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Where We Left Off:
The Winchester-Nabu Detective Agency conducted an internal review of our wildlife tracking to question whether our reports have hurt the animals.
Marshmallow:
What Brought Us to This Case
The Grumpy Old Man said, “There’s something in the yard that looks like white deer poop.”
Gus and I walked around until we found what closely looked as described. There were clusters of white spiky balls on the grass. Definitely not deer feces. These were larger and not smooth. The balls also looked like they were stuck together the same way those canned biscuits get in the oven if you don’t have a baking pan large enough for them.
“Gus,” I said, “Doesn’t this look familiar to you?”
“The Candyman Case,” he said in a low voice. Gus referred to one of our earliest cases from our second year of exploring and investigating. It was Case File No. 25-77 and one of the most horrific investigations we’ve ever had.
Oliver said, “We should be cautious about spreading rumors. We haven’t had any sightings or evidence of The Candyman for several years.”
“Let’s go talk to the critters. Maybe one of them can spread the word quickly that we have questions,” I said to the boys.
The rumors came through the critter grapevine, which is not entirely metaphorical. There are wild grapevines all over woods which creatures use for perching and as roadways. Because of this communication network, Gus and Oliver were able to meet up with Minnie Miñoso, a cardinal who frequents the forsythia hedges.
Minnie is the fastest male cardinal that we’ve heard of (although we haven’t actually studied bird flight speeds). Minnie’s speed advantage for the short distances cardinals fly allows him to deliver news and information to other critters who might not pay attention to certain noises/talking.
While Minnie put the word out that we wanted to know of any recent Candyman sightings, we gathered evidence of the puffball mushrooms and took everything back to the Winchester-Nabu offices.
Are These Puffballs the Same?
We compared the photos from the Year Two case to what we presently had in the yard. They were certainly similar, but there were differences. The current puffballs had spikey peaks that looked like barely toasted meringue. The older case showed smooth puffballs.
“The Candyman is a tortured spirit of a man named Louis T. who lived in the 1930’s,” I read aloud from our past case file. “Did Minnie come back with any information about Candyman encounters?”
Oliver moved to the center of the room signaling he wanted treats before doing analytical work. He caught two treats in his mouth out of the five tossed to him. The only reason he misses is because of my inconsistent pitching.
“It’s not Louis T., according to Minnie,” Ollie said.
“I ran a specimen through our proprietary spectrometer,” Gus interjected. “This definitely has a spectral trail. It might be a mundane mushroom, but it didn’t appear without supernatural beckoning.”
“Could the fae have created them?” I asked.
“It seems so,” Gus said. “But you know, some of those fae creatures aren’t always the cute, nice, sparkly creatures like in cartoons.”
Oliver circled around Gus looking for treat crumbs and found some to lick off their yoga mat. “What about the spectral DNA?”
Gus and Oliver have developed this supernatural spectrometer detector which can narrow the source much like DNA testing, though it’s not actually DNA. That’s just what we call it. The spectral filter technology they invented to shows maging characteristics like the wings of a Jersey Devil-Deer on an ordinary looking white-tailed deer. This technology is prized by our detective agency. They’ve spent a lot of time working on these inventions.
A Break in the Case
We took a break on the observation platform overlooking most of the property. Minnie spotted us and flew over immediately. He reported that something bizarre had taken place!
Minnie’s musical voice spoke, “I have other information!”
Gus and Ollie moved closer the railing. Minnie had talked to other small birds who provided essential information. The fae were responsible!
“They swear it was an accident!” Minnie said.
Oliver’s brow lowered giving the cardinal a piercing stare. “What did they do?”
“It was around the change of the seasons,” Minnie began. “Fall was changing into winter. It was the time for sweet things. Candies, desserts, cookies, pies, and cakes. You know certain fairies love their sweets.”
We nodded in agreement as Minnie continued to relay the story and our minds were blown. According to Minnie’s sources, a type of fae creature, or maging as we call non-mundane beings, that has never visited before was spotted here at the Winchester-Nabu estate!
“It was a Púca!” Minnie shouted.
We’d certainly researched the Celtic Púca (sometimes spelled Pooka) before. It’s the basis for the name Puck, a world-renowned fairy. A púca is a maging that loves to entertain itself by playing pranks, casting magical spells, shapeshifting into animals to fool humans, and generally a trickster. What would one of them be doing here?
“You understand there are very few forest spirits left here because of what’s been going on?” Minnie asked and we said we knew all about it. “The dryads keep to themselves. They’re pretty solitary creatures. But, like anyone else, they love a good holiday sweet treat. What might be the last dryad for miles tried to summon her own treat and that’s when things went awry.”
“Oh no,” I said, “what happened?”
“She wanted a man to bring her some marshmallow treats. It sounded innocent enough,” Minnie said. “But what she summoned was a púca who presented itself like a man! He introduced himself as Anthony. That’s one of their things. They’re always changing form, ya know?”
This púca in man form teased the poor dryad. She wouldn’t tolerate that. He had no treats to offer. As quickly as she summoned him, she cast him out of the field and where he had been standing those puffy mushrooms stood in his place! This was quite a story. The dryad ate the mushrooms and invited other creatures to nibble on them too. Then she left. She could be a thousand miles away by now if she isn’t tethered to a specific part of the woods. As the trees come down, those links between dryad spirit and the roots are snapped. Now the animals and magings of the neighborhood are referring to him as Marshmallow Tony or Tony Marshmallow. Sometimes the younger ones call him Marshmallow Man.
“In the past few months, the story of the dryad and púca have become a Boogeyman story warning young ones not to take sweets from strangers because they might not be who you think they are,” Minnie finished the parable which was born right here in New Jersey’s western side.
Case Findings:
Thanks to the cooperation of Minnie the Cardinal, the Winchester-Nabu Detective Agency received all the pertinent information to conclude that The Candyman had not returned. Yet, a new maging was accidentally summoned and it was a púca, a well-known trickster who changes form. This púca tried tricking a dryad and she quickly captured some of his life force and dispatched him. His energy left behind mounds of meringue-like mushrooms that the dryad and her friends happily ate as revenge.
Case Status: Closed
