All The Candy

A Raccoon and A Fox were going down to the corner store to get themselves a piece of candy. The two friends had just finished renewing their library cards together, and they figured why not celebrate by getting themselves their favorite candies as a treat.

When the two got to the store they were immediately blown away by the amount of candies that were available. It was everything you could dream of. All the candies in the world were fully stocked and waiting for them to simply choose their favorites.

"Wow," said Rani, the Raccoon, in awe. "I've never seen this much candy in one place before."

"I know," said Fatima, the Fox, equally blown away, "I think it's going to be hard to decide what I want now."

This was true. Rani and Fatima were kind of banking on the fact that some of the candy would not be available to them and thus, they could simply pick whatever was remaining for them to eat. But with a full selection, the two friends were now experiencing decision paralysis. That's not what you want to feel during a celebration.

"Well, we could start by eliminating the candies we don't want and then narrow it down from there?" Rani suggested.

"Okay, let's try..." Fatima agreed, cautiously.

The two began narrowing down their candies but then immediately stopped and looked at each other.

"Do you really want the candy you just eliminated the second you eliminated it?" Rani asked.

"Yup, that's exactly what just happened," Fatima confirmed, "Now what do we do?"

"The first one you eliminate is the candy that you want the most," came a voice at the checkout.

The cashier, a Turtle, was sitting at the register flipping through a magazine, bored.

"How do you know that?" Fatima asked.

"Seen this many times, trust me, take the one you eliminated first." The cashier replied, flatly.

"Don't listen to him," Rani scoffed, "That doesn't make any sense, it was eliminated first, why would I want it?"

"Fine, suit yourself, what do I know. I just watch people go through this every day," the cashier added, "But no refunds, no exchanges."

Rani and Fatima were still skeptical when Fatima had an idea, "Look, we have to go to another store with less candy because there is no way we're going to figure out what candy we want from this much selection. Let's just try what he says and be on our way."

Rani reluctantly agreed. They each grabbed the first candy they eliminated, paid for them, and went outside. The Turtle yelled to them as they were exiting the store, "Don't forget no refunds, to exchange candy with each other, that's how you'll know."

They two went outside and started devouring the candy they had initially eliminated from contention.

Both of the friends found their choices completely unsatisfying.

"What was the Turtle talking about?" Rani yelled. "This didn't work at all! We knew it wouldn't!"

"I know, I don't want to eat this candy at all! I want to eat is a Twix!" Fatima exclaimed.

"I know! I just wanted a Snickers!" Added Rani.

The two looked at each other. They knew very clearly now exactly what type of candy they wanted. They walked back inside, looked at the cashier sheepishly, and retrieved the candies they had wanted the whole time. They took them up to the cashier and, slightly embarrassed, thanked him for his help.

"Glad it worked out for you two," the cashier said as the two walked out of the store.

"Yeah thanks for your help," Rani replied.

"Yeah, thank you," Fatima added, "Even though it makes no sense at all it worked."

Once the two friends left the shop the cashier let out a huge sigh of relief.

"I can't believe that TikTok hack was right," the cashier began, "They really take bad advice and then buy double the candy. Even though it doesn't make any sense at all, it works! How silly is that?"