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And then he said a nahtmy head back until I could see his face, and said, "You can’t be serious"

"But I am" Nathan smiled a little, like he was perfectly aware of just how ridiculous he sounded "We’vequarters, to the Captain Candy Chocolate Factory"

I stared at him

He smiled a little more "I see you’ve heard of it I wasn’t sure I went there with a class field trip when I was in middle school, but you missed the whole ‘middle school’ experience"

"Will used to leave the radio on ere cleaning the shelter, and they advertised a lot during the afternoon," I said "It’s out in Vallejo, isn’t it?"

Nathan nodded "That’s the one"

"And it was just… e a candy factory open isn’t aaround in the front seat to look at us "It’s a nice place A little weird Sies"

"Just antiparasitics," I said shyly

"I guess that would be a proble me a frank up-and-down look "You don’t look like a tapeworrinned It opened up his face like a flower, bright and honest enough that I didn’t evenoff virtually all of his teeth The absence of h to rob therin on a dog

Fishy was a short, stocky man with broad workman’s shoulders and a full head of riotously curly hair that was currently skimmed back into a ponytail to keep it out of his way His eyes swalasses, which were seated so solidly on his nose that they looked like they would be i a black outfit that matched Nathan’s in cut and construction, but couldn’t have looked more different on his fra than Adauy, but he’s never really see person to lance at Nathan before returning , hesitantly, "Maybe that’s because I learned how to be a hu how to be a huot that I wasn’t really one of theaze flicked to Nathan, sreed Fishy withdrew back into the front seat Nathan put an ar your call Honestly, most of the people back at the lab had written you off as lost I think that I was one of the only people as still willing to believe that you were alive--well, ave up on you"

"He wouldn’t," I said

"Neither would I" Nathan tightened his ar to be a little jumpy around you for a while I just want you to be ready for that"

"I can be ready for anything, as long as you let me stay with you"

Nathan kissed the top ofto let ain"

"Good," I said, and closed my eyes

Captain Candy’s Chocolate Factory was a Bay Area tradition, originally designed to compete with the better-known and more nationally established Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield The Captain didn’t specialize in jelly beans; instead, he had made his name on chocolate and chocolate confections of all kinds, from cookies to ice creaed fifteen dollars a head, with a pro ridiculous quantities of chocolate and candy at the end--a pro back Captain Candy never becah I didn’t knohether that was a matter of economic necessity or a matter of corporate choice There was a lot of competition in the national chocolate arena, but in Northern California, Captain Candy was king

The factory was built to serve three purposes at once, and it needed to serve them all well before it could be considered a success First, to offer a candy-coated wonderland that would invoke thoughts of children’s literature and impossible dreams, available for rent at a reasonable fee Second, to create the illusion of a factory that Willy Wonka would have been proud to own and operate, even down to the brightly colored scrubs worn by all of the employees Third, to host the actual Captain Candy’s factory, producing hundreds of pounds of candy daily on an assembly line that looked exactly like every other candy assembly line in the world

The drive from Pleasant Hill to Vallejo took a little e choked with stalled-out and abandoned cars Fishy and Fang got out at one point, pushing several of the cars out of the ith an ease that spoke of greased wheels and hidden levers We drove through and they got out again, pushing the cars back into their original positions "No one knows that we’re using this route for our supply runs, and we’re going to keep it that way," said Fishy a restarted the car

"Good idea," I said vaguely It was hard to pay attention to the