Short Stack

The Lost Sweet Tooth

The air at Casey's Candy Land or, as Jacob liked to call it, Casey's Cavity Carnival was clogged with the cloyingly sweet smell of cotton candy. How he had ever enjoyed this place was a complete mystery to Jacob.

His parents and his little brother, Nate, had long since been brainwashed by Casey's sweet-toothed grin. Nate was even wearing a hat with the cat's ears on top, one of which he had torn. "Don't forget to meet us back here at noon so we can get our picture taken with Casey," said his dad, "Until then, make sure you stick together and have fun."

Jacob groaned. "Do we have to?" Just thinking about standing next to Casey made him sick to his stomach.

"It's just a picture, honey," his mom said. "Besides, you used to love getting your picture taken with Casey. I still have the one where you gave him the picture you drew of him and-"

"Okay, Mom, jeez. Don't remind me."

She laughed. "But you were so cute!"

"We'd better head over to the Sweethearts Tunnel before the line gets too long," her husband said. His sons shared a grossed out look. "What, can't a man take his sweetheart on a romantic boat ride?" He laughed before giving each of the boys five dollars. "Don't eat too much candy before lunch, okay?"

As soon as his parents were out of sight, Nate ran toward the Caramel Coaster. "Come on, I think I'm finally tall enough to ride it!" he yelled over his shoulder as he ran by the crowd clustered around the gingerbread house next to the rollercoaster. The one and only Casey the Candy Cat wasn't supposed to come out for another hour, but the crowd was already chanting his name.

Jacob swore he could still see specks of red dotting the ground from the day Casey had knocked him over five years ago. Not that anyone would ever believe that their sugarcoated hero had knocked a seven-year-old's tooth out. There was no way he'd let that cat anywhere near his brother.

"Hang on a second," Jacob said as he caught up to Nate. "Maybe we should save it for later. I'm gonna puke if I go on that now."

"But I've been waiting for months!"

Jacob burped as loudly as he could. "See what I mean?" he said. "Man, I really shouldn't have eaten all those pancakes."

"Can't you just wait while I ride it?"

"You know Mom would kill me if I let you ride that thing by yourself." Nate's lip trembled as his eyes filled with tears. "Will you wait if I give you my candy money?"

"All of it?"

"All of it."

"Deal."

Jacob handed Nate his five dollars. "Come on," he said. "I know where we can have some fun until my stomach stops whining."

The pair walked away from the Caramel Coaster until they found rows upon rows of vendors selling overpriced candy. Jawbreakers, butterscotch, taffy: if you can name it, someone was selling it.

An old man whose liver spots that looked like melted chocolate chips approached the brothers with a platter of purple fudge. "Would you boys like a free sample of my homemade fudge? Today's samples are huckleberry flavored."

"I'd always love some free fudge," Nate said, taking a piece and popping it into his mouth. "Thank you," Nate mumbled around his mouthful.

"You're welcome." Wrinkly hands held the platter of free samples in Jacob's direction. "There's more than enough for you too, young man." The old man squinted at him as if he was trying to remember something.

"I'm good, thanks." Jacob gave Nate's hand a squeeze. "We'd better get going."

After dragging his little brother out of the maze of free samples, Jacob reached the section of the park that was dedicated to carnival games. "Which one do you want to try first?" he said.