Peppermint Twist

  Peppermint Twist

  Gina Ranalli

  Also by Gina Ranalli

  Novels

  House of Fallen Trees

  Dark Surge

  Unearthed

  Praise the Dead

  Swarm of Flying Eyeballs

  Chemical Gardens

  Suicide Girls in the Afterlife

  Wall of Kiss

  Mother Puncher

  Sky Tongues

  Collections

  13 Thorns (with Gus Fink)

  Published by Bloo Skize Books

  Copyright © 2011 by Gina Ranalli. All rights reserved.

  This book is a work of fiction.

  Cover art and design copyright © 2011 by Gary McClusky

  No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author or publisher.

  1.

  Bang, bang. Shoot, shoot.

  That’s basically all there was to Sublime Assassins--the most popular video game in the country. Maybe even the world. But everyone loved it, and everyone included Don and Lucy Magee, two twins living in the great city of New Boston.

  “Shoot,” Don cried at his sister. “Get him!”

  Lucy ignored him, chewing her lower lip in concentration, aiming the crosshairs of her weapon at the bad guy on the screen.

  Bang.

  In a spray of blood, another bad guy fell, and together the twins moved on through the game, searching out a new enemy.

  They sat cross-legged on the floor in the living room of their dad’s apartment, oblivious to the fact that the Saturday morning had eased into Saturday afternoon and they had barely moved at all, except to use the bathroom and grab more chips and soda from the kitchen.

  Their dad Charlie had been in his office all day-really just a spare bedroom-talking on the phone and working on his laptop. The kids had to share the sofa-bed when they visited every other weekend. A fact they didn’t much like but eventually found tolerable when dad had caved and bought them a new Z-Box.

  Now, they were pleased as punch, and could even play their video games in the middle of the night while their dad slept. As long as they kept the volume low, they could get away with it. And did.

  Don, with chip crumbs on his chin, shouted “Yeah!” at the screen as he obliterated another enemy.

  The twins exchanged a quick high-five, which apparently caused the doorbell to ring.

  Their eyes widened, knowing exactly who had come to call, but instead of getting up to answer the door, they turned back to Sublime Assassins. Don reached over and cranked the volume on the TV--a ploy they’d used many times before.

  It was useless, of course. After a few more rings of the bell, their dad emerged from his office and glared at them as he passed by on his way to the front door. “What’s wrong with you two? Didn’t you hear the bell?”

  “Huh?” Lucy asked innocently. “I guess the TV is too loud.”

  “Yeah, I just bet. Turn it down.”

  Don reluctantly obeyed and, a moment later, they could hear their dad opening the door and the jubilant cries of their grandmother as she entered the apartment.

  “Oh, boy,” Lucy said. “Here we go again.

  2.

  About once a month, their grandma Grace came calling on the twins when they were staying with their dad. Like most kids, they did love their grandma, but-also like most kids-thought she was terribly old-fashioned and out of touch and, frankly, just not as bright as they were.

  Grandma was always bearing gifts, which the children appreciated to some degree, but mostly they smiled and said thank you because they knew it was expected of them. Grandma had a tendency to give them things like huge balls or coloring books and crayons. Occasionally she’d been known to bring along a board game, like Monopoly or Life, and their dad would insist that all four of them sit at the kitchen table and play.

  “It’ll only be for a little while,” he was known to say.

  But even a couple hours of some lame game was torturous to Don and Lucy. They wanted their video games or, at the very least, some time at the computer--to play other video games.

  The twins ignored the sounds of their dad and grandma until it was impossible to do so any longer.

  “My babies!” Grandma Grace screeched as she entered the living room.

  They both tossed polite smiles over their shoulders at her, hoping that would fly with their dad, but, it was frail hope, and they weren’t at all surprised when he said, “Kids, stop playing that game and say hello to your grandmother.”

  Stifling groans, they paused the game, stood up, and allowed Grandma Grace to hug them. They couldn’t help but notice the white plastic bag she held in her hand. In red letters on the bag were the words Obsession Videos, and suddenly both twins were grinning from ear to ear. Obsession Videos was where they went with their dad to buy new video games. It was their favorite store.

  Grandma Grace noticed their change in demeanor right away. She smiled and held the bag up over their heads, the way someone did when trying to get a dog to sit up and beg for a treat.

  “Guess what I brought!” Grandma Grace teased.

  Don hopped up and down while Lucy clapped her hands together. They were both thinking the same thing: Grandma Grace had finally bought them something great.

  “Is it Agony of the Gory Avenger?” Don asked hopefully.

  “Is it Doctor Hammer?” Lucy wanted to know.

  Grandma Grace’s smile faltered. “What?”

  The kids stopped bouncing around the moment they saw their grandmother’s expression. She’d gotten something dorky for them. They just knew it.

  “It’s Riddle of the Galaxy, isn’t it?” Don’s voice was tinged with disappointment.

  “No, of course not,” Grandma Grace said, frowning with distaste. “Here. See for yourself.” She handed the bag to Lucy, who accepted it without much enthusiasm.

  When she reached into the bag and pulled out the game, she saw that it was even worse than they’d expected.

  She held a bright, cheery box, decorated with cartoon characters and the title Peppermint Twist.

  Don covered his face with his hands to keep from screaming.

  “Isn’t it just darling?” Grandma Grace’s smile was back in full bloom. “Look, it has ten levels!”

  The twins said nothing.

  The dad scowled at them. “What do you say, kids?”

  “Thank you, Grandma,” they said in unison.

  The four of them stood in the middle of the living room awkwardly for a minute, until Lucy asked, “Can we play our game now?”

  Grandma Grace laughed. “Of course you can! Maybe you can show your old Grandma how it’s done, hmm?”

  The kids smiled and Lucy tossed both the new game and bag onto a chair, then they both collapsed back onto the floor in front of the television, resuming play of Sublime Assassins.

  “Hey, now,” their dad scolded. “You know perfectly well Grandma wants to play the new game she just bought you. Now, let’s go.” He snapped his fingers at them, which he only did when he was getting annoyed.

  Groaning, Don said, “But, Dad! That game is for babies!”

  Grandma Grace laughed. “No it isn’t! It’s rated “E for everyone.” I made sure to check.”

  “Both of you,” Dad said firmly. “Up. Come on, let’s go.”

  “Dang it,” Don muttered, but did as he was told.

  Playing a baby game based on another baby game was not how either of the twins had wanted to spend the rest of their day, but nevertheless, that’s exactly what they had to do.

  3.

  Grandma Grace tried playing the game with Lucy for about five minutes before giving up and handing her contr
oller back to Don.

  “You two go ahead,” she said. “I’d rather just watch.”

  Don took the controller and tried to seem happy about it. After all, his dad’s eyes were on him, watching carefully for signs of disrespect.

  All the kids could do for now was play Peppermint Twist. Both of them sorely wished their grandma would leave so they could go back to playing Sublime Assassins and eating junk food. Those were easily the best part of staying with their dad, especially when he was so busy with work. On those weekends, it was even more preferable than staying at home with their mom, who hadn’t even bought them the latest version of the Z-Box and insisted that they eat healthy food most of the time.

  The twins considered their mom to be very strict and their dad was too, but usually only when their grandma was around or their mom got on him for being too lax with them. Otherwise, he didn’t complain about what they were doing or what they were eating, as long as they kept fairly quiet and let him do his job.

  They had a deal going with him: they could do the things they wanted as long as when they returned home to their mom’s house they remained tight-lipped about the things they’d done--or hadn’t done, as the case may be.

  Part of the deal was also pleasing their grandma, so they did their best to do that, knowing that it wouldn’t last forever. Soon, she would leave, and Dad would be so stressed about the work time lost that he would rush off, telling them to behave before disappearing back into his office for a couple more hours.

  They just had to bide their time and make the best of it for a while.

  And so they hopped around the make-believe 2-D world of Peppermint Twist, collecting sugar plums and candy canes, gum drops and lollipops, trying their best to make it to Candy Castle and not get stuck in the syrup swamp along the way.

  It was ridiculously simple for them, and they knew they could play the game in their sleep, even though their grandma kept Oh-ing and ah-ing the entire time.

  Behind them, seated on the sofa next to his mom, their dad tried talking to her about a business trip he had to take in a couple of weeks.

  “I have to go to Florida,” he said. “And Stacy already has plans to go to Vegas with…uh…what’s his name, guys?”

  “Greg,” they both answered without turning around.

  “Yeah, Greg. It just came up. So, would you mind taking them for the weekend?”

  “Well, I don’t know,” Grandma Grace said, her voice coy. “Do you think they’ll be good and eat their vegetables at dinner time? You know how Grandpa Charlie Senior gets testy if they don’t eat their veggies.”

  “You’ll eat your veggies, right kids?”

  “Yes,” they said together, though everyone knew they probably wouldn’t unless Grandma offered to bribe them with ice cream or cake for dessert. Which, she would. She always did. They would have preferred a bribe of money to buy more video games, but barring that, sweets were always their second choice.

  “In that case, I’d love to have them, Charlie.”

  The twins still didn’t turn, but they could tell by the sound of her voice that Grandma was smiling her biggest, happiest smile.

  4.

  Thankfully, it wasn’t too long after that that Grandma Grace requested hugs from all three of them and then went along on her merry way, back to her own place on the other side of the city.

  “Good job, you guys,” dad told them once he’d shut the door behind her. “I really appreciate you humoring her.”

  “No problem,” Don said. “Can we have burritos for supper?”

  “You know where they are,” Dad said, ruffling his son’s hair before he went back into his office.

  “Sweet,” said Lucy as she went to get the microwavable burritos from the freezer. “Two or one?”

  “I want two,” Don said. “While you’re nuking them, I’ll get Assassins back in the Z-Box.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  Lucy went about the easy task of cooking the burritos and opening a Coke for herself, though she’d barely taken a sip when she heard Don yell from the other room.

  She rushed to him, spilling soda as she went, but not caring much. “What is it?”

  “The dang Z-Box is stuck,” Don said. “I can’t get Peppermint Twist out.”

  “Here, let me try.”

  Lucy put her soda on the coffee table and attempted to do what her brother could not. But he was right. The Peppermint Twist disc was stuck in the player and no amount of button pushing was getting it unstuck.

  Lucy frowned. “What if it’s broken?”

  “It can’t be broken.”

  “It seems weird.” Lucy tried to stick her fingers into the slot to pull out the disc, but that didn’t work either. “It feels sticky.”

  “Hmm,” Don replied. “Probably because you’re dribbling Coke all over the place, including onto your fingers.”

  “Am not!” She tasted the tip of her index finger and found that it was indeed sweet, but she wasn’t about to admit that to Don.

  “Are too. I’m going to get Dad.”

  “No!” Lucy grabbed his arm, halting him in his tracks. “It’ll just make him mad. He’ll say we broke it, and then he might never buy us any more video games again.”

  Don thought about this for a minute. “He might try to tell us to ride bikes again, like he did that time we spilled Yoohoo on his laptop and he had to buy another one.”

  “Exactly. And going outside pretty much blows.”

  “It is winter though,” Don said. “Maybe the bike thing wouldn’t come up after all.”

  “Maybe not, but something would. He’d probably tell us to go make snowmen or something.”

  “Like mom always does.”

  “Yep. So we have to fix it ourselves.”

  “But what if we can’t?”

  “We have to,” Lucy repeated. “We don’t have a choice.”

  Don looked at the television. Peppermint Twist was paused, the main characters, Dodie and Splinks frozen in place as they were about to encounter Cheery, the fat jelly monster who guarded the shortcut, Jellybean Way.

  “Okay,” Don said. “I guess you’re right. We don’t have a choice.”

  5.

  The kids decided to try sticking a butter knife into the disc slot, hoping they’d be able to pop the game out, but instead they heard a crack and out fell a small piece of the disc.

  They exchanged panicked looks as they stared down at the beige carpet where the shard lay.

  “Uh oh,” Don said. “Now we’re really gonna get it.”

  Lucy frowned at the broken piece of disc. “It looks…different.”

  Don bent over and, sure enough, his sister was right. Instead of a piece of shiny silver, the shard was now striped pink and white. “What the…”

  He picked it up, turning it over in his hand. It looked the same on both sides, and when he sniffed it, the scent was undeniable. “Peppermint,” he told Lucy. “This is a thin piece of peppermint candy.”

  “What?” She grabbed it out of his hand and gave the shard an examination of her own. Once she was done, she tentatively touched the tip of her tongue to the broken piece of disc. Sure enough, it was peppermint. “But…how?”

  Both twins turned their attention to the TV, staring in dumbfounded silence. After a moment, Lucy went over to where she’d tossed the jewel case and read the back carefully. “All it says is that there are surprise Easter Eggs hidden throughout the game.”

  “Really?” Don asked. “But it can’t mean that the disc turns into candy. Can it?”

  “Of course not.” Lucy sounded unconvinced.

  “This is weird.”

  “Definitely.”

  Don grabbed one of the controllers from off the floor and started randomly punching buttons. Instantly, his character Splinks came to life, jumping up and down and saying in a cartoon voice, “Oh no! We have to get past Cheery if we’re to make it to Candy Castle!”

  Cheery was at the far side of the screen, pacing
back and forth, blocking the passage that was Jellybean Way.

  Without thinking about it, Don began playing the game and Splinks went about the task of charging Cheery with a licorice stick.

  “Don,” Lucy said.

  “Hold on. A few more whacks and he’s dead.”

  “Don!”

  “What?”

  “You’re playing the game.”

  “Yeah. So what? Might as well until we figure out how to get the disc out.”

  “But you shouldn’t be able to. That’s my point. The disc is broken!”

  Don stopped playing, his jaw hanging open. “This is messed up.”

  Lucy opened her mouth to reply, but was distracted by a faint beeping sound. Tilting her head to listen, she said, “What’s that?”

  They were quiet for about half a minute and then the beep came again. Together, they both realized what it was and announced it to each other.

  “The microwave!”

  6.

  The kids were terrified that their dinner was on fire. They had no idea how long the microwave had been beeping, as they’d been so caught up in the strangeness going on with the Peppermint Twist game.

  They rushed into the kitchen expecting the worst, Lucy trying to remember how to use the fire extinguisher their dad kept under the sink.

  Sniffing madly, they were pleasantly surprised by not only the smell of no smoke, but also the wonderful aroma of something else, though they didn’t know what exactly that something else was.

  At the microwave, Lucy pulled open its door and the yummy scent drifted out like a cloud of deliciousness.

  Usually bean and rice burritos didn’t smell like this.

  Lucy pulled off the paper towel she’d placed over the burritos and saw that they didn’t look like regular burritos either. With a cautious finger, she touched one and discovered that it was warm, but not hot.