and the Swamp Swingers, along with Freddie’s friend Mr. Nine Lives the daredevil cat, began every hour and a half in the largest building in the Holiday Zone. The line to get in and see the air-conditioned show had already wrapped around the building. For the Fourth of July, Freddie and his gang were doing a tribute to the Founding Fathers of America. Candace couldn’t help but wonder about the founding mothers of America and whether they spent their evenings angry at their husbands for coming home late and missing dinner. She had visions of Deborah Franklin clubbing Ben over the head with her rolling pin and complaining to her friends that he was always out late plotting revolution with his buddies instead of home taking out the trash.
As the sun climbed higher in the sky, Candace became more and more uncomfortable. There was a giant shade tree fifteen feet away, but Candace couldn’t figure out how to force the cart to roll over into its shade. She tried pushing and then pulling it, but the large cart was too heavy to move. That was probably one of the reasons why it was motorized.
To make matters worse, no one came to relieve her until her lunch break. By then she was panting from the heat and fanning herself with empty cones. Her replacement turned out to be Lisa, who glared daggers at her. Candace wondered why Lisa was hopping around giving people breaks. Could this be some sort of punishment from Martha? Candace shrugged, too miserable to think about it any longer. She made her way as fast as she could offstage and headed for the cantina.
It was the first time Candace had ever actually eaten inside the cantina. She made her way to the counter, got a plate of fried chicken and potato salad, and grabbed a jumbo bottled water. The air conditioning was a blessing after the extreme heat outside. She paid for her food and then eyed the sea of tables with people sitting around them looking for an empty space. It looked like she wasn’t the only one who had opted to eat indoors in the air conditioning.
A hand went up in the air, and a moment later she recognized Sue waving her over. Candace picked her way over and gratefully sank down into the chair opposite Sue. “Thanks.”
“Not a problem. You look like you’ve been having quite the day.”
Candace shook her head. “It’s the heat. It’s brutal out there.”
Sue shook her head. “It’s the first day all summer I’ve been grateful to be cleaning restrooms. At least it’s cool.”
“Wanna trade?” Candace asked hopefully.
“Nope, it’s supposed to get hotter every day this week.”
“Great.”
“You’ve got sunscreen, right?”
“No, why?” Candace asked.
“Your arms are burnt.”
Candace looked down and discovered the telltale signs of red skin on both her arms. “Oh no.”
“They sell sunscreen in most of the shops. You should grab some before you go back out there.”
“Thanks. This is so not good,” Candace said.
“At least you caught it before it got too bad. I saw a woman in the restroom earlier who is on the fast track to a second-degree burn.”
“Eew. I guess I am lucky.”
“Definitely.”
Candace began to eat slowly. The food was good, but she was too hot to be very interested in anything but her water. Sue had returned her attention to a pile of papers she was shuffling through.
“What is that?” Candace asked finally.
“Class registration. I’m starting at Cal State in a few weeks.” “Cool. I’m thinking of going there,” Candace said. “I’m a senior this year, and I have to start applying in a couple of months.”
“It seems like a good school. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.”
“Why did you pick it?”
“I needed something close to home.” For just a momen
t the saddest expression crossed her face. Candace was about to ask her about it when Sue stood up. “Well, that was lunch,” she said, her voice cheery. “At least I can swap an air-conditioned restaurant for an air-conditioned restroom.”
“We should all be so lucky,” Candace groaned.
“Make sure you get some sunscreen on,” Sue said, gathering her papers and heading for the door.
“Sunscreen. Check.”
A few minutes later it was time for Candace to go, especially if she planned on picking up the sunscreen. She retrieved some money from her locker and stopped at the first sundry cart she passed. She bought a bottle of SPF 50 and smeared it on her arms, face, and neck. She took the bottle to her locker, used the restroom, and made it back to her cart five minutes late. Lisa gave her a dirty look.
“I didn’t get a morning break, so I’m entitled to five extra minutes,” Candace said.
She got another dirty look before Lisa trudged off. “And if she has anything to say about it, I won’t be getting an afternoon break, either,” Candace confided to her cart.
The temperature was by now over one hundred, and Candace noticed that the drink and ice-cream carts were getting a lot more customers than her cart or the popcorn and churro ones. “Can’t say I blame them. In this heat I don’t want to smell cotton candy, let alone have it sticking all over my hands.”
She hoped the cart would move soon, preferably somewhere where there was some shade. Maybe if she ended up in the Splash Zone she could get Josh to dump a bucket of water over her.
Over in the line for the Founding Fathers of America, two guys began to scuffle. Angry words carried through the warm air. Quick as lightning, security descended and broke it up. Tempers were short and someone in the crowd yelled at one of the security guards.
“Make love, not war, I always say,” a slippery-sounding male voice spoke close to her ear.
Candace jumped and turned to see a guy in his thirties, covered with piercings, leering at her. “Can I help you?” she asked him.
“Oh, yeah, Candy baby, I’m sure you could.” He ran his tongue over his lips and leaned closer.
Her internal creep alarm went off, and she slammed her hand against her red panic button. Moments later the same security officers who had broken up the line fight were at her side, escorting the jerk away. She shuddered as he looked back over his shoulder and made kissing motions at her.
An hour later she heard over her intercom that they had shut the front gates because the park had reached capacity. More than a hundred thousand people were in the park, and the shuffle of bodies only added to the heat and the rising tensions. By the time her afternoon break came around, Candace had witnessed two more fights and numerous family “incidents.” The afternoon parade started up, led by a full marching band. It began in the Holiday Zone and wound its way around to end close to the front gates. The music was nearly deafening. Parents were screaming, kids were crying, and Candace’s head was pounding.
A guy walked up, and she eyed him suspiciously. The noise of the band was still deafening, so he held up his index finger to indicate one cotton candy. He handed her a bill and she gave him his change before beginning to twirl a cone around the tub.
Finally the band passed and the noise lessened. She handed him the cotton candy as he looked at her name tag.
“Candy. That’s a pretty name. Appropriate too, given where you’re working. You like it here, Candy?”
“Okay, that’s it. I know your type, creep, so just back off. The name is Candace, but even if it was Candy that doesn’t give you the right to make insinuations or hit on me or whatever. I’ve had it. Get out of here before I call security!”
The guy backed off, hands raised in front of him. Nearby, several people had stopped to stare, and with a sinking feeling she saw that one of them was Lisa, who was smirking. Candace turned and walked straight to the nearest break area, ducked into the restroom, and splashed water on her face.
“Not good. So not good,” she muttered to herself. She replayed it all in her head and realized that she wasn’t completely sure whether he had been insinuating something or had just been friendly. “We’re never supposed to yell at players. Never ever. Well, at least now they have an actual reason to fire me.”
Ten minutes later Martha found her there. She shouldn’t have been surprised. Lisa probably radioed the whole thing in and told Martha where to find her.
“Tough day?”
Candace just laughed bitterly. “Do I seem to have any other kind?”
“No, you’ve got just about the worst luck of anyone I’ve ever seen. Well, barring Roger, of course.”
“I screwed up,” Candace admitted. “I feel like an idiot. You know, I’ve never gotten into a fight in my life? And now in the last two weeks I’ve ended up screaming at three different people. What’s wrong with me? Do I have some sort of repressed anger issues?”
Martha patted her shoulder. “There’s nothing wrong with you. You’re just being tried, tested, and pushed to your limits. That can be very painful and often frightening as well. I’d be worried if you didn’t blow up every once in a while. At least, to the best of my knowledge, you lose it in appropriate directions.”
“That guy?”
“Security’s been looking for him for the last two hours since he propositioned an ice-cream referee who’s even younger than you.”
“Wow, extra creepy.”
“Yeah.”
“But?” Candace asked.
Martha shrugged. “You still yelled at a player. Several other players have already complained.”
“Great. So am I totally fired?”
Martha laughed. “No. Usually you’d be suspended for four days. However, since you’ve had your share of false accusations lately, I’m going to let you off with a one-day suspension.”
“Tomorrow?”
“No, whatever you have left of today.”
“But that’s only two hours.”
Martha smirked. “Then I’d say you got off lucky. Now get out of here. The hottest part of the day is still ahead of us, and I’m sure you’d like to miss that.”
Candace hugged Martha before taking off. She managed to make it home in twenty minutes, which had to be some kind of record. She stripped out of her sweaty uniform and donned cool shorts and a tank top. She put aloe on her burned arms and settled down with a book to enjoy her air-conditioned room.
A couple hours later her parents headed out to their friends’ house for their annual Fourth of July barbeque. Candace was not in the mood to celebrate. She missed Tamara and still couldn’t understand what had happened between them. They usually spent the Fourth of July together laughing and stuffing their faces with hot dogs. It just didn’t seem right without her.
“You’re sure you don’t want to come?” her mother asked as she was leaving.
“I’ll be fine. Besides, I might go out later with some friends,” Candace said, mostly to reassure her mom.
“Okay, have a good evening, honey,” her dad said.
She had the house to herself, and she celebrated by eating cake for dinner. She had just settled onto the couch with the remote control when there was a knock at the door.
She ran to see who it was and surprised to see Kurt standing on the doorstep. She opened the door. “Come in,” she invited him.
He came inside, looking around as though worried about where her parents were. “They’re out,” she said after a few seconds.
“Oh,” he said, visibly relaxing.
“What’s up?”
“I just came to see if you were okay. I heard what happened today.”
“About how the creepy guy hit on me and I yelled at him, or that I got suspended?”
“All of it,” he said.
She shrugged. “I’m fine. Much better than when that supervisor accused me of taking drugs.”
Kurt nodded. She felt like asking him why he hadn’t come by then but decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth. H
e was here now, and that was what was important.
“So, I was wondering,” he asked after a moment. “Would you like to take a walk to the park?”
“The Zone?” she asked.
“No, the park park. You know, grass, trees, swings. There’s going to be a fireworks display a little later.”
“Sure, that would be great. Just give me a minute.” Candace ran upstairs to put on her tennis shoes. She stuffed some cash in her pocket just in case. She could put her key in the other pocket and be purse free. She was headed back downstairs when she realized that this was technically their second date.
She froze halfway down, wondering if she should go back upstairs and change, or at least put on makeup, brush her teeth, or something. But he had already seen her and was waiting by the front door ready to go. Too late. Candace continued down the stairs, grabbed her key off the hook near the door, and they were off.
The park was only four blocks from her house. The sun hadn’t set yet, and the air was very warm, but not nearly as scorching as it had been earlier in the day. Candace’s burned arms were beginning to tingle, and she was grateful that she had applied sunscreen when she did.
As they walked they chatted. Kurt had a wealth of knowledge about esoteric history trivia, thanks to his time spent working in that part of The Zone. She thought she could listen to him tell stories and anecdotes for hours and never get bored.
When he paused, she asked, “So, did Deborah ever beat Benjamin Franklin with a rolling pin?”
“What?” he asked. “Where did you hear that?”
“Nowhere,” she laughed. “It was something I made up earlier today.”
“Okay, clearly you are seriously deranged,” he said, also laughing.
Laughing felt nice. Actually anything that wasn’t crying or screaming felt nice. When they reached the park, they hunted until they found a nice grassy spot with a clear view of the sky.
“I should have brought something for us to sit on,” Kurt said.
“A little dirt and grass never hurt,” she said, finding a place on the cool ground.
The sun began to set and the moon shimmered on the horizon. “I’d love to travel to the moon someday,” she said. “Do you think we’ll ever have a chance to?”
The Summer of Cotton Candy Page 10
