The Candy Cane Caper

by Cynthia Blair

  She bypassed the stores that catered to the local residents; a small supermarket, a drugstore, a dry cleaners. Aside from those, however, there were some that were perfect for browsing, and since this was the week before Christmas, all of them were open. There was a bookstore, in which Susan found a brand-new book of photographs of the Vermont countryside that would be the perfect gift for her grandparents—especially since she hadn’t forgotten her vow of the night before to work with her sister to help change their minds about moving away from the state they loved so much. There was a gourmet food shop, where she bought some maple candy molded into maple leaf shapes for Chris. She got an extra box to bring home to her parents, along with a small jug of real Vermont maple syrup.

  Her favorite place, however, was a shop called Betty’s that sold craft supplies. She wanted to get something for her grandmother, and she found some beautiful yarn, soft and fuzzy, a blend of different shades of purple and lavender. She decided to specify on the gift card that it was to be used only for her grandmother to make a sweater for herself— and not anyone else!

  Susan was standing over the straw basket in which the yarn was displayed, trying to figure out how much to buy, when a woman wearing a name tag that said Betty came over to her. Smiling, she said, “You look a bit confused. Is there something I can help you with?”

  “Yes, there is, as a matter of fact,” Susan replied with a chuckle. “I’d like to get enough yarn for my grandmother to knit a sweater for herself, but I don’t know how many skeins to get.”

  “How big is your grandmother?” Betty asked.

  “Not very big. Probably about your size. You may even know her since she lives right around here. She’s Emily Pratt, who Jives right here in Ridgewood.”

  “Of course I know Emily!” the woman who owned the craft supplies store exclaimed. “Why, she’s in here all the time buying things for her craft projects. She’s so good at making things, isn’t she? And I have a feeling that she’d love that yarn. Here, let me figure out how much she’ll need....”

  While the woman rang up the yarn, Susan wandered around the store. Besides the yarn and fabrics and paints, there were some sample items on display, things that had been made out of the supplies that were for sale. There was a pastel patchwork baby quilt, a handknit vest made out of a dozen bright colors, some pieces of pottery that had been fashioned from a special kind of clay sold in the store.

  As she picked up her package at the front of the store, she commented, “These are such pretty things! Who made them?”

  “I did,” Betty said, a little bit shyly. It was obvious that she was pleased by the compliment, however.

  “Are they for sale?”

  “Oh, no! I just make them for fun, then put them on display so the customers can see what the supplies I sell might be used for.”

  “Maybe you should open a gift shop as well!” Susan said with a smile as she headed out the door. “I’d be your very first customer!”

  When she was out on Ridgewood Street once again, Susan looked at the clock on the church steeple and saw that she had been out shopping for almost two hours. She had promised to spend at least part of the afternoon helping her grandmother address last-minute Christmas cards, but there was still one more stop she wanted to make.

  She had noticed that even though there were signs of the holidays all over her grandparents’ house, there was one thing missing: candy canes. She wanted to get some to put on the tree and tuck into Christmas stockings. After all, it just wasn’t Christmas without candy canes! And so she stopped in at the small supermarket, hoping she could find a large bag of them.

  Sure enough, there was a big display of candy canes right inside the door. Susan picked up a bag and headed for the cash register. As she was on her way, however, she noticed that someone else was also heading in that same direction.

  “You go first,” she said, stepping aside. “You got here ahead of me.”

  “No, that’s all right. I’m in no hurry.... Why, it’s you! Susan, isn’t it? Susan Pratt? The girl with the red scarf?”

  Susan noticed then that the boy beside her was Brian. She was surprised to be running into him again so soon. Even more than that, however, she was surprised by how pleased she was to see him.

  “That’s me!” she said. “Hi, Brian. Have you and Danny been building any more snowmen this morning?”

  She expected him to smile. Instead, he suddenly looked very serious. “No, I’m afraid not. Danny had to go back to the hospital.”

  “The hospital! What hospital? Is he sick?”

  “Unfortunately, little Danny is quite sick. He’s a patient at the Ridgewood Children’s Hospital, over on the other side of town. You’ve heard of it, haven’t you?”

  Susan shook her head. “No, I haven’t. I had no idea there was a hospital in Ridgewood.”

  “Well, there is. I work there part-time to help pay my college expenses.” Brian frowned. “Unfortunately, at the rate things are going, the hospital might not be around very much longer.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It looks as if it might have to close. That’s going to mean trouble for an awful lot of people around here. You know, a lot of people in Ridgewood work at that hospital. Probably even more than are involved in the tourist trade.

  “And then there are the kids. It’s the only children’s hospital around, and I’m afraid that, from now on, kids who get sick are going to have to go all the way to Montpelier for treatment.”

  Brian shook his head sadly. “As it is, a lot of these kids already live pretty far away from here. Like Danny, for instance. He came here from a farm in a tiny town about fifty miles away to get his broken arm set after he fell out of a tree. They found out he was also badly anemic, and now he’s going to have to spend the entire week before Christmas in the hospital, away from his family. They can’t come visit him every single day. And while I’m sure they’ll make it up for Christmas Day, they’ll only be able to stay for a few hours. Besides, what about Christmas Eve?”

  As Susan waited for the cashier to ring up her purchase, she thought about what Brian had just said. Suddenly things were snapping into place. So Danny wasn’t his brother, he was a patient at the hospital at which Brian worked part-time. The two of them had gone out just for the morning— to cheer the sick little boy up, no doubt. And that explained why poor Danny was longing for a “real Christmas”!

  Once Brian had paid for the sugar, flour, and spices he was buying, and he and Susan were walking out of the store together, she said, “Well, at least Danny has you. And a place like a children’s hospital must have all kinds of things going on around Christmas to keep the kids’ spirits up.”

  ‘That’s just the problem! They don’t—at least not this year. It seems that the hospital is really short of funds all of a sudden. That’s why it might have to close. And so the very first thing to go has been all the extras like presents for the kids and decorations and parties. Those of us who really care about the kids have been doing our best to cheer them up, but there’s only so much we can do....”

  All of a sudden Brian looked over at Susan. “Hey, what am I doing, dumping all this on you? You don’t even live around here, so what do you care about my problems?”

  “But I am interested!” Susan protested, meaning what she said. “Really!”

  “Aw, you’re just saying that to be polite. Here you are, spending your vacation in this scenic little town of ours, and I’m probably ruining everything.

  “But listen: I just had an idea, something for later on. I really can’t talk now, because I have to get home to deliver this stuff to my sister.” He held up the bag of things he’d just bought at the supermarket. “She’s baking about six million different kinds of Christmas cookies this afternoon. I shouldn’t complain, since she’s a great cook and she always lets me sample as many as I want. But I do have to get going.... Anyway, how about going for a sleigh ride with me tonight? The chamber of commerce has got a bunch of tho
se old-fashioned horse-drawn sleighs, and tonight’s the first night they’re getting them all set up....”

  “I’d love to!” Susan cried, thinking of the Christmas card that just two weeks ago had first inspired her and her sister to daydream about spending the holidays in a picturesque New England town. “It sounds like the perfect way to end my first real day of Christmas shopping!”

  “Great!” said Brian. “I’ll stop by around eight to pick you up, okay?” He grinned, then added, “When you invited Danny and me over to your grandparents’ house, I’ll bet you never expected to get such a quick response!”

  Susan just laughed.

  They had reached the Pratts’ house by then. Susan was sorry that Brian had to rush off, but after all, she would be seeing him again later on that same day. As she tromped through the snow on the lawn up to the front porch, she watched him disappear down one of the country lanes that led off Ridgewood Street.

  Even though she had a full afternoon ahead of her, addressing Christmas cards and chatting with her grandmother, she was already looking forward to that evening. And she had a feeling that the chance to ride in an old-fashioned horse-drawn sleigh was only part of the reason she was suddenly counting the hours until nightfall.

  Chapter Four

  While Susan was busy downtown, exploring Ridgewood, becoming friends with Brian, and learning about the problems that the children’s hospital was having, Chris was practicing her jumps and turns on Maple Tree Pond, a good-sized body of water down the road from her grandparents’ house. She had always enjoyed ice-skating, and over the years she had become an excellent skater. This was her first time out this season; even so, within only a few minutes it all came back to her. She sailed around the ice with ease, trying out her favorite moves and discovering that they were only a little bit rusty.

  Her skill on the ice did not go unnoticed either. As she was just skating along, catching her breath after trying a leap that she had learned for the very first time only the year before, she suddenly became aware that someone was skating alongside her, a bit cautious and off-balance but nevertheless matching her stride.

  Even before she looked over to see who it was, she heard a cheerful voice say, “Wow! Your grandparents told me a lot of nice things about you, but they never mentioned that you were an ice-skating champion!”

  “Hi, Andy!” Chris said with a chuckle. “I’m far from a champion! But I do enjoy skating.”

  “Well, it shows. Mind if this amateur joins you for a quick spin around the pond?”

  “Not at all. In fact, I’d be honored to skate with an actual resident of the state that’s practically the country’s headquarters for winter sports!”

  “Even one who’d much rather be inside on a cold day like today?” Andy joked. “Or at least watching other people skate?”

  “If that’s the case,” Chris returned, “then I’ll just have to do my best to change your mind about the great outdoors!”

  Their arms crossed and both hands held, professional figure skater-style, Andy and Chris skated together for a while, talking and laughing and having a wonderful time. She tried to show him how to do some fancier maneuvers, but Andy insisted that he was much better off when he stuck to the basics. Even so, the two of them had a lot of fun as she demonstrated some of the simpler moves and Andy made an effort to copy her—more often than not stumbling and falling, probably more because he was laughing so hard than anything else.

  It wasn’t long before he insisted that he had to go, however.

  “But you’ve only been out on the ice for a few minutes!” Chris protested, following him off the ice onto the banks of the frozen pond. “Your nose isn’t even red yet!”

  “When you were born and raised in Vermont the way I was,” Andy teased, “your nose never gets cold!” He sat down on a log and began to unlace his skates. “Actually, I’d really like to keep skating with you, especially since after about another twenty minutes with you as my teacher I’d probably be ready for the Olympics. But the truth is, I’ve got a million things to do today. Don’t forget that Christmas is just a few days away!”

  “In that case, I’m pleased that you decided to take out some time for some ice-skating.”

  “To be perfectly honest, I came here because your grandmother told me this was where you’d be.” Andy grinned ruefully. “It’s a good thing you weren’t out skiing! I’m even worse at skiing than I am at ice-skating!”

  “Oh, you’re not such a bad skater,” Chris countered, not certain of how to respond to his offhanded comment about how he had gone out of his way to seek her out. “With a little practice ...”

  “Okay, then, I’ll make a deal with you.” Andy slid off one skate, then the other, then tied their laces together in a square knot. “I wanted to find you so I could ask you to go on an old-fashioned sleigh ride with me tonight. It should be terrific. First a ride through this quiet little village of ours on a cold winter night, complete with horse-drawn sleighs, jingle bells, and the singing of Christmas carols. And then a big gathering in the community room, over at the church, with all the hot cider you can drink.”

  “It sounds great....”

  “But here’s the deal. I promise that if you agree to go with me, I’ll let you drag me out onto the ice for another lesson any time you please.”

  “Okay!” Chris replied with a chuckle. “But are you sure I can’t talk you into going skiing instead?”

  Andy groaned loudly. He pretended to start running away, toward the road.

  “Save me!” he called in mock fear. “This girl will have me getting frostbite by the time she’s through with me!”

  Still hurrying away, he yelled over his shoulder, “Listen, Chris, I’ll come by for you at eight. And take my advice: Dress warmly! You may not have noticed, but it’s cold up here in Vermont!”

  It wasn’t until early that evening that Susan had a chance to tell Chris what she had found out that afternoon about the problems that the Ridgewood Children’s Hospital was having.

  The two girls were getting dressed for the sleigh ride. Chris was in her bedroom, putting on so many layers of clothing that she could hardly bend her arms and legs. When Susan came into the room just before eight o’clock, she started to laugh.

  “Now who looks like a snowman!”

  Chris turned and saw that her sister was wearing only a jacket, hat, and mittens. Susan was right; by comparison, she did look a bit silly.

  “I was warned that it gets pretty cold up here at night,” Chris replied matter-of-factly. “But maybe I am overdoing it....”

  “Just a bit,” said Susan. “I really do think that three sweaters are too many.”

  “Okay, then.” With great relief, Chris pulled two of her sweaters off over her head. “There. Now I look like a person again instead of a snowman.”

  “Speaking of snowmen,” Susan went on, suddenly serious, “something interesting happened to me today.”

  “Does that something interesting have anything to do with the boy who’s taking you to the sleigh ride tonight?” Chris teased.

  “As a matter of fact, it does. I met Brian while I was in town today. But meeting him was the good part of my little shopping spree. The bad part is something he told me about a children’s hospital that’s right here in Ridgewood, over on the other side of town.”

  She proceeded to fill her in on all the details of the Ridge wood Children’s Hospital—at least, the little she knew about its current problems. She told her what having the place close down would mean to the town’s residents, not to mention all the children who lived in the area. And that it was all because of a sudden lack of funds—something that sounded very mysterious, at least to her.

  “But wait—that’s not all of it,” Susan went on after her sister had agreed with her that it was, indeed, a terrible situation. “Whether the hospital ends up closing or not, the fact remains that the children who’ll be spending Christmas there this year are going to have a pretty dreary holiday. Brian
says there’s simply no money for things like decorations and parties, not to mention presents for the kids.”

  “Oh, no! That’s just awful, Sooz! It sounds as if those poor kids aren’t going to have any kind of Christmas at all! As if it weren’t hard enough already, just being stuck in a hospital over the holidays, far away from their families and their homes...”

  “It doesn’t seem fair, does it?” Susan sighed loudly. “If only there were something we could do ...”

  But before she and her twin had a chance to try to come up with some ideas, they heard their grandmother calling upstairs to them.

  “Christine! Susan! Come on down. There are two young men here to see you.”

  Susan and Chris grabbed their things and scrambled down the stairs. It was time for the first horse-drawn sleigh ride they’d ever been on in their lives, and for the moment at least, that was all that mattered.

  As they reached the bottom of the steps, the girls were so busy thinking about the evening ahead that they forgot all about the fact that Susan’s date was unaware of one simple fact about the girl he was about to go out with for the very first time.

  “Susan,” Brian said nervously, “Is there ... are you ...”

  Susan stood at the base of the stairs, just staring at Brian for a few seconds. And then she realized what he was talking about. She began to laugh.

  “I guess I forgot to tell you, Brian, that my sister, Chris, and I are identical twins.”

  He immediately relaxed. “Gee, for a minute there I was wondering if I was ...”

  “Seeing double, right?” Andy chuckled. “You’re not the first person to have that reaction, I’m sure. You know, you two should warn people that there are two of you!”

  “Sometimes we forget,” Chris said with a smile. “After all, Sooz and I are used to the fact that there are two of us!”