Candy;

by Robb White

  "Tony," Dr. Daniels said at last, "Fm very sorry that I caused you to miss that airplane."

  "It's all right," Tony said. "Fve been blind a long time. Fm getting sort of used to it."

  Candy found her mooring in the dying darkness and tied up. On the wharf Candy said, "Mr. Kruger is waiting for you at the Beachton Inn." She told him the way, and then said that she had to go.

  **Whv don't you come along with me, Tony?" Dr. Daniels asked. ''We'll get something to eat, then you ean sack out in Abe Kruger's bed for a while."

  "All right/' Tony said. He turned to Candy. ''When are we going to go back to Mr. Jenkins'?"

  "I'll call up Mrs. Malone right away. Then we'll sleep a little. Then I'll come get you."

  "He'll be at the Inn," Dr. Daniels said. He held out his hand. "Thanks, Candy."

  Candy shook his hand. "Do you think Mr. Kruger can cure you?" she asked.

  Dr. Daniels smiled a little. "No, Candy," he said quietly. "You see, I've already cured myself."

  CHAPTER ^3

  Mrs. Malone was as sweet as she could be on the telephone. After Candy just told her that she and Tony had had to go and had tried to get back in time but couldn't make it, Mrs. Malone said, ''Well, darhn', those things happen sometimes and I feel so sorrv for Tony. But I don't know what Mr. Jenkins is going to say. He likes for people to do the things he arranges for 'em, indeed he does. And so he's likely to be might}' vexed. You'd better not come to see him until later in the momin'. In the meantime, as soon as he wakes up I'll do me best to calm the little man."

  Candy went to bed then without even waking up Dotty T. In about an hour, though, Dotty T. woke up an^vay and started jumping around, singing ''Oh, what a beautiful morning." Candy tried to sleep, but it was no use because, even after Dotty T. tiptoed out. Candy was so hungry that she felt as though something was inside her gnawing at her stomach, only whatever it was didn't have anything but gums to gnaw with.

  After a huge breakfast, w^hich she and Dotty T. cooked. Candy felt all right. She wTapped up her pajamas and toothbrush and by nine o'clock was home again in time to see her father before he went to work and help her mother clean up the breakfast dishes.

  When they were making beds, her mother looked aeross at her and said, "You and Dotty T. mustVe stayed up all night, Candy/'

  Candy shook her head.

  ''Well, you look like it, anyway. How about taking a nap this afternoon, darling?"

  ''I will," Candy agreed, without any argument at all.

  Her mother laughed. "Sometimes I wish there weren't any vacations. I certainly never see anything of vou during them. Especially since you got that new boat. By the way, have you ever seen that man again?" j Candy nodded. "He's going away, though."

  I' At the next bed her mother asked suddenly, "How's Tony?"

  ' "Fine," Candy said. "Mr. Jenkins is taking care of him."

  I "Isn't that funny? Old Mr. Jenkins is supposed to be such a

  mean old man, but you like him, and he's certainly been good to Tony."

  "I like him now," Candy said, wondering how much she was going to like him in a little while.

  It was eleven o'clock before she left for the inn. At the desk she asked Mr. Church what room Mr. Kruger had.

  "He's checked out, honey. Him and another fellow I never saw before. But the blind boy's up there sleepin' yet, I think. Room 304. You want to go up. Candy?"

  "If you don't mind. Did Mr. Kruger leave any sort of message?"

  "Don't think so. Both of them were in a roarin' hurry to get out for some reason. Mr. Kruger didn't even wait for his change. There it is, lying right there in case he comes back for it."

  "Room 304?"

  "That's right. Take the alligator up to the third floor and turn to your left. Candy."

  Tony was awake and sitting in a chair when she knocked

  and went in. His clothes were dry but wrinkled and coated with fine salt dust.

  "Hi," Candy said, closing the door.

  He turned his head and smiled.

  "Where'd the man go?" Candy asked, sitting down on the unmade bed.

  ''He took the other man to the hospital. They argued about it, but Mr. Kruger got mad and said he had to go if he had to drag him, and they went."

  ''Where?"

  "He didn't say. He just said, 'You're going to the hospital, John, if I have to drag you.' But he left a letter for you and he told me he'd come back."

  Candy found the letter and read it, then she read it again out loud:

  "Dear Candy:

  I hate to go without seeing you, but Abe is making me go to a hospital, although Fm a lot weller than he is. As soon as I convince him of this I'll come back.

  Thanks for everything you did for me. You saved my life.

  I'll get in touch with you. Take care of Tony and don't let him run away, because I want to see him again. Happy sailing.

  Most sincerely, but in haste,

  John Daniels."

  "Is that his name?" Tony asked.

  "Yes. He's a doctor. Or was once, he said."

  "I didn't know that."

  "What happened when he saw Mr. Kruger?"

  Tony smiled. "They were funny. When we came in Mr. Kruger must have been asleep, because Dr. Daniels hollered, 'Abe, you horse thief, wake up.' Then Mr. Kruger said, 'John? John, is that you?' Then Dr. Daniels and Mr. Kruger sounded like they were hitting each other—not hard, you know. Patting,

  maybe. Tlien Mr. Krugcr wanted to know how he was, and he said he was fine. Tlien thcv began talking, and I eouldn't even understand the words, Candy. They said something about 'blood count*—I could understand that, and 'white corpuscles,* but then there were words that sounded like 'so-you-stepped-on-my-sin' and 'he's-my-goblins.' Doctor stuff, I guess."

  'Tou know,'' Candy said, 'vhat we did doesn't count, really. We could have gone and gotten him any time, because he was all right. We didn't save his life, Tony. And you missed the plane."

  "No," Tony said quietly, ''but we didn't know that when we started. Candy. I'm glad we went. If we hadn't and I had gone away to Boston without knowing whether he was all right, I never would have felt good any more."

  Candy could understand that. She stood up and said, "Well, we might as well go, Tony."

  They went down together, and Candy thanked Mr. Church as they went out.

  The wind was still blowing, but it had hauled down into the south and wasn't much more than a stiff breeze when Candy got sail up and her course set toward the green of Mr. Jenkins's place.

  Tony's voice sounded a little scared as he asked, "What do you think he's going to do. Candy?"

  "I don't know. Mrs. Malone said that she would try to calm him down some before we came."

  "I hope she pours some ice water on him or something." Tony grinned. "My stomach feels sort of weak."

  "Mine, too. But, after all, all he can do is yell some. He can't hurt us or anything."

  Tony nodded and then said seriously, "The trouble is. Candy, when people yell at me, I get mad. I can't help it. And if he starts to yell at you, I might get so mad I'll bat him with my cane."

  "Well, don't take your cane," Candy advised. "Let's both

  try to behave, because it won't do any good for us to get mad, too, Tony."

  "ril try," Tony agreed. "But I hate being yelled at."

  They went up to the house through the woods, so that they could get to Mrs. Malone's part first. She met them at the door and Candy could see at once that things were not good.

  Tony went in to change his clothes, and while they waited Mrs. Malone whispered, "The dear little man is all worked up. Poor dear, he just can't bear to have things he arranges not work the way he thinks they ought to. It's a cryin' pity that you and Tony had to pick this mornin' to go runnin' away."

  "We had to, Mrs. Malone; we thought we were saving a man's life. We weren't really, though. But how should we act when we talk to Mr. Jenkins? You know, Tony always gets mad when people yell at him."

&
nbsp; "Oh, dear me, I wish he was still in the yellin' stage, Candy, but he's far past that. He's got all the way to the iceberg stage by now. So you and Tony just stand there, meek as little lambs and don't utter a word you don't have to. You might squeeze out a tear or two. That sometimes helps."

  "I'll try," Candy agreed.

  "Just do whatever he tells you to. Don't cross him, or vex him. Just agree with him. Ohhhh," Mrs. Malone wailed, "be careful. Candy."

  When Tony came out in clean clothes and they started the long walk around to the front of the house, Candy told him what Mrs. Malone had said. Tony thought it was good advice, and they agreed that they would just stand there and do whatever he said to do and get out as quick as they could.

  Jasper opened the door. And for once he smiled at Candy. But it was the meanest smile she had ever seen.

  "Ah," he said, enjoying it, "so you're back, eh? Mr. Jenkins will be delighted to see you. Come this way."

  Candy and Tony followed him as he slid along down the

  hall on his big duck feet. He opened the door of the room and said in a loud voice, ''Miss Pritchard and Mr. Strong to see you, sir." Then he leered down at Candy and stood aside.

  Tliey walked slowly down the room toward Mr. Jenkins sitting in the great carved chair. Candy touched Tony's elbow when they reached the corner of the sofa and they turned together. Then, when they were facing Mr. Jenkins, she whispered, ''Stop," and he stopped.

  They stood side by side in front of the chair.

  Mr. Jenkins had a sheaf of letters in his hand. He finished reading the one on top and slowly looked up.

  His face was frozen solid.

  "Where were you at five o'clock this morning, young man?" he asked.

  "In the boat," Tony said.

  "Why?"

  "We went to get a man off an island."

  "Why?"

  "Because we thought he was sick and was going to die maybe."

  "Why did you have to go?"

  "I had to help Candy."

  Mr. Jenkins's eyes looked like little pieces of blue ice as he flicked them over and looked at Candy. "Can't you sail that boat by yourself?"

  "Not last night," Candy said, her throat getting cottony.

  He snapped back to Tony. "Did you realize that you would miss the plane?"

  "After a while I did."

  "Why didn't you turn back then?"

  "We decided not to," Tony said.

  "Why? What did this man mean to you?"

  "Nothing," Tony said. "He was just good to me one time, that's all."

  Mr. Jenkins turned to Candy again. "I blame you for this,

  Miss Pritchard. Why was it necessary for you to take Tony when anyone else would have done as well?"

  ''He was the only one. Because—well, it's a long story, sir."

  ''I have no time for long stories."

  He turned back to Tony. ''Very well, young man. Mrs. Malone will pack your belongings. She will then accompany you to Boston. You will enter the Perkins Institution on Monday next and remain there until you have learned to adjust your behavior to the proper patterns."

  Candy waited, her breath caught in her throat. Suddenly she felt something touch her lightly on the wrist. She looked down and saw Tony's fingers. She gripped his hand and stood still.

  "Thank you, Mr. Jenkins," he said, his voice tight and strained. "But I won't go to the institution."

  Mr. Jenkins sat perfectly still looking at him. Then, the words dripping down like ice water, he said, "Very well. I can do nothing more for you. I am sure that I have the normal amount of sympathy and pity for the blind, but I also feel that I have done as much as can be expected and you refuse my assistance. Good day, young man."

  "Good-by," Tony said.

  Mr. Jenkins stood up. "I will appreciate it if you do not return to my house. Either one of you."

  He went out ahead of them.

  Tony held her hand for a moment longer and then dropped it.

  Candy knew that they were in serious trouble again and that she ought to be thinking seriously about it, but all she could think about was a silly thing.

  "Tony," she said, "do you ever listen to the radio?"

  "I guess so," he said, his voice sounding as though he were stunned.

  "Do vou ever listen to Fibber McGee and Molly?"

  "I used to."

  "Do vou remember when Fibber opens that closet?''

  ''And the stuff falls out on him?"

  'Teah. That's the way I feel right now. Like Fibber McGee when he opens that closet."

  Tony began to smile.

  ''Only the stuff falling dowTi on us is serious stuff," Candv said.

  "Not pots and pans and tennis rackets and everything," Tony said.

  "No. Serious stuff."

  Tony began to laugh quietly, and then harder and harder. Finally they were both whooping with laughter as Candy led him out of the room. Ever' time Tony or she would stop long enough to say "Serious stuff" they would begin to laugh again.

  Jasper was waiting for them, but Candy didn't even look up at him as they went out the front door and across the porch, still laughing and saying "Serious stuff."

  They were still laughing some when they met Mrs. Malone. She grabbed them both and hugged them. "Oh, mercy on us, everything's all right then. Oh, praise the Lord."

  "Everything's all wTong," Tony said, and stopped laughing.

  Candy stopped, too.

  "Wrong? What's wrong? You look happv about something."

  "He said I had to go to the institution. I said I wouldn't go. Then he threw us out."

  Mrs. Malone began to moan as she led the way into her kitchen. "Dreadful, dreadful, dreadful," she said. "What's goin' to happen to you now, you poor, forlorn, blind little laddy? Oh, what's goin' to happen to you?"

  'Til get along," Tony said.

  "But where'll you go? Where'll you find your food with your poor blinded eyes? Where'll you lay your head when

  night comes and it's time for sleepin'? Oh, Tony, me darhn', what's goin' to happen to you?"

  'T\ be all right/' he said, but now his lower lip was quivering a little.

  Mrs. Malone straightened up, her face suddenly dark with anger. 'Tm goin' in to see that cruel, cruel old man," she declared. ''If I have to take him by the neck with my own two hands, I'll force him to change his mind."

  ''It's no use," Candy said, sitting down and leaning her head on her hands so that she could stare at the floor. "He's kind of right, Mrs. Malone. Dr. Worsham has gone away, so he couldn't do anything, and Tony doesn't want to go to that institute. It just means that Tony is back where he started, that's all."

  "Yeah," Tony said. "Back where I started."

  Candy looked up at him, for his voice had the old bitterness in it again—the bitterness that she had not heard for a long time.

  Tony's face looked different, and as Candy stared at him she slowly remembered how he had looked the first time she had seen him. How he had looked when she had gotten mad because he wouldn't help her get the boat down and he had asked her, bitterly, how could he see where she was pointing. "I'm blind," he had said.

  It all seemed so long ago, so far away.

  Tony felt around for a chair and sat down. "Back where I started," he said again.

  Then he began to weep, hiding his face in his hands.

  CHAPTER

  24

  From nowhere a memory came back to Candy as she sat slumped in the chair in Mrs. Malone's kitchen. The memory was about a time when she was fishing from the high bank of one of Florida's black-water rivers. Below her the surface of the river moved restlessly, like black silk, as the current flowed along under it. Although the water looked black, she could see down into it and see the water ferns and grasses growing and all of them sweeping downstream, waving back and forth slowly, like a lot of limp arms under the water.

  Then the bank she was standing on silently caved in and she fell into the river. She remembered, while falling, that she wa
s not afraid, only she did not like the idea of going into that black, moving water.

  It closed over her head softly, almost like sliding under the bedclothes. It was a soft, warm feeling, and for a second or two she did not move, because she knew there was no danger.

  Then the current touched and wrapped around her. She felt it pulling insistently at her, and she began to swim upward.

  But something wouldn't let her go. At first its grip was just a soft restraining, but it grew stronger and stronger as she struggled to reach the surface of the water. The thing that had her fought back and wouldn't turn her loose.

  Candy remembered the feeling of being trapped under the

  water. There was nowhere she could go, nowhere to look for help, no way to get loose. She remembered the panie which swept over her, making her perfectly useless—just a thing fighting senselessly to reach the surface of the water.

  And then everything was simple again. A snag of a sunken tree had caught in the strap of her overalls and she just slipped the straps off her shoulders and swam out of the overalls. On the surface she could see them streaming with the ferns and grasses, the legs of them ludicrous.

  She dived down, unhooked them, and, on the bank, put them back on. But she didn't feel like fishing any more, and went home.

  In Mrs. Malone's kitchen she felt again the way she had under the water. There was nowhere she could take Tony to hide him now, for the island was deserted, Mr. Tartiere was dead, Mr. Jenkins had forbidden him refuge.

  Candy remembered then the way Tony had talked about the wall of brick which had hemmed him in one time. How, no matter which way he went, he would come finally up against that high brick wall. His hands held out to guide him would touch the bricks and that was as far as he could go.

  Now, she thought, there are walls around him again, and these walls are moving in on him. Mr. Thornton was waiting in Beachton for him. Mrs. Morton was somewhere, waiting for him to come, or to be brought, to her. There was no one who would take care of him, no place where he could find shelter.

  Then, gradually, an idea began to form in her mind. She sat up straighter in the chair and looked at Tony.