Randy’s enthusiasm for tunnelling had waned to nothing over the next few days. The candy was just too enticing, and Nadyr's constant, soothing reassurances had lulled him back into a state of blissful inertia. Each evening transformed into an extravagant feast, a symphony of sugary delights: roasted sweet nuts, peanuts cloaked in chocolate, chocolate with almonds, almonds with chocolate, peanut butter and chocolate, jelly and chocolate, and coffee-flavoured toffee, a sticky indulgence that clung to his teeth for a day and kept him awake for two. On and on, the indulgence never stopped.
Today he woke up just like any other day: he got out of bed, he ate it and then listened to the human neighbourhood gossip. He heard a woman cry out something about not being able to pay off her house, and that she may lose it; he didn’t understand, back in Villagloriosa no one ever lost their home.
The night came as slowly as ever. It used to be that he could spend hours daydreaming about his future plans with anticipation, but now he had grown irritable and impatient; all he wanted was to skip time so he could get to the sweets. The pearl, Chewy, Karnel — they all seemed far away, like figures in a half-forgotten story. He didn’t even think about The Place Where The Sun Meets The Earth anymore. Eating candy, that was all that mattered. Every day, every bite, was a little piece of perfect happiness.
Yet, a small, nagging feeling scratched at him, a constant, dull ache. It was as if each piece of candy was gnawing his soul away. The sweets were good, but with only Nadyr for company, he felt terribly alone. His life felt pointless, a loop of chasing one fleeting pleasure after another. But Nadyr was always there, a gentle voice in the dark, and the candy always smoothed away the rough edges of his worries.
One evening, as Joseph was shutting down the shop, Randy heard a conversation that terrified him:
“Last night I had a strange dream. I kept cleaning the store over and over again and I could never make it clean — I wonder what it means?”
“I don’t know,” she said, distracted as she counted the day’s earnings. “Maybe it means we haven’t deep cleaned the store in a while?”
“Maybe you are right,” Joseph said, running a finger along a high shelf. “It’s getting dusty here. Tomorrow I will move the furniture around and do an in-depth clean.”
"Noooo," thought Randy, his stomach twisting. "I will be discovered if they start moving furniture around."
As Joseph and Madelyn left upstairs, Randy was so worried he even forgot to eat candy. “What am I going to do?” He paced the store frantically. He thought of all the things he didn’t do, how now they may never come to pass.
“What’s wrong, Randy?” Nadyr had popped out of nowhere as usual and was pleasantly smiling.
“Tomorrow they are going to move the furniture,” Randy said in horror. “I will get caught, I don’t know where to hide.”
“Well…” Nadyr paused for a few seconds, thinking hard of a solution. "I think perhaps the best place to hide is in plain sight.”
“Are you mad? Where? Like right here?” he said, pointing at the floor in the middle of the store.
“No, I have a much better idea,” said Nadyr, wagging his finger with a mischievous grin. “Hide where I usually hide.”
“Where?” Randy asked, his eyes darting around for an answer.
“In a bag of candy, of course. They don’t always look in there, and you can bury yourself in the sweets. Clever, eh?”
Randy paused, thinking hard. “That might work…”
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“And…” Nadyr added, with a twinkle in his eye, “no more waiting for the evening to eat your fill of candy.”
Randy’s mind flooded with images of endless sweets; it was a brilliant plan. He spent the rest of the evening eating, trying to decide which bag would be best. He settled on the chocolate peanuts, as it was the most… “practical option”.
The next day, Randy heard the scraping of furniture, the swish of cloths, and the whir of the vacuum cleaner. To his ears, it sounded like a full-blown earthquake. He was glad he’d changed hiding places.
“This is strange,” said Joseph, stopping the vacuum cleaner.
“What is it?” asked Madelyn.
“I moved this cabinet and there is a small hole in this wall, and there are little brown pellets under this other cabinet.”
Randy blushed, the brown pellets were his… dirty business — where else was he supposed to do it!
Madelyn hurried over to take a look. “Do you think we have a mouse in the store?”
“We may do…” said Joseph. “Perhaps that’s what my dream meant.”
“What are we going to do?” Madelyn said, overwhelmed with worry. “Should we call pest control?”
“Pest control,” Randy thought, his anger rising. “Am I a pest now? How insulting can these humans be!”
“No, I think it may just be a tiny mouse. I will set some traps around and we will catch it in no time. I will also plaster this hole so no more mice get in here.”
“Oh no!” thought Randy. “My work — they are going to destroy my work! And traps… what sort of traps would they have for me?”
When evening came, Randy cautiously climbed down from the bag. He noticed, with a sinking feeling, that he was finding it harder and harder to move. He was getting heavy and soft from all the sweets.
He wearily paced the shop, looking for the traps. He went to the cabinet where he’d started digging. The hole was covered with fresh plaster. He panicked, wondering what he was going to do. Then, he saw something unexpected. Cheese, a good-sized, smelly piece of cheese, sitting on a strange, flat contraption. He went closer and, for a moment, he was drawn to the familiar scent. It brought back memories of home, of his parents, Paprika, Mint, the Agonising Gardens… He’d almost forgotten them. He reached out without thinking to grab the cheese, when he heard Nadyr behind him.
“Really, Randy? Are we really going to fall this low? After all this travelling, all this adventuring, you’re going back to cheese? Pathetic. Real pathetic.”
Nadyr was right. He hated cheese, and almost everyone in his town was so mean to him. No, absolutely not. Damn this cheese! Randy kicked the trap, and SNAP! The trap sprang shut, missing him by a hair.
“So that’s a mousetrap,” Randy thought, with a sigh of relief as he recovered from the shock. He went around the shop, finding other traps. He thought about setting them all off to mock the humans, but then they might call “pest control,” so he thought against it.
Over the next few days, Randy stopped hiding under the cabinet and just stayed in the candy bags, eating all day and into the night. He noticed he was getting heavier with each passing day. His teeth also started to hurt when he chewed on the harder candies, so the idea of digging another tunnel completely vanished from his mind. Nadyr was pleased about this.
“So happy you decided to stay,” Nadyr said, his eyes gleaming. “We’re best friends forever!”
Then, one day, as Randy chewed on a candy cane...
Snap! His teeth fell out and he became a toothless mouse.
“No… oh no…” Randy cried, a high-pitched squeak. “My teeth, my teeth! What am I going to do now?” Tears welled up in his eyes as he scurried back and forth, his plump belly dragging on the floor.
“What’s wrong, Randy?” Nadyr asked, as cheerful as ever.
“My teeth! I’ve lost my teeth! I can’t eat candy anymore, or dig tunnels! What am I going to do?” Randy looked at Nadyr, and for the first time, he noticed how bloated he also was, his face round and puffy. Nadyr looked, in fact, like a morbid, slightly terrifying reflection of Randy.
“Don’t worry, Randy,” Nadyr said, soothingly. “I also have no teeth, didn’t you notice?” Nadyr smiled, a wide, toothless grin. Then a laugh, a terrifying cackle that sent chills down Randy’s spine.
Randy closed his eyes and shouted, “No! Go away! Go away now!” And when he opened his eyes back up, Nadyr was gone.
Randy lay there for a long time, his mind reeling. Then, he crawled under the cabinet, facing the door. He couldn’t dig, or eat candy. There was only one thing to do: he had to leave.
So, the next morning, when Joseph opened the shop’s doors, Randy waited patiently all day for an opening at the main door. Then when no humans were in sight, he dashed out, his round body waddling rapidly into the late afternoon light, dodging people and cars until he found a gutter and slipped into the cool, dark, foul depths.