“Nope.”
“But don’t you ever think about what you’re going to do next year or next month?”
“I try not to even think about next week,” he said with a laugh. “Why would I? I like my job, I’m dating a cute girl, everything’s great.”
Her heart began to pound when he called her cute, but she forced her thoughts away from that. “But, you can’t work at The Zone for the rest of your life.”
“I don’t know. Someday maybe I’ll figure something else out, but until that day comes, why bother?”
His answer irritated her. He had so much potential, but he seemed content just to waste it. “So that you’ll be prepared,” Candace said, louder than she had intended. “We’re not kids forever. I may not know what I want to do with my life yet, but I know I want to do something. The whole world is out there, and I want to see more than just Rivervale. Sooner or later you have to take responsibility for your own life, and I’m trying. What are you doing? You couldn’t even commit to finishing high school.”
There, it was out. All her misgivings — all her fears about him — shimmered in the air between them. She took a deep breath, afraid of what he was going to say.
“What do you want, Candace?” he asked.
There were so many ways to answer that. She wanted to be valued, respected, taken seriously. She wanted to really live and grow. She wanted to share all of that with someone. “I want a guy who values the same things I do,” she said after a moment. It was the truth. A Christian guy who valued what she did would take her seriously, would help her grow as a person, and would love and respect her. She wanted — needed — Kurt to be that guy.
“Then you’re going to have to find some other guy, because I’m not him,” Kurt said, his voice cold and distant.
She nodded. She had backed him into a corner, and she shouldn’t have expected anything else. She stood up slowly. “Then I guess there’s nothing else to say.”
He wouldn’t look at her. He just sat, staring off into the distance with his jaw clenched. He shook his head but didn’t say anything.
“Okay,” Candace said, and she walked off.
Earlier with Kurt the empty park had seemed like a magical place, but now it felt like a ghost town, haunted by memories and silent as the grave. She walked through the Exploration Zone, and The Atomic Coaster reared up against the dark sky, cold and unfeeling.
She kept walking until she reached the Splash Zone. There the sounds of swiftly moving water broke the silence and comforted her. Josh had once told her that they kept the water circulating in all the rides, even at night, so that it didn’t grow stagnant. She found a bench and sat down, closed her eyes, and let the sounds wash over her.
She was changing. She could feel it. Day by day for the last several weeks she had been changing just a bit at a time so it took a while to notice. At the beginning of the summer she would have been content to let Kurt be as he was, and his lack of ambition about his future would not have bothered her. The changes in herself also caused a lot of friction between her and Tamara. At the beginning of the summer Tamara was her only close friend, and now she had others who she also confided in, like Josh. Once she would have been content to let Tamara pay for everything for the rest of their lives, but that had changed too. Candace wanted to make her own way in the world. She wanted a future and a goal, and neither Kurt nor Tamara seemed to understand that. At least she knew she could eventually get Tamara to respect her wishes, but Kurt was a different story.
She tried to tell herself she just wanted what was best for him, that she was looking out for his good, but in reality she was looking out for what was best for her. She liked Kurt, a lot, and she wanted to continue dating him for a long, long time. She knew, though, that they were not walking the same path in life, and unless that changed there was no future with him.
“When did I become so grown up?” she asked out loud.
The water seemed to murmur an answer that she couldn’t quite understand. What was it Martha had said? Never date a guy you ain’t willing to marry. It was good advice, even if it had seemed much too grim when she had first heard it. Candace wished she could talk to Martha just then. She thought about calling Tamara back but decided against it. There would be enough to talk about later. There were only a few hours left of the night anyway, and soon she would be free. It seemed Candace had regained her best friend only just in time to help her cope with losing her boyfriend.
18
After sitting and listening to the soothing sounds of the water for about an hour, curiosity overcame Candace. The park was very dark, but her eyes had adjusted somewhat. When would she ever have a chance like this again? She had the park nearly to herself, so now was the time to do some exploration.
She wandered around for a few minutes, poking her head in various places before inspiration struck. She hurried to the Kids Zone and approached the Little Red Riding Hood ride. She was able to climb over the railing and then walk next to the tracks through the ride. She stopped to peek around characters and scenes. The tinny music was absent, and nothing was moving in the ride. It was cool and weird at the same time. She finally came to a good scene inside the Grandmother’s cottage, and she walked over and touched the bed gingerly.
It seemed real enough. Feeling completely naughty, she sat down on it slowly. It supported her weight. She lay down on it and started pretending to be the wolf. “The better to eat you with!” she finished with a growl. The figure of Red was standing close by with a surprised look on her face, and Candace laughed.
“Yes, this is definitely where I would live if I lived in the park. My own little cottage with a comfy bed.”
Too comfy, she realized as her mind started to drift. She sat up abruptly. It would be bad to fall asleep and be found here in the morning. She got up quickly and made sure to straighten the flowery quilt.
Whew, that could have been embarrassing, she realized as she continued walking through the ride to the exit. Once outside, she debated briefly where to go next until inspiration struck again.
Minutes later she was in the Game Zone. Rows of games of skill and chance stood silent. She herself had claimed a few of the stuffed animal prizes over the years. There was one game, though, that had always taunted her. One game she believed impossible to win.
She walked past several games until she stood before the ring toss. The idea was simple enough: toss a plastic ring and have it land around the neck of one of the hundreds of glass bottles sitting wedged together in a square. So simple, yet so utterly impossible. The giant stuffed dogs hanging from the ceiling of the game mocked her. She’d tried before to win one. She had seen an occasional person walking through the park carrying one, but deep down she was sure they must be ringers, bringing false hope and taunting people with the thought that it must be possible to win.
Candace hopped over the counter and scooped herself up several bucketfuls of plastic rings. When she had a large number, she hopped back over the counter. It was one of the few areas of the park that seemed to have some low emergency lights on, and the moon had begun to shine brightly, glinting off some of the bottles.
She went through more than a hundred rings, and none of them found their mark. Finally, she picked up a bucket and tossed the entire contents at the bottles. There was a hail of sharp pings as rings hit and bounced crazily off the glass bottles. When all the rings had landed, she saw that one bottle had a ring around its neck. A shaft of moonlight illuminated it and she stood in awe, staring. It was as though God was shining the light down just for her, trying to get her attention, trying to get her to talk to him.
She sat down on the counter, leaned her back against the corner pillar, and began to pray.
“God, I’m so tired and confused,” she said, whispering the words out loud. “I like Kurt so much, but we are different and I know he thinks I’m trying to change him. God, I just wish he could open his eyes and see his own future, his own potential.” Tears started to roll down h
er cheeks. “It’s been a terrible summer and a wonderful summer, and so much is changing in my life that I feel so lost. Please, help me. I get upset at Kurt, but I’m just as bad as he is. I don’t know what I want out of life. It’s like I’ve always believed that somehow there would be a giant neon sign in the sky saying ‘Candace, do this.’ Well, there isn’t.”
She opened her eyes for a moment and stared at the shaft of moonlight which was moving slowly from the bottle with the ring around it toward the counter on which she was sitting. She smiled and closed her eyes again. “At least, I don’t think there is. It’s hard to imagine that in a few months I’ll be applying for colleges and trying to pick a major. How do you pick a direction when you just don’t know? God, help me to find the place where I belong in this world.”
A few minutes later she fell asleep.
“Candace!”
She woke, hearing someone call her name. She opened her eyes to find that it was much lighter out. A janitor was staring at her, an amused expression on his face. She was still sitting on the counter, and she felt stiff all over.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Yes, I think so. We got locked in.”
“We know. When we showed up this morning to unlock everything we found Kurt. He told us what happened to you two. He didn’t know where you were, so we’ve been looking for you.”
“I’m so sorry to be so much trouble. My cart?” she asked, thinking about it.
“We’ve got a maintenance guy over there fixing it. We’re still not sure why no one came to get you last night. Some mix-up, no doubt. We called your supervisor, and she said for you to go home. You can make up for today by working on Friday instead.”
“Thank you,” Candace said, very grateful to have other people taking care of everything. She stood slowly, trying to stretch out the kinks. “Is the Locker Room open?”
“Yup, you can get your stuff.”
“Awesome,” she said with a yawn. She started to go.
He gestured toward the bottles and she stopped, puzzled. “Did you get that ring around the bottle?”
“Yes.”
“Were you standing where you’re supposed to? You didn’t just drop it there?”
“No, I was standing outside. I went through ten buckets.”
“Well, then, why are you leaving without your prize?” he asked, reaching up and unhooking one of the big dogs from the ceiling.
“But, I didn’t pay to play,” she said.
He looked her over, and she was suddenly aware of her bedraggled, disheveled appearance. “Oh, I think you did,” he said. “If you feel too bad about it, you can always come by later and throw some more money away trying to get one of these things. It’s nearly impossible, you know.”
He handed her the big dog that was at least four feet tall. “It took a miracle,” she admitted. “Thank you,” she told the man.
He gave her a brief salute, and she took the dog — which she decided to name Happy — to the Locker Room where she rescued her stuff. She made it to the car, settled Happy in the passenger seat, flipped open her phone, and called Tamara, waking her.
“So, how did it go?” Tamara asked. “Was it wonderful? Was it romantic?”
“We broke up,” Candace said shortly.
“Oh.”
“Take me out to breakfast and I’ll tell you all about it.” “Deal.”
Candace drove to Tamara’s. Tamara stared incredulously as Candace hauled Happy into the house with her. “Can he stay here while we’re out at breakfast?” Candace asked. “I don’t want to leave him in the car.”
“That depends. Is he house trained?”
“Does it matter?” Candace asked, too tired to come up with something witty to say.
“No. Let’s go get you some food.”
“I have to work Friday to make up for the fact that I’m not working today,” Candace said, hoping Tamara would understand.
“That’s okay,” Tamara said, “I’m overdue to see that Glider ride you told me all about.”
A few minutes later Candace was tearing into a huge chicken, cheese, and onion omelet. She hadn’t realized just how hungry she was until the waitress set the plate in front of her.
“I take it dinner last night was less than stellar,” Tamara said.
“Beef jerky and cotton candy.”
“By the time the summer is over you won’t want to eat cotton candy ever again.”
“Or smell it.”
Tamara wrinkled her nose in distaste. “So, what happened with you and Kurt?”
Candace shook her head. “Everything was fine. We were walking around the History Zone and he was telling me all about it. Before I knew it we were talking about the future and I basically accused him of being a total slacker.”
“Ouch. I’m guessing that didn’t go over so well.”
“Good guess. I mean, the weirdest part is that he’s a smart guy. He could totally be a history teacher or something.”
Tamara shrugged. “You never know. Maybe his parents put too much pressure on him and he just doesn’t want to deal for a while.”
“That’s the other thing I found out. His parents live hours and hours away. He shares a house with a bunch of other guys.”
“Well, he is over eighteen. He can do that,” Tamara said.
“Whose side are you on?” Candace asked.
“Yours. I’m just trying to maybe help you see things a little more objectively.”
“I think it might be a little late for that,” Candace said glumly. “He was pretty upset. I don’t know. Maybe it’s for the best. I mean, where could this relationship really have gone?”
Tamara shook her head. “I don’t know. If you want to get him back, though, it’s probably not too late.”
Candace sighed. “I can’t even think about that at the moment.”
“You look thrashed. You need some sleep.”
“I had a little bit. I think that’s part of the problem. It’s easier to pull an all-nighter than it is to get like two hours of sleep. Next time I’m going to stay in Grandma’s house.”
“Huh?”
“The Little Red Riding Hood ride,” Candace said, stifling a yawn. “Grandma has a comfy bed.”
“If you say so.”
When Candace returned to work on Wednesday, she discovered that the tale of her and Kurt being trapped in the park had grown to epic proportions, complete with a crazed murderer who stalked them all over the park with a butcher knife.
“What?” Candace asked in disbelief as Josh related the tale.
He nodded. “It’s pretty heroic. Everyone thinks you came close to being toasted.”
“That’s ridiculous. Nothing even remotely like that happened.”
“Good luck explaining that. People will just think you’re being modest.”
She was totally amazed. “Was I at least cool and not some helpless wimpy girl?”
“You kicked butt. If it weren’t for you, the police wouldn’t have caught the guy.”
“What police?”
“The ones who made a daring rescue attempt just before dawn, storming the front gates of the park.”
“That’s just crazy.”
Josh shrugged. “Every urban legend begins somewhere. Just wait, you’ll see. There’s already buzz that they’re going to find some way to incorporate it into one of the Halloween mazes.”
“But none of that happened!”
“Doesn’t matter. By next summer, it will be a fact as far as anyone knows.”
“This is too weird,” Candace said, feeling a headache starting.
He laughed. “Just think, someday when you bring your kids here and they find out that it was you, you’ll be a total hero to them.”
“I’d hope I could be a hero to my kids for something I actually did rather than something people said I did.”
When Lisa came to give her a break, Candace noticed that the other girl looked smug. She probably heard that Kurt and I broke up, Cand
ace thought.
Sure enough, Lisa said, “Candace, so sorry to hear about you and Kurt. You really hurt his feelings. I’m just glad I could be there to give him a… shoulder… to cry on.”
Candace wanted to punch her. Worse, since Lisa knew what had actually happened, that meant she had to have gotten it from the horse’s mouth. After all, the stories of adventure and murderers didn’t say anything about a messy breakup. “Get out of here, Lisa.”
“But I’m here to give you your break.”
“I don’t need one right now, thank you. Now leave.”
Lisa strutted away.
“Sorry,” Josh said. “I hadn’t heard.”
“It’s okay,” Candace said.
“What happened?”
“I don’t really want to talk about it,” Candace sighed.
“Cool enough.”
“Tell me again how I stopped the murderer and saved the day?”
He laughed and went over the whole story again in detail, this time adding his own little flourishes. The story became so much more outrageous than even the first telling that Candace finally had to laugh. Fixating on the outrageous tale helped her to stop thinking quite so much about Kurt and about the look of triumph she had seen in Lisa’s eyes.
19
A week before the great Scavenger Hunt, the entire mood at the park seemed to change. The players, especially the younger ones, stayed later and played harder, as though they could sense summer drawing to an end. Among the referees there was a spirit of restlessness, as of a great change coming that they all were preparing for. In California, the seasons of the year were not nearly as pronounced as they were in most of the rest of the country. At The Zone, though, the seasons were clearly regulated, and soon it would be fall.
Candace’s time at the park was coming to an end. She wasn’t nearly as excited as she had expected to be. She found herself watching some of the year-round referees wistfully. Each of them seemed to be vibrating with a new energy. What would it like to be there for all the events of the coming months?
The Summer of Cotton Candy Page 14
