The Candy Man Cometh Read Online Free Page A

Brigade and you were the only one who could stop him?”
    Boy-in-the-Cardboard-Box Boy laughed as if the answer was obvious. “I possess all the powers of cardboard! I’d simply defeat him with that!”
    Exact Change Kid and Boom Boy looked Boyin-the-Cardboard-Box Boy over. “I don’t know,” Boom Boy said, shaking his head. “I just don’t think you’ve got what it takes to be a sidekick. Unless we can store our winter clothes in you when summer comes.”
    “Sorry, BITCBB,” Exact Change Kid said, and checked a box labeled LOSER on his clipboard.
    “Oh, I get it now, you can have a kid in a Giant Hamster Ball, but not one in a Giant Cardboard Box?!” Boy-in-the-Cardboard-Box Boy shouted.
    “MAAAA PA MAM PAM!” Boy-in-the-Plastic-Bubble Boy yelled in a panic as Super Vision Lad rolled him across the street and into the deserted field.
    “Come back here with that hamster ball!” Super Vision Lad’s mother yelled, and chased after him.
    “It’s nothing against you,” Exact Change Kid explained. “Boy-in-the-Plastic-Bubble Boy’s got a Giant Hamster Ball of Justice...”
    “And you’re just stuck in a stupid brown box!” Boom Boy cut in. “You look like a rectangle turd!”
    “Don’t make me smite you with my Giant Cardboard Box of Justice!” Boy-in-the-Cardboard-Box Boy threatened.
    “Oh yeah? Oh yeah?” Boom Boy stood up. “You just try and I’ll blow up so good, there won’t be enough of your box left to line a birdcage!”
    “I’d like to see you try!” Boy-in-the-Cardboard-Box Boy dared.
    And with that, Boom Boy jumped to the other side of the table and balled his fists. He clenched his teeth so tightly that deep lines formed in his cheeks.
    “Cardboard Powers, activate!” Boy-in-the-Cardboard-Box Boy shouted. He charged Boom Boy and repeatedly bashed into him with his cardboard box. “Take that! And that! And that!” he yelled with each collision.
    “Let’s see... how good are you... with that box... when I blow you ...to the... moon!” Boom Boy threatened between gritted teeth.
    “Super Box Attack!” Boy-in-the-Cardboard-Box Boy yelled. He spun in place and bashed Boom Boy with the sides of his cardboard box.
    “Oh no! Boom Boy’s losing!” Spice Girl gasped. Earlobe Lad peeked his head out from under the table. Both of his hands were clasped over his ears. “Well I sure wish he’d lose a little more quietly,” he whispered up to us.
    “How can you tell he’s losing?” I asked. “Because he looks so sad,” she replied. “Maybe we should move the table back,” Exact Change Kid said. “If Boom Boy really blows up, I don’t want to get his parts all over my costume. My mom just washed it.”
    Boom Boy bent over and crossed his arms over his stomach. He grunted twice and his face grew a shade of deep red.
    “He’s not going to blow up,” I said.
    “How do you know?” Exact Change Kid was already moving his chair back.
    “Because he
never
blows up,” I reminded him. Suddenly Boom Boy unclenched his fists and stood up. “Wait! I get it now. I get it. You
want
me to blow up, don’t you?” Boom Boy said to me. “Yeah. ’Cause once I do, I’ll be gone and —”
    “Take that! And that! And that!” Boy-in-the-Cardboard-Box Boy yelled. He charged Boom Boy and repeatedly bashed into him with his Cardboard Box of Justice.
    “Could you hold on just a second?” Boom Boy said to him, and then turned to me. “Now where was I?”
    “Wait! I get it now. I get it. You
want
me to blow up, don’t you?” I mimicked Boom Boy, which was easy enough to do since I’ve heard his speech so many times.
    “Oh yeah! That’s right! ’Cause once I do, I’ll be gone and then there’ll be no more Boom Boy and you won’t be able to say that he
never
blows up!”
    “But Boom Boy, you never
do
blow up! You just threaten to,” I reminded him.
    “And that’s how it better stay, or I swear, I swear... I’ll blow myself up!”
    “Okay, okay! How about Boxy: The Box