I stared at the empty tables.
No chocolate.
No lollipops.
No gummy worms.
No fudge.
Nothing.
Someone had taken ALL OF IT.
“WHO DID THIS?!” I yelled.
“Um...”
I turned around.
Liam was standing behind me.
He looked nervous.
Actually...
he looked VERY nervous.
“Can I talk to you?”
He pulled me around the corner of Town Hall.
Then he looked at his shoes.
“I think I did something stupid.”
I stared at him.
“How stupid?”
He swallowed.
“Pretty stupid.”
“On a scale from one to ten?”
He thought about it.
“Maybe... twelve?”
Now THAT is stupid.
“I took the candy.”
...
I waited.
Because sometimes your brain needs a minute.
“YOU WHAT?!”
“SHHHHH!”
“YOU TOOK ALL THE CANDY?!”
“I thought I was helping!”
This was going to require an explanation.
A very good explanation.
Possibly the best explanation anyone had ever given.
Luckily, Liam had one.
Well.
He had an explanation.
The night before, Liam had walked past Town Hall when he heard two adults talking inside.
“There is SO much candy.”
“I know.”
“What are we going to do with all of it?”
“Nothing tonight. Leave it here.”
“And tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow it’ll all be gone.”
“Every last piece.”
Liam panicked.
Tomorrow it would all be GONE?
Every last piece?
On HALLOWEEN?!
He didn’t wait to hear the rest.
He decided to SAVE IT.
Every box.
Every bag.
Every lollipop.
Every gummy worm.
And, yes...
even Mrs. Peterson’s fudge.
There was just one problem.
Where do you hide THAT much candy?
Then Liam remembered.
Something BIG.
Something BLACK.
Something nobody was allowed to look under until Halloween.
MR. BROOKS’S SHEET.
“Where is it now?” I asked.
Liam pointed across the street.
“Under there.”
I looked at him.
Then at the sheet.
Then back at Liam.
“You put ALL THE CANDY under Mr. Brooks’s Halloween surprise?”
He nodded.
Oh boy.
We ran.
Everyone else followed.
Mr. Brooks was already standing in his yard when we got there.
“What’s going on?”
Liam pointed at the sheet.
Nobody said anything.
So I grabbed the corner.
“WAIT—” Mr. Brooks shouted.
Too late.
I pulled.
The sheet dropped.
WOW.
Candy.
Candy.
And MORE candy.
Boxes. Bags. Chocolate bars. Lollipops. Gummy worms. Marshmallow pumpkins. Mrs. Peterson’s fudge.
For days, everyone had been wondering what Mr. Brooks was hiding under that enormous black sheet.
Well...
Mr. Brooks had been telling the truth.
There really WAS a huge Halloween surprise under there.
Mr. Brooks looked at the mountain of candy.
Then at Liam.
Then he started laughing.
Mrs. Peterson started laughing.
Chief Ramirez started laughing.
Pretty soon EVERYONE was laughing.
Even Liam.
And then Mrs. Carter explained what Liam hadn’t stayed long enough to hear.
Of course the candy would all be gone tomorrow.
TOMORROW WAS HALLOWEEN.
They were going to give it to us.
All of it.
Liam went bright red.
“Oh.”
Yep.
That explained a lot.
“I really thought I was helping,” he said.
“I know.”
I looked at the mountain of candy.
Then at Liam.
“Next time?”
“I’ll ask.”
“Good.”
Because moving all that candy back to Town Hall was going to take FOREVER.
By sunset, everything was exactly where it belonged.
The candy was back.
The fudge was back.
Halloween was back.
And Liam?
Liam was never allowed to “save” Halloween again without asking first.
Probably a good rule.