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glanced up just as the cart reached the railroad tracks. Candace let go of the counter and stepped back. The cart lumbered slowly over the tracks as Candace heard the whistle of the train.
    “Not good, not good, not good!”
    Even before she had started working at The Zone, she had heard the stories about Crazy Train Guy. Rumor had it he tried to run down referees and had succeeded on more than one occasion. She glanced toward the train. Maybe it wasn’t him. Maybe someone else was driving the train. She couldn’t tell. Even if she had been able to clearly see the figure in the engine, she wouldn’t have known because she wasn’t sure what he looked like.
    The cart had almost reached the other side. She couldn’t lose it. Besides, the train was far enough away that it should be safe to cross. She stepped forward and instantly the train began to accelerate towards her. She jumped forward and tried to push at the cart — for the moment more terrified of something happening to it and her employer trying to take it out of her salary than concerned for her own well-being.
    She could hear the train bearing down on her, the whistle piercing the air around her and making her head throb. And suddenly she was sure she was going to die. Two more jumps and she would be safe. She sprang, but her foot caught in the track and she started to fall. Twisting, she grabbed hold of the cart. She kicked her foot free and the cart dragged her off the tracks, banging her ankles hard against the pavement.
    She and the cart reached the other side and the train roared past. Candace let go of the cart and fell onto her hands and knees. She twisted around to a sitting position and, raising her fist, shook it at the retreating caboose. She just wanted to sit and cry. She glanced down and saw that her ankles were bleeding. Unswayed by ankles and trains, the cart continued on its way. She scrambled to her feet and followed it, limping, until it came to a stop just inside the Game Zone.
    Looking around at the kids in their baseball hats and the harried fathers trying to win stuffed animals and other prizes, she saw where everyone from the Exploration Zone had ended up.
    And they all wanted cotton candy. Candy held up a hand to fend them off. She was still bleeding, and there was no way she was dispensing sticky sugary goodness in that state. Now that the cart was stable, it was seemingly easy to find the red button. And to their credit, security was there inside twenty seconds.
    The lead guard took one look at her, called something in on his radio, and took charge of the situation. “This cart is temporarily closed,” he told the gathering crowd.
    His partner, a guy that reminded her vaguely of some TV cop, put an arm around her and moved her quickly away. “It’s off to the nurse with you,” he said.
    Fortunately, the nurse’s station wasn’t that far away, and Candace soon found herself sitting on a table while a grandmotherly sort swabbed and bandaged her cuts and scrapes.
    “And just what happened to you, dear?” the woman asked sympathetically.
    Candace blurted out the whole story. To her relief she did so without crying, although she could feel her lower lip trembling.
    “They put those new carts in last year. They’re all computer controlled. When they decide business is slow and another location would be better, they move on their own. There’s nothing you can do to stop them,” the woman explained. “Someone should have warned you about that,” she sighed. “I think it’s become a bit of a prank to play on newcomers not to tell them.”
    “It’s mean,” Candace said.
    “Yes. It’s just lucky you weren’t injured more seriously by the cart or the train.” She gave Candace a cup of water and some aspirin. “Honestly, that man’s a menace. I’m surprised they let him play with those two trains. Eleven cars each — that’s an accident waiting to happen. I wouldn’t trust him with a toy train around the Christmas