The Candymakers

  Logan’s parents reached the group just as Judge Edgar stepped up to the microphone. With a twinkle in his eye, he called out in a deep, velvety voice, “So what are we gonna do today?”

  The crowd cheered. Philip groaned, and although Logan couldn’t see, he’d bet an eye roll accompanied the groan. Then the whole crowd shouted, “Make some candy!”

  Judge Edgar beamed and sang, “And why are we gonna do it?”

  “To make the whole world smile,” the crowd belted out.

  Judge Edgar joined the crowd for the last line. “Make the whole world smile!”

  Everyone cheered and pounded one another on the back.

  Logan’s mom wiped a tear from her cheek, and Logan realized he was choked up, too. Every year the contest kicked off the same way, and it never failed to move the crowd.

  Old Sammy took the mike now. “It’s wonderful to see so many familiar faces and so many new ones, too!”

  The crowd clapped. Logan recognized the Golds, the father and son candymakers who had been visiting the factory the day before. He waved and they waved back.

  Old Sammy continued. “I’d like to extend the warmest welcome to our thirty-two young contestants here today!”

  Judge Carol tugged on Old Sammy’s sleeve and whispered something in his ear.

  “Oh, yes, quite,” Old Sammy said. “I meant to say, thirty-one contestants.”

  Miles slunk behind Logan.

  “Now please keep in mind, children, even though there can be only one winner, that doesn’t mean that many—if not most—of these submissions will someday be found on the shelves at your favorite candy stores. You just have to keep working hard, keep thinking sweet thoughts, and you’ll get there.”

  The crowd cheered again. This time it was mostly the grown-ups, though. Logan would bet the kids were thinking of winning, not of someday getting their candy made if they tried hard enough. He knew the Bubbletastic ChocoRocket had a long way to go before it would ever be ready to hit the candy-store shelves.

  Judge Carol leaned into the mike. “Let the tasting begin!”

  A white rope had been set up about four feet away from the table. It extended the length of the table, and only the judges were allowed inside. Logan saw that the information forms they’d filled out earlier were now alongside their entries.

  A hush fell over the crowd as everyone pressed up toward the roped-off section to watch. The judges spread out. Old Sammy approached the table from the right side, Edgar took the middle, and Carol started at the left end. Clipboards in hand, they began to taste. One girl squealed, “That one’s mine! He’s tasting my Bacon Pops!” But mostly everyone remained quiet, not wanting to distract the judges from their task.

  The first judge to get to the Life Is Sweet section was Sammy, although Edgar was fast approaching, too, from the other side. Logan couldn’t help holding his breath as Sammy picked up the Bubbletastic ChocoRocket. Beside him, he heard Miles inhale, too. Daisy slipped between them and grabbed both their hands. Together, they watched as Sammy read the information form, which explained what the candy was supposed to do. Then he took a big bite.

  He chewed contentedly for a few seconds. At that point, Logan knew it should be turning into gum, and indeed, just then Old Sammy blew a bubble. It popped loudly, and the crowd chuckled. Logan and Miles let out their breath. The Candymaker clasped him on the shoulder and from behind whispered, “I’m so proud of you, son!”

  “Thanks, Dad,” Logan whispered, embarrassed that everyone must have heard the Candymaker’s whisper, which was as loud as most other people’s regular voices. “But it’s supposed to turn back to chocolate now.”

  They watched as Sammy continued chewing for another few seconds, then dropped the gum inside a small bucket where it landed with an audible plonk.

  He sighed. Well, that was that.

  “I’ll tell you a secret,” his father said. This time he actually spoke quietly enough that only Logan and his friends could hear. “I couldn’t even have made it turn into gum!”

  Logan turned around, surprised. “Of course you could have.”

  His dad shook his head. “Not without help. That’s why I surround myself with such smart people. Making candy is a team effort.” Then he winked and gestured to the candy table. “But you knew that, didn’t you?”

  Miles, Daisy, Philip, and Logan exchanged wide-eyed looks. What exactly did the Candymaker know about their team effort?

  Old Sammy had moved on to Daisy’s plate, which gave Logan an excuse to turn back around without responding to his dad. They watched as Old Sammy popped a 3G into his mouth and almost instantly spit it into the bucket and reached for a cup of water. Miles giggled. Daisy kicked him, but her heart clearly wasn’t in it, because Miles didn’t even yelp.

  A boy’s voice in the crowd said, “Wow, that one must have been really bad.”

  Daisy’s shoulders slumped. Before anyone else could comment, Philip reached out and patted her awkwardly on the back. Then he stiffened. Logan saw why: Judge Edgar had picked up the information form for the Harmonicandy.

  Daisy reached out and took Philip’s hand now. He flinched slightly but didn’t pull away. Logan didn’t dare even breathe. Please play. Please play at least one note.

  Edgar cupped the ends of the Harmonicandy with the palms of his hands. Closing his eyes, he exhaled so gently his lips didn’t even move.

  A crisp, clear note filled the room. Logan and Philip and Daisy and Miles gasped and clutched each other tight. Any whispering from the crowd stopped. The two other judges turned at the sound, midchew.

  Edgar held it out and examined it from all angles, an amused expression on his face. He brought it back to his mouth and blew a quick succession of notes. It sounded exactly like a real harmonica. They’d done it! Max and the Candymaker were thumping Philip on the back. Henry wiped a tear from his eye.

  Judge Edgar finally stopped playing and took a bite. He turned back to the table, so Logan couldn’t see his expression as he marked something down on his clipboard.

  Logan could hardly contain himself. Inside he was soaring. Miles was bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. Daisy and Philip hadn’t moved, but they were both wearing broad grins. Logan’s mom reached over and ruffled Philip’s hair. At that moment, for the first time since Logan had known him, Philip looked like he was about to cry. He recovered quickly, though, blinking away any tears.

  Daisy tugged on Logan’s arm and whispered, “We may have a problem. Follow me.”

  “We’ll be right back,” he told his parents as the three of them hurried after Daisy. She led them back into the hidden stairwell.

  “The judge loved it!” Miles cried once they were all safely inside. “Did you see his face?”

  “That’s all well and good,” Daisy said. “But AJ told me that while we were watching Judge Edgar eat the Bubbletastic ChocoRocket, the woman judge was tasting the ice cream one. Apparently she couldn’t stop eating it. She gave it the highest score!”

  “How does AJ know what score she wrote down?” Logan asked, feeling his joyous mood deflating.

  “Trust me, he knows.”

  “Does it really matter?” Philip said. “I bet we’ll get the top mark, too. At least from Edgar.”

  “You’re probably right,” Daisy said. “But AJ thinks we’ve got some serious competition with that ice cream. He said people have been talking about it all day. Apparently, before we got here, the kid who made it gave out a bunch of free samples, and everyone kept asking him for more.”

  “Are you even allowed to do that?” Miles asked Logan.

  “I’ve never seen anyone do it before, but I don’t think it’s against the rules or anything.”

  “Then maybe they broke the rules in some other way,” Daisy said. “Like using an ingredient that they didn’t list or something.”

  “But how would we know that?” Miles asked.

  “We need to get a sample,” Philip said. “Are there any left?”

&n
bsp; Daisy shook her head. “AJ already tried to find some. Our only hope is that the judges leave some on the table.”

  “But what good would it be to taste it?” Miles asked.

  “Logan would know if anything was left off the list,” Philip said. “Right, Logan?”

  Logan nodded. He would know. But how did Philip know that? “Even if we tried to get some once the judging ended, we’d never get near the table without being spotted.”

  No one answered. Then Philip announced, “I’ll distract them.”

  “How?” Daisy asked. “By climbing up on the couch and shouting about how candy rots your teeth? That would sure get everyone’s attention. They’d throw boxes of toothpaste at you!”

  “No, I’m not going to climb on the couch.”

  “You could stand on your head,” Miles suggested. “Or wait, you could do a song and dance. Can you sing?”

  Philip shook his head. “I won’t need to shout on a couch or sing. Trust me. When the judging’s over, I’ll get everyone’s attention. You just get a piece of that ice cream thing.” To Daisy he said, “What do they call it, anyway?”

  She paused while AJ talked in her ear. “What? That’s not very creative. Oh. Okay, I get it. AJ said they call it ‘I Scream.’ Sounds like ice cream, but it’s spelled like the letter I, then the word scream, as in, ‘I’d scream really loud if it won, and not in a good way.’ ”

  “That’s pretty good,” Logan admitted.

  Philip scoffed. “Just find some way to disqualify it.”

  “I doubt I’ll find anything,” Logan said. “Why would someone risk not listing all the ingredients?”

  “I know it’s a long shot,” Daisy said. “But it’s all we’ve got. Too much is riding on this contest to risk anything.”

  Logan knew exactly how much was riding on it. He nodded. “I’ll do my best.”

  They ducked back out in time to hear the crowd clap as the judges finished. Judge Edgar took the mike and said, “That was delightful!” He patted his belly. “I might not eat again for a week!”

  The crowd laughed politely.

  “It will take us about a half hour to tabulate the scores. Relax, go visit the exhibit hall, and you should all congratulate yourselves. An outstanding group!” He joined the other two judges, and they filed into the small room where Judge Carol had taken Miles’s pie before.

  “We’re going to run down and check on the booth,” Logan’s mom told them. “Will you guys be okay up here? Max or Henry could stay if you like.”

  “We’ll be fine,” Logan assured her. “Have fun.”

  “All right,” Philip said when the grown-ups left. “It’s now or never.”

  “Tell us what you’re going to do!” Daisy demanded.

  Logan could tell she didn’t like being left out of things. Especially things like this.

  “I’ll do my job,” he replied, picking up his duffel from the floor. “You just worry about doing yours.” With that he made his way through the crowd.

  “Maybe he’s going to recite passages from Love’s Last Dance,” Miles suggested. “No, wait, that’s not a real book!”

  He scooted out of the way just in time to avoid Daisy’s foot heading for his shin.

  At first the music was muffled by the din of the crowd, and Logan wasn’t sure what he was hearing. He glanced at the candy table to see if someone had picked up the Harmonicandy and was playing it. But everyone was still standing on the other side of the rope.

  As the music got louder, the sound of talking grew quieter as people looked around the room for its source.

  Miles saw him first. He pointed to a cluster of chairs right beneath the poster of Logan’s grandfather. “There! It’s Philip! And he’s… he’s… playing a violin? Where did he get a violin at a candy convention?”

  Logan’s and Daisy’s jaws fell open. Philip was indeed playing the violin, and not just playing it—he was making notes come out of the instrument that Logan had never heard before. The whole room was silent now. Everyone had begun to move closer to the boy playing like a world-famous violinist.

  Philip had his eyes closed, an expression of calm concentration on his face. Logan couldn’t tear his eyes away. This was Philip? Their Philip? The music was the most beautiful thing he’d ever heard. All around the room people were beginning to whisper. Others shushed them.

  “I’ve heard this piece before!” Miles said in amazement. “I thought it was the radio!”

  Daisy gasped. “I’ve heard it, too! Years ago! He was playing it back at that school where he blew my cover. I thought the music teacher was playing a record. But it was him!”

  “Well,” Logan said, “he did say he had a few more surprises up his sleeve.”

  “AJ is yelling in my ear,” Daisy said. “We have to move now. You guys stand guard. If anyone’s watching me, just cough loudly.”

  Logan and Miles nodded. Daisy darted behind them and was back before Logan remembered he was supposed to be guarding her. He’d gotten so caught up in the music that a life-sized Gummysaurus could have walked into the room and he wouldn’t have noticed.

  “Did anyone see me take it?” she asked.

  Logan and Miles shared a guilty look. “Um, nope?” Miles said.

  “Good. Let’s go.” She ran off to the hallway, and Logan and Miles hurried after her. She pulled a chunk of mint chocolate chip I Scream out of her dress pocket and handed it to Logan. “This is all that was left. The judges ate more of this one than of any of the others.”

  “This should be enough,” Logan said.

  “And here’s the list of ingredients.” She pulled the information form out of her other pocket.

  “You took that, too?” Logan asked. “What if someone notices it’s gone?”

  “As long as Philip keeps playing, I doubt anyone’s going to notice anything.” She looked down at the paper in her hand. “Come on, Alex Gruber from Clover City. Show us what ya got.”

  Logan turned the candy over in his hand to see what he could tell from the feel of it. It had a smooth consistency, a little slick, but with a solid heft. It wouldn’t crumble too easily. It was thicker than taffy and not at all sticky. So far he was impressed. “Okay. I’ll name the ingredients, and you check them off as I go along.”

  She nodded. “Good luck.”

  Logan broke the small piece in half and put it in his mouth. He swirled it around on his tongue to make sure he picked up all the different flavors. Philip’s music in the background actually helped him focus. It took only a few seconds before he was able to start distinguishing ingredients. “Sugar,” he said first. “A lot of sugar.”

  Daisy nodded. “Check.”

  “Milk, butter, cream.”

  “Check, check, and check.”

  “Salt.”

  “Check.”

  “Soybean oil.”

  “Check.”

  Logan swallowed and put the rest of the piece in his mouth. “Cocoa powder.”

  “Check.”

  “Coconut oil.”

  “Check.”

  “Cornstarch.”

  “Check.”

  “Mint. Green food coloring and corn syrup.”

  “Check and check.” She sighed. “That’s everything. I guess we’ll just have to hope for the bes—”

  “Wait,” Logan said, reaching out his hand. “There’s something else.”

  “Really?” Miles and Daisy asked.

  “It’s barely noticeable. I’m not sure what it is.” He closed his eyes and tried desperately to identify it. It wasn’t so much a taste, exactly, as a feeling. But what was it? “You’re sure there’s no more on the table?”

  Daisy shook her head.

  Logan’s heart sank. Whatever the other ingredient in the I Scream was, he couldn’t figure it out. “I’m sorry. Maybe it’s just my imagination.”

  “It’s okay,” Daisy said. “It was a long shot anyway. It’s probably all legit.”

  “I guess you’re right,” he said uncer
tainly.

  “Maybe the other judges won’t like it as much as Judge Carol did,” Miles said.

  “Maybe,” Logan said, but he doubted it. The I Scream had been really, really good. Almost better than real ice cream, if he had to be honest. All his taste buds had come alive while he ate it. It had sort of an energy to it. No wonder the judges wanted to keep eating it. He did, too.

  Daisy left to return the information form to the table.

  “What you just did was really cool,” Miles said to Logan as they followed her out of the stairwell.

  “But I didn’t find anything that wasn’t on the list.” Or nothing he could determine, at any rate.

  “Maybe not,” Miles said, “but you did find everything on the list.”

  “I guess, but I’d trade that skill to be able to figure out how many ounces are in two thirds of a cup.”

  “But lots of people can do that,” Miles argued. “Almost nobody can do what you just did.”

  Logan stopped. “I never thought of it that way.”

  Philip must have seen them emerge from the hall, because the music abruptly ended. And when it did, a huge burst of applause echoed through the room. Some people even yelled out, “Bravo! Bravo!” Others blew their noses loudly. Then, just as suddenly, the music started again, but a much different tune rang out this time. “Is that what I think it is?” Logan asked.

  Sure enough, Philip had launched into “The Candyman” song and had the whole crowd singing along. Logan wouldn’t have thought it possible that the old song could even be played on a violin, let alone that Philip would know how to play it.

  When the song ended, Philip took a bow and the applause erupted again. The room now held about twice as many people as had been there before. People must have come up from downstairs when they heard the music.

  Daisy returned from the table. Raising her voice over the sound of the applause, she said, “We better go rescue him before he’s mobbed by admirers.”

  They zigzagged their way through the crowd until they reached Philip. He had just secured the violin in its case when Daisy grabbed him by the arm in one of her death grips and yanked him away. Logan and Miles hurried along on either side of them like bodyguards. People were calling out, asking for an encore, asking for his autograph even!