Shoppers clotted around the window as if this was a piece of live theatre. Victor played up to it. He dragged on the gardening gloves slowly, giving a reverse striptease wiggle of his fingers and wrists before picking up the huge draper scissors and cutting through a block of warm candy. Even through the plate glass he could hear the gasp of his audience as he threw the length of candy onto the hook bolted high on the side wall of the shop. He pulled at both ends and the bright red candy lightened to pink, then he lassoed the lengths back around the hook and pulled again. The clock in the arcade struck the hour and no one moved on. The rhythm of Victor’s movements was mesmerizing. He imagined himself a professional showman as sweat built up under his arms and around his waist where his apron was tied tight.
The small bell on the door tinkled. ‘Oh, it smells like a princess’s palace,’ said a high voice.
Simone improvised. ‘Welcome to the Candy Palace.’ Princess, fairy, palace, grotto, Victor didn’t care what words she used as long as the brass bell kept up a steady melody of door openings.
The candy was now as flexible as a skein of wool; he unhooked it and turned to watch the girl serve the customers. She was shovelling lollies the colour of gems into a white paper bag while a couple of mothers were manhandling prepackaged jars that let in the light and showed off the product like stained-glass windows. There was a jewellers next door with rubies and sapphires and emeralds but most shoppers could only afford the candy equivalent. Simone went out from behind the counter to hand the child her selection, bending down to her height. She had a soft round bum. The cloth stretched across the flesh. It was tight behind the counter. Sometimes he had to brush against her.
Victor laid his aerated candy on a board. He sensed anticipation in his audience and started rolling immediately. More mesmerizing rhythms to draw them through the door. Tinkle, tinkle. Simone smiling, welcoming everyone into the Candy Grotto. The colour lost its frothy pastel tone as he rolled a long, thick snake of candy. It turned back to the colour of Simone’s un-kissed lips. They too were glossy, polished through the day from a tiny pot of lip balm. He imagined them hard under his. He took the flat knife and starting at one end, cut and cut, releasing little pillows of candy that were just the right size to stick on your tongue and suck.
There was now a queue of customers in the shop as well as a crowd two deep outside the plate glass window.
‘It’s warm in here,’ said a man appreciatively.
‘The candy needs to be 360 degrees before aeration,’ Victor explained. Several people leaned in to get a closer look at the aluminium stovetop where three blocks of hard syrup mixture waited. Lollygaggers. His favourite pun.
The warmth meant Simone wore a skimpy singlet under her apron. Even her shoulder blades were shapely.
The door opened again.
‘What a blustery day.’
‘Yes, but it is lovely in here.’
‘Quite swept us in.’
Victor slowed his knife and watched his wife push her way through the crowd with laughs and easy banter. Maddie was behind her, toddling on her own two feet. An autumn leaf fell from the sole of her shoe and she paused and tottered and kept coming. Poetry in motion. Such a surge of happiness shot through Victor he almost gasped. That they’d created this gem of a child was beyond him. How could he ever thank his wife enough? He kissed her cheek and breathed in her comforting pink musk scent and smiled. A small hand tugged at the bottom of his apron.
The last little pillow of candy on the roll was smaller and oddly shaped. He picked it up between two bare fingers and knelt on the floor in front of Maddie and popped it in her mouth.
‘Which colour next?’ he asked.
‘Gween.’
Simone handed him a block of warm green candy and hurried back to serving.
‘It’s not easy being green,’ he sang as he threw the candy on the hook. He was sure there was a smattering of applause from outside in the arcade.