The Other Side of the Marshmallow Read online

peanut!’

  ‘It’s not?’

  ‘No! Look, would you rather hand an incredibly valuable ring in and get a cruddy licorice whip for it or would you rather make a few chocolate coins instead?’ He said, taking a suck on his fad.

  ‘Umm … Make some chocolate coins? How?’

  ‘On the dark chocolate market.’ He whispered.

  ‘But, what about the Chocolatiers?’

  ‘Screw the Chocolatiers, besides, they’re too busy to be worrying about a silly ring that some rich chocolate cake lost.’

  ‘Well, how much money are we talking?’

  ‘A ring like that, I’d say it’d fetch around five hundred chocolate coins.’

  ‘Wow.’

  ‘Of course, I’d have to take a cut of that.’ He took a long suck on his fad.

  ‘How much?’

  ‘Fifty percent.’

  ‘What! But, I found it!’

  ‘Well, if you’d rather give it to one of the other peanut clusters and get another raspberry licorice whip, go ahead.’ He turned to go back inside.

  ‘Wait! Okay, you’ve got yourself a deal.’

  ‘Excellent.’

  ‘So, how does this work?’

  ‘Well, I need to make a few calls first. Tell you what. Meet me at the top of the Empire Cake Building at midnight tonight. We’ll make the exchange then.’

  ‘Okay.’

  ‘And don’t be late.’ He glared at me before tossing his fad on the ground, crushing it with his foot and re-entering the building.

  I looked at my candy watch; I only had ten minutes to get to Cherry Ripe Bridge. I turned and ran back down the alley, past the homeless chocolate bars.

  ‘Please, can you spare some coconut?’ The Bounty called out to me.

  ‘No, sorry. I’m afraid I haven’t got a single shred of coconut on me.’ I said, making sure the packet of desiccated coconut in my pocket was hidden from view.

  I continued until I was back, safe and sound, in the busy street. I hailed another taxi.

  ‘Cherry Ripe Bridge please.’ I said to the driver, this time, a green gummy bear.

  Fifteen minutes later I arrived at the bridge. My date was standing in the middle, looking out over The Hot Chocolate River. I ran up to him, slipping the diamond ring on my finger and tucking the licorice whip under my arm.

  ‘Hi, sorry I’m late. The traffic was terrible.’

  ‘That’s okay.’ He smiled at me. ‘Hey, is that a licorice whip?’

  ‘Umm … yeah, but its raspberry.’

  ‘Raspberry, that’s my favourite.’ Instantly, I knew it was going to be a bad date.

  *

  Three hours later I was back home in my packet. As I’d predicted the date hadn’t gone well. It turned out my cute white Freddo was only interested in sucking away my candy shell and getting to my chocolate. I ended up ditching him at Timeout Square.

  I sat in my packet watching the clock until it was time for me to go to my rendezvous with the peanut cluster at the top Empire Cake Building. I made sure I had the diamond ring before stepping out of my packet, resealing it and heading down the street.

  I took the Milky Way to the station nearest the Empire Cake Building and quickly made my way to the top. The peanut cluster was already waiting for me. I walked over to him, casually.

  ‘Did you bring the ring?’ He asked.

  ‘Yeah, did you bring the money?’

  ‘Yeah. Two hundred and fifty chocolate coins.’ He pulled a few yellow hessian sacks out of his pocket.

  We were just about to make the exchange when a heap of lights clicked on, blinding me.

  The Chocolatiers.

  ‘Hold it right there.’

  I faced the peanut cluster, he returned my terrified gaze with a smile. ‘It always amazes me how willing the M & M’s are to get a little bit of extra money, especially the peanut ones.’ He said. ‘Fortunately, they aren’t as aggressive as the crispy ones ...’

  ‘What are you talking about?’ I whispered.

  ‘I got everything on tape boys.’ The peanut cluster said to the Chocolatiers. ‘This M & M was willing to carry out the exchange. One highly valuable pink candy diamond ring for two hundred and fifty chocolate coins.’

  ‘Hold on a second ... you set me up?’ My mouth widened.

  ‘Of course. You should know better.’

  ‘But ... but ... that’s not fair! I tried handing the ring in! You coerced me into this.’

  ‘That’s my job. Besides, I gave you the option of going to another peanut cluster, didn’t I?’

  I stared at him then looked towards the Chocolatiers. They were getting the plastic and vacuum seal ready.

  ‘Please don’t caramelise me.’ I begged. ‘I’m really a good peanut, deep down.’

  ‘Oh, don't worry, they’re not going to caramelise you.’ The peanut cluster said to me, grinning. ‘That punishment is only for petty crimes. For theft and dealing in the dark chocolate market, the punishment is far worse. You’re off to the factory. They’re going to package you up and FedEx you on the midnight shipment. You’ll be on a department shelf by morning.’ He began laughing.

  ‘Noooooooooo!’

  ###

  About the Author

  Kristen Rose is a young aspiring author based in Brisbane, Australia. She has a Bachelor of Arts from Griffith University with a major in writing. During her studies she had a short story titled ‘A Punch Bowel Full of Sangria’ published in the 2010 edition of ‘Talent Implied’, a Griffith University creative writing anthology. Her first novel titled The Institution was published in early 2013 as an ebook.

  She is currently working as a registered nurse, however spends her spare time pursuing her passion for creative writing.

  About The Other Side of the Marshmallow

  Kristen Rose enjoys writing odd and quirky stories that fit outside of any normal genre and popular fiction markets. The Other Side of the Marshmallow is a short story intended to be entertaining, and nothing more. A way for the author to pursue her love of confectionaries and odd stories.