Sugarbomb
by Sam Ruleman
Part 1 appears in this issue.
conclusion
Maggie shields her eyes the moment she steps outside. No matter how many times she comes here, the rainbow landscape of Candyland always assaults her eyes. She leaps down the front steps onto the mint-cobbled road. surrounded by mountains, the chocolate castle sides in a deep valley that winds on and on for miles, filled to the brim with candies and treats of all shapes and sizes.
Whenever the nightly sirens began, the mountains would shake violently and blow their tops off in loud blasts, sending quakes throughout all of Candyland. Hot chocolate fudge would then flow down their slopes to cover the hills of the valley in a glistening brown glaze. Tonight, however, the mountains remain silent and still.
“Fight some bad guys? Are you joking, Tom?” Maggie says out loud, her grip tightening around the large lollipop. It won’t bring him home, Tom. Why do you think Mother brings us here? I’ll play along for you. But please, you don’t have to worry. We’re here for you.
While running along the road, she passes a vast orchard of chocolate-button trees. The trees themselves can be found all over Candyland; she’s seen them a thousand times. However, something odd just off to the right of the road catches her eyes. Jutting out of the ground is a half-buried shape, similar to a motorcar but much bulkier. It has eight wheels on each side, encompassed by a long flat track. A round head sits on its wide body, with a long tube attached to the front. It stares off into the distance, as if searching for something far away. The strange shape is entirely pink, save for a large white star on the side of its head.
Maggie has seen the shape before. On occasion, one would barrel down the street outside her home, puffing dark smoke like the factories where her mother works. It was never alone, always accompanied by rows of men all dressed in light brown uniforms, each with a strange wooden stick draped over their shoulder.
Whenever they passed by, if Mother were home, Maggie would run to the door and flag down a man with a brown flat-top hat. Every time she’d return, she would sink into their worn sofa with a deep sigh. When Maggie asked who the men were, a slight smile crept across her mother’s weary face. “They’re brave knights; friends of your father.”
Despite the danger, Gummy Bear Mountain is rather close to the Chocolate Castle. Just past the orchard is Licorice Forest, then the mountain. Tom, I know you want Father to come home. Maggie shuts her eyes, holding back tears. I do, too. Her mind returns to thoughts of her father, and with them, a familiar sound that begins to build around her. A wail, a cry, no: sirens.
Maggie clears her throat and the haunting noise fades away. Sorry Tom, I need to be brave too. “Ah! Licorice Forest, I must be close,” she says. A faint scream echoes through the dark forest ahead, drawing her attention. Her pace quickens and before long, she’s deep into the candy woodland. “Tom!” Maggie yells.
“Maggie!”
The twirling black trunks of licorice trees unravel about halfway up, where they split off into numerous branches that limp over close to the ground, ready to snatch onto any unsuspecting prey. How about something new this time; captured by the black licorice trees. Nearby, Tom dangles in the air, held aloft by a thick group of branches. “Hold on, Tom! I’m coming!”
Maggie sprints to the willow-like tree and sinks the blade of her lollipop axe into its body, cleaving out a chunk of the dark candy. The tree tries to fight back by whipping a barrage of branches downwards. Maggie steps back to dodge the assault, causing the branches to embed themselves into the ground. With half of its branches stuck and the other half binding Tom, Maggie seizes an opening and lands another solid hit to the tree.
With one last flail, the dark licorice tosses Tom deeper into the forest, where another tree snatches him out of the air. “Take him to the mountain!” the trees chant. “To the mountain! To the mountain!” they sing, passing Tom off to one another.
“No!” Maggie yells, running after him. But the trees are too quick; she can’t catch up. Tom is soon lost in the branches, hurling towards the mountain. It can’t be too easy for you, Tommy, or it wouldn’t be a proper adventure.
Maggie sprints through the dark forest, hopping over stray roots and vaulting fallen licorice trunks. The black trees that captured Tom have returned to their slumber, and no longer pay her any mind. When she arrives at the base of the dark mountain, Maggie licks the broadside of her axe and sticks it to the back of her nightgown. She climbs, sinking her fingers into the mountain’s slippery chocolate surface.
Where she can, Maggie clambers onto long green cylinders that protrude from the mountainside, like thorns bursting out from within. They’re about thirty feet in length, with two long, flat sheets of green candy that stick out from the underside close to the end, like the extended wings of a bird in flight. The strangest part is a piece of plus-shaped green candy stuck to the nose that looks similar to a fan. The only other coloration on the object is a blue circle with a smaller red circle inside, painted on the surface of each wing.
Similar objects, albeit miniature in size, sat in rows on a bookshelf in Father’s office. Before Maggie was blessed with a little brother, she would sit on her father’s lap while he studied. She loved to look at the pictures in his books, although she couldn’t understand them. They were riddled with people in odd, winged cylinders soaring far above the clouds.
If he weren’t deep into a book, her father would be working on his sculptures. He had a wall of small tools next to his desk, holding chisels, hammers, and saws. He’d chip away at a single piece of wood for hours on end until it turned into another strange shape to add to his collection. “Daddy, what are you making?” Maggie would ask. Her father’s face would light up with a bright smile.
“A new path to adventure, my little gumdrop.”
Maggie climbs and climbs, past the derelict shapes, past the black licorice trees that grow on the mountain’s side. “Come on, Maggie, don’t look down,” she tells herself, but curiosity grips her mind, turning her head to the bottom of the mountain.
Far above the black canopy of Licorice Forest, her head spins from the height. I can’t imagine what it’s like in one of those flying tubes. With a little more climbing, Maggie pulls herself up onto the mountaintop and steps onto a round, flat arena. A horde of tiny gummy bears turn in unison to face their new guest. Given the word, the army will swarm her, smothering her to death, or worse, they’d throw her off the mountain.
What happens to Tom next? Oh, I know. He couldn’t have escaped by himself just yet. Across the circular arena, Tom is held in a small candy cane cage guarded by a massive gummy bear with a tiny mustache.
“Maggie! Help!”
Maggie wrenches the lollipop off her back and readies herself. “Let him go!”
The rotund gummy bear slaps his fat red belly, sending a quake that jiggles throughout his body. Every tiny bear stirs at once, running forward after Maggie.
Maggie charges for Tom, cleaving through the small gelatin bears one by one, chopping off a rainbow of squishy heads. She manages to hold her own, but there are too many. “Tom!” she yells. “What are you still doing in there? I’ve seen you go through candy canes twice as thick!” Come on, Tom, it’s your turn.
The young boy giggles and begins to chomp down onto the cage’s bars until one snaps in half. He leaps out from within and on the massive gummy bear next to him. “Get him, Tommy!” Maggie yells. The boy salutes with a massive grin, and for a moment, he looks like the portrait of their father.
Tom scales the bear’s body to its head, where he claws and chews away at the gummy flesh, bite after bite, until the monster finally falls. The huge gummy bear candy flops to the ground, causing its tiny comrades to scatter like rats, some throwing themselves off the side of the mountain.
When the last of the army has fled, Maggie stomps over to Tom. “Did you see that, Maggie? I—” The boy’s victory speech is cut short before it could begin by Maggie’s tight embrace.
“Please don’t ever do that again.” Maggie leans back, looking into her little brother’s eyes.
“I’m sorry, Maggie. I tried to be a brave knight, like Daddy.”
“I know, Tom, I know.” Maggie lets a light laugh through. “You tore up that big scary gummy bear pretty well. I knew you were brave, Now come on, let’s go home.”
“How are we gonna get down?”
Maggie smiles and pulls Tom onto her back. She breaks into a run for the side of the mountain. “Your favorite!” Maggie yells. She throws the lollipop under her feet. Using the axe like a board, they slide down the mountain, dodging obstacles left and right until they slow to a stop at the base. Maggie sets her brother down and takes hold of his little hand as he jumps up and down in excitement.
“Again! Again!”
Maggie yawns and massages her weary eyes. “We can go again later. Right now, we need to get home. What do you think Mother will say if she finds us gone by the time she gets to the castle?”
“She’ll be happy!”
“Happy? What for?”
“Cause now Daddy can come home!” Tom yells with joy, skipping along the forest path. “I can’t wait to show him Candyland!”
Maggie sighs but can’t stop the smile that creeps across her face. Forgive me, Mother. He just wants to see Dad.
When the two step onto the mint road that leads to Chocolate Castle, Maggie’s vision suddenly goes dark. She stumbles backwards and scrambles to pull away a fluttering sheet of candy that has stuck to her face. When she can finally see again, a bold headline at the top of the candy sheet catches her eye. She reads it out loud: “Luftwaffe countered by brave Royal Air Force fighters. Bombing said to stop.” Underneath is a small line stating the date: Sunday, May 11th, 1941.
Tom looks up to her. “Maggie, what’s that mean?”
The girl shrugs and lets the newspaper flow back into the wind.
Copyright © 2023 by Sam Ruleman
