The Little Red Candy That Could
In the end, I never knew its name.
It was round and red, with a hard shell. Almost a Skittle, but not quite. Likewise, not an M&M.
What it lacked in branding, though, it made up in speed. And while I sat on the N train, headed for home, it was rolling all the way through the car.
This was brilliant. Spectacular, even, in the pantheon of interesting but not dangerous things that can happen on the subway.
As the candy rolled relentlessly toward me in a perfect, straight line, I realized there were two pieces of tissue paper about five feet in front of me, slightly staggered. It was a natural chicane, and I saddened thinking that the brave little candy was heading right for those impossible curves.
Still, it had been a good run. A great run.
Three feet in front of the tissues, the subway car shifted, and the little red candy that could proceeded to curve perfectly through the chicane. It was both impossible, yet it happened, and I had a front row seat.
The candy rolled to the very back of the car until it hit the wall.
"Did you see that?" I asked C. She did not, so I breathlessly filled her in on the details. She started laughing because it was so stupid.
It was. Stupidly brilliant, that is.
I took out my phone, hoping to get a video of the champion candy as it rolled back through the car. Through two more stops, though, it hadn't.
Oh, well. Lightning only strikes once, after all. Or something.
I sat there, idly watching the floor, when suddenly the candy rolled right past. me. "There it goes!" I shouted, both of us laughing at the same. It bypassed the chicane it had already conquered. Soon after, it reversed course and rolled past us for the last time, settling in for good against the wall.
What a grand, grand moment.
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