The Candymakers and the Great Chocolate Chase Read online

  He fully expected to find the suitcase empty, but when he unzipped it and flipped the top open, the smell of chocolate was almost overwhelming. From the strength of it, he’d have thought the suitcase would be filled with the stuff! Instead, all he found was the corner of something white peeking out from an inside pocket. Logan gripped the corner firmly and pulled it all the way out. He smiled when he recognized his grandfather’s handwriting on the homemade card.

  The front of the card had a picture of a stick-figure boy drawn in crayon. An arrow pointing to the boy said Logan. Next to the boy his grandfather had drawn a tree with rainbow-colored, football-shaped fruit growing right out of the trunk. The pods were much bigger than they should be in comparison to the tree—more like watermelons than cocoa pods—and real cocoa pods weren’t rainbow colored, but Logan knew it was supposed to be a cocoa tree. Plus it read Chocolate… yum! underneath. Logan had only the faintest memory of seeing the card before. He traced his hand over the tree and tried to picture his grandfather holding on to the little crayons with his big hands.

  He figured he’d see a Get well soon message, or maybe even one of Grandpa’s practical jokes, like sneezing powder or some kind of flat rubber snake that sprang out when you opened the card. But the only words inside were the days of the week, written in a circle. Every day except Sunday had a small rip in the paper beneath it, like something had been stuck there and then peeled off.

  Logan turned the card over, but the back was blank. He laid it on his dresser. His mom would get a kick out of seeing it.

  It took only fifteen more minutes to find everything on his mother’s short list. He didn’t know how she expected him to get by on four changes of clothes. She must be planning on doing laundry along the way, because he could go through four outfits in a single day!

  The suitcase was barely half full. Hmm… it would take up the same amount of room in the van whether it was full or only half full. May as well add a few more things.

  First in was his latest batch of comic books, a sketchpad, and a pack of pencils. They hardly took up any space at all. He lifted his stuffed dinosaur off the shelf, tossed it into the suitcase, then snatched it back out. Somehow bringing a stuffed animal to sleep with didn’t exactly scream, “I’m mature enough to go on a road trip.” Still, it would be nice to have something that reminded him of home.

  He knew what to do. He yanked his pillowcase right off his pillow and ran toward the front door. First stop, the employee lounge, only to find the NQP shelf totally bare. “The groupies cleaned us out,” Randall explained, getting up from one of the round tables. He tossed out his apple core and joined Logan. “Can’t blame ’em. What do candy lovers love even better than their favorite candy?” Without waiting for an answer, he said, “Their favorite candy all messed up!”

  Logan laughed. That’s exactly why he was such a fan of the NQPs, too. He held out his pillowcase. “I’m loading up for the trip.”

  Randall nodded in approval. “Smart. Although I’m pretty certain your dad wouldn’t hit the road without plenty of candy within arm’s reach.”

  “True,” Logan agreed. “But you may have noticed my father’s not the best at sharing his personal candy with others.”

  Randall laughed. “Also true! Here, you can bribe him with this, if necessary.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a Fireball Supernova, freshly packaged and ready to ship.

  Logan opened his pillowcase and Randall tossed it in. “Thanks!” He felt more grown up already, having a “for adults only” candy!

  “Hey,” Randall said as they headed out of the room together, “what was in that box I delivered this morning? If you don’t mind my asking.”

  Logan realized he hadn’t thought about the box at all after giving it to Miles. “It was a whole bunch of Grandpa’s old papers and journals. Miles is going through it for me. He even found a map or two, so he’s happy. He loves maps.”

  They were right outside the Cotton Candy Room now. As much as Logan loved his cotton candy (which was a lot), he knew it wouldn’t travel well. He inhaled deeply, then began to walk on, expecting Randall to stay in step. When he didn’t, Logan looked over his shoulder, ready to say his goodbyes. He had a lot of candy to collect, and the closing bell would ring in a few minutes. But Randall’s expression made him come to a full stop.

  “What is it?” he asked. “Do you smell something weird? Is it the grapefruit-flavored cotton candy? Takes some getting used to but tastes delicious, as you must know.”

  Randall shook his head. His face looked pale, or maybe it was just the lighting in the hall. “Who did you say sent the box?”

  “I didn’t say,” Logan replied, trying to picture the signature at the bottom of the letter. “But it was Franky, or Franco, then something with a G, I think.” He could swear Randall’s eye twitched.

  “Franklin Griffin?” Randall asked.

  “Yes, that was it,” Logan said, eager to be on his way. His dad took closing time very seriously. And if he waited until tomorrow to collect the candy, the visitors would likely have left only crumbs behind. “Gotta go,” he told Randall. “See ya in the morning.”

  “Okay,” Randall said, but still he didn’t move. Logan wondered why Randall cared who’d sent the box, but he wasn’t curious enough to ask—not when it could mean the difference between eating candy on the road and not eating candy on the road.

  By the time he got down to the Tropical Room twenty minutes later, Logan had collected samples of every candy currently in production except the Pepsicle and Some More S’mores. Those he put in a category with cotton candy in terms of their low odds for survival on the road. He temporarily stashed the bag in the large refrigerator in Avery’s office for safekeeping. It wouldn’t take long for everything to melt into one big blob of chocolate and sugar in the tropical heat.

  He headed to his destination—the aloe plants. He broke off a few of the spiky green stalks and stuck them gently into his back pocket before reaching for some more. He’d never had to plan ahead before, and he didn’t want to run out on the road and not have enough to put on his scars. He may have limited knowledge of life outside the factory, but he did know aloe plants didn’t grow on street corners.

  “G’day, road tripper!” Avery called out across the room.

  Logan scanned the treetops until he spotted Avery waving his blue bandana from the top of a cinnamon tree. Logan stuck the rest of the stalks in his other pocket and headed over. “You heard already?”

  “You know how fast news travel here,” Avery replied with a grin. “Especially good news. I knew before you did.” He stuck his knife into the holster on his belt and tossed down a burlap satchel, which landed beside the tree with a plop. Logan knew that at this time of day it would be filled with long ribbons of bark. The lower part of the tree was already bare. He watched Avery slide down the trunk, wishing as always that one day his parents would let him try climbing one of the trees.

  “You excited?” Avery asked as his feet touched the ground.

  Logan nodded enthusiastically. “So excited!”

  “It’s a big deal,” Avery said, gripping Logan’s shoulder. “Leaving home for the first time, facing the great unknown on the road. You could return a whole different boy. You could return a man!”

  Logan stopped nodding. “I didn’t think of it that way. I wasn’t nervous before, but maybe I should be?”

  “Nah,” Avery said. “You’ll do great. You’ll have all your best mates with you. What could go wrong?” He slung his satchel over his shoulder and sauntered off with a wave. “Send me a postcard from someplace supercool.”

  Logan waved back, but only halfheartedly. Unless a miracle happened and Daisy left her mission, he’d only have two out of three of those mates. But he knew Daisy never left a mission unfinished.

  A few minutes later, Logan stepped through the factory’s back door and inhaled the scent of chocolate from the vents that opened out onto the lawn. The scent blended with the smells of
ripe summer fruit. He loved that each season smelled different here and wondered whether it was like that everywhere. He wished he could bottle the great lawn’s special smell, but since that wasn’t possible, he’d have to find something else outside to remind him.

  Logan’s dad was walking toward him, his arms full of ears of corn. “I thought you were upstairs packing,” he said when they met halfway to the strawberry patch.

  “I am,” Logan said. “I mean, I was. Just had a few pit stops to make.” Logan reached around the sack of candy slung over his shoulder and pulled an aloe stalk from his back pocket. He held it up.

  His dad nodded. “Smart.”

  “I’ve just got to grab one more thing from out here.”

  “Judging by the bulk of that pillowcase, I’d say you’ve collected quite a lot as it is. Remember, small space, lots of people. And some of us take up more room than others.” He jiggled his belly.

  “No one wants a skinny Candymaker, right?” Logan asked as he stepped around his dad and started down the path. “Isn’t that what Grandpa used to say?”

  His dad laughed and called after him. “I’m pretty sure that was just to get out of exercising like the doctor told him to.”

  The great lawn was usually quiet at this time of day, but not the day before the Kickoff. Logan was in such a good mood that it didn’t even bother him when people called out to him or when the occasional son or daughter of one of the lingering visitors stared at him a little too long. He stopped to pick a strawberry and ate it while measuring himself against a giant sunflower. A huge field of sunflowers sprouted up every year at that time. The farmers who grew the crops for the different products had contests to see who could grow the tallest one. The current winner came up to his shoulder. Just a week earlier it had only reached his chest. Maybe by the time they got home from the tour it would be over his head!

  It took Logan longer than he thought it would to find the right white clover bush. He’d spent so many weeks kneeling in front of it, drawing the caterpillar’s metamorphosis into a butterfly. He figured his feet would know where to go, but in summer the bushes got so full with leaves that they blended into each other. He couldn’t see any caterpillars or a chrysalis. He especially didn’t see a butterfly. He still found himself wondering whatever happened to the chrysalis he’d watched so intently, the one with the black, yellow, and red-winged butterfly inside. It still made him sad that he never got to see it emerge.

  All he wanted now, though, was one leaf from the bush to remind him of home. He reached to pull one off, but his hand slowed as it neared the bush. Ripping a leaf off the living, healthy bush suddenly felt wrong. Breaking off the aloe stalks felt different—maybe because they were grown for medicinal purposes. He decided he would take something that was already on the ground, like an acorn, maybe.

  He spent a few minutes combing the ground for acorns before remembering that they didn’t drop until fall. He was about to scoop up a nice-looking pinkish-gray rock when he spotted an unusual stick down by the path to the picnic tables. It was smooth with three lumps on one side. He picked it up and slid it into his pocket, next to the aloe. He was about to turn back toward the factory when he heard Miles’s voice. He stepped out from behind the row of trees that lined the path to see Miles kneeling on the ground, the box from Franklin Griffin open on one of the tables.

  “Hey!” Logan said. “Find anything cool?”

  Miles jumped up in surprise, but at least this time he didn’t throw anything in the air. He did scramble for his vid com, which he’d balanced on a rock. He quickly closed the cover and stashed it in the box before turning to face Logan.

  “Were you just talking to Daisy?” Logan asked.

  When Miles hesitated, Logan added, “I called her, too. To get her to come on the trip with us. I had to leave a message, though.”

  “Yes!” Miles said loudly. “Me too!” He began stuffing notebooks, newspapers, and maps back into the box. “I’m sorry. I just need to run to the factory library before it closes. Can’t go on a road trip with nothing to read, right? Then home to pack. See you tomorrow!” He ran off, clutching the box.

  “You didn’t tell me if you found anything cool!” Logan called after him. But Miles must not have heard him, because he didn’t slow down. Oh well, plenty of time on the long drive tomorrow to hear all about it.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Logan tossed and turned but couldn’t sleep. Usually at this time of night he could count on finding his dad in the living room, checking supply lists for the next day or going over the accounting ledgers. No matter how busy he was, he would always stop working to play a game or to tell Logan a story. But tonight both of his parents were still downstairs in the factory, trying to get everything ready to run in their absence. Maybe that’s why he couldn’t sleep. He wasn’t used to being alone.

  He ran through his gratitude list twice more, then stared at the ceiling for a while, thinking how strange it was that he didn’t know where he’d be sleeping the next night. That thought certainly didn’t help him fall asleep any faster, so he flipped on the light and went through his suitcase for the third time since he’d packed it. At least now it made sense that it smelled like chocolate when he opened it.

  Even with all the candy, clothes, comics, pads, and pencils, it still felt like something was missing. He looked around the room and saw an empty space on his bookshelf where his favorite wooden puzzle from his grandfather usually sat. That’s what was missing! He’d left it up in the loft over the barn. He had to get it. How could he have thought of leaving without it? His grandfather had carved it by hand, sanding down each of the small interlocking pieces until they slid together like butter. The puzzle would remind him of his grandfather.

  He threw his sweatshirt on over his pajamas, slipped into his sneakers, and scribbled a note for his parents in case they returned while he was gone. As he ran down the walkway from the apartment into the factory, his resolve faded. It was dark outside, and he’d forgotten his flashlight. And really, when he thought about it, he hadn’t actually played with that puzzle in weeks. Maybe months.

  Plus a piece was missing, so you couldn’t solve it.

  His feet slowed. Maybe he could find something else to remind him of his grandfather. He stood at the back door, looking out the small window, trying to decide. The moon hung directly over the barn. It had a slightly bluish tint, and it reminded Logan of an Icy Mint Blob with a big bite taken out of it. How could he be scared with a giant piece of one of his favorite candies hanging in the sky?

  He pushed open the door and stepped out into the warm night. He couldn’t remember the last time—if ever—he had been outdoors this late alone. Sometimes his dad would host an outdoor movie night for all the factory employees and their families, but that was like the opposite of being alone. He looked up at the moon for courage and hurried across the lawn to the barn.

  Unfortunately, he hadn’t considered how the chickens and cows would react to his unexpected presence. As soon as he started to slide open the barn door, he was greeted with kuh-kuh-kuh-kuh-KACK, followed by a loud, sharp trilling sound from a recent batch of baby chicks and angry growls from their protective mothers. He didn’t even know a chicken could growl! The cows just gave lazy moos. Logan scurried backward and bumped right into something soft. He yelped and turned around to face an amused-looking Henry.

  “Sleepwalking?” Henry asked. “Or just out to visit the animals?”

  “I left something in the couldn’t sleep.”

  Henry tilted his head. “Huh?”

  Logan realized he hadn’t made much sense. “I mean, I left something in the barn, and also I couldn’t sleep.”

  “Too excited about tomorrow?”

  Logan nodded. Over Henry’s shoulder he caught a streak of light arcing across the sky. A second later another whizzed by. “Did you see that?” Logan asked, pointing.

  Henry turned around. “See what?” he asked.

  “That!” Logan said as anot
her streak of light soared overhead. “I think it’s a meteor shower! I’ve never seen one before. I had to do a report on them for Mrs. Gepheart a few years ago.” Logan couldn’t tear his eyes away from the sky. So this is what he’d been missing all these years by staying inside when it was dark out! Another whizzed by. “Aren’t they awesome?”

  Henry shook his head. “These old eyes can’t see that far.”

  “Are you sure?” Logan asked. “Maybe you’re not looking in the right place. They’re really bright.”

  Henry put his hand on Logan’s shoulder and turned him back toward the factory door. “It’s late and you should be sleeping. Who knows how well you’ll sleep on the road.”

  The road! It had such a grown-up ring to it. He was going out on the road! He followed Henry to the door and realized that his friend had a long walking stick in one hand, the kind he’d use if he were going hiking in the woods or up a hill.

  “I didn’t get to ask what you were doing out here in the dark,” Logan said. “Going for a midnight hike?”

  Henry smiled. “You know me, always up for adventure.”

  They both laughed. Logan knew that the only person who traveled outside the factory grounds less often than he did was Henry! “I’ll be inside in a minute,” he promised.

  Henry nodded. “Sleep well, Logan. You’re gonna need it.”

  Logan knew his old friend was right. He just wanted to watch a few more stars streak across the black sky. In his head, he was drawing them in his sketchpad—the way they all seemed to come from one part of the sky but went in different directions. The way they lit up the stars they passed closest to and left a brief impression on the sky, like skywriting, before fading away. It seemed like he could hear some of them, even though they were really far away and probably didn’t make a sound anyway. When Logan got back upstairs, he quickly drew a picture of the shooting stars to show to Miles, who liked that kind of stuff.