Candy;

by Robb White

  "Tonight?"

  She thought for a moment, then shook her head. "Early in the morning," she decided.

  "I'm staying at the Beachton Inn, Candy. Let me know the minute you get back, will you? No matter what time it is."

  "All right."

  He stood up. "You'll go as fast as you can, won't you, Candy? His life may depend on it."

  She looked at the Bay and slowly nodded.

  "Candy, you haven't eaten a thing," her mother said at supper. "What's the matter with you? You feel all right?"

  "I feel fine," Candy said.

  "Must be love," her father said. "Maybe it's Hawk MacNair."

  Candy got a little mad. But only because she couldn't think when they talked to her. "Anybody but him."

  She started to eat then, although the things on her plate were almost cold. She would need food before this night was over, she decided, stuffing it down, although she wasn't very hungry.

  "That's better," her mother said.

  Candy was thinking that the inside of her mind must look like a jigsaw puzzle that somebody dropped on the floor. There were so many things she had to figure out and yet she didn't seem able to get anything to fit together.

  Somehow she had to get away in the boat without her

  parents knowing it. If they even suspected that slie was going anywhere near the Faraway on a night Hke this one, they would both say, ''No/' and they would both mean no. For a little while Candy played with the idea of waiting until they went to bed, then sneaking out of the house. She had never done that before, but Chuck and Ryan did it whenever they wanted to go somewhere late at night.

  Candy decided not to, because if her mother found her bed empty she would be terribly worried.

  But she had to get away. She could feel the minutes passing, and the things that Mr. Kruger had said scared her. Right now, she thought, as she finished her dessert. Dr. Daniels might be dying out on that island.

  Getting away was only one problem, and it was small compared to the other one.

  How was she going to sail the Faraway out there? She knew that, once she cleared the Point, the open ocean was going to be wild. And in these northeast storms there were sudden squalls and williwaws which came from any direction and came like a bolt of lightning. If one of them caught the Faraway and jibed her all standing, the mast would break off like a toothpick and she would not only not reach Dr. Daniels, but would be in serious danger herself.

  She had to have somebody to help her. All he would have to do would be to hang on to the downhaul of the mainsail and yank it down the track when a squall came which she couldn't handle.

  Candy's mind was going around and around without getting anywhere as she went into the living room and started to put a patch on the seat of her favorite dungarees.

  Dotty T. began solving the problems one by one when she called up and asked if Candy could come spend the night with her.

  Candy's mother said yes, and Candy flew upstairs to get her gear.

  Outside, she had to push herself forward against the wind blasting dowTi the street, but as she walked along she made her plans. As soon as she got to Dotty T/s she was going to leave her pajamas and toothbrush and go to the Faraway. Candy knew that if she asked Dotty T. not to say anything she wouldn't.

  So mueh for that part of the problem. Candy deeided, feeling better. Next eame the question of a hand in the boat. As the wind struck her suddenly from behind she was more than eer convinced that she would dismast the Faraway if she tried to tackle the open ocean in the dark and alone. She would have all she could do just to handle the mainshect and tiller. She knew that she was going to have to watch not only the waves rolling at her out of the darkness, but also the sky for the squalls which would send gusts of wind from a new direction and threaten her with capsizing.

  The promise to Dr. Daniels stood like a wall against the solution to this problem. If it had not been for that, she could have gotten help without too much trouble. Ryan or Chuck wouldn't mind risking their lives—they'd think it was a big adventure. Even Mr. Carruthers might help her if she explained that she absolutely had to go out there.

  But the promise eliminated them all.

  And there was only Tony left.

  Candy stopped at the comer of Dotty T.'s block and, standing in the lee of a palm, thought the thing out. If she could get away from Dotty T.'s house soon, she figured that it wouldn't be later than nine-thirty when she got to Mr. Jenkins's. She might have to wait a little while until Tony was supposed to go to bed, but since he had to get up at four in the morning, Mrs. Malone would surely make him go to bed early. If, Candy figured, they got under way for the island by ten it should give them time enough to get out there and get back before it was time for Tony to go catch the plane. Going out would be very slow, she knew, but the sail

  back, doMi wind, would be something that she wasn't going to forget. With a gale behind her, the Faraway was going to come back from that island.

  Dott- T. met her at the door. ''I was about to send a Saint Bernard for you, Candy. WTiat a night! Do you think another hurricane's coming?"

  ''No. It's just breezing up some. Where're your folks?"

  ''Oh, dear," Dotty T. said, wTinging her hands. "My poor father is at death's door with a cold in the head and Mother is away visiting her sister in New Orleans and here I am all alone with the invalid."

  "Is he in bed?" Candy asked, hoping that he wasn't very sick, but also hoping that he would stay in bed so that she could get away without being caught.

  "Oh, men!" Dotty T. said. "Men. They're so stubborn. He won't go to bed. He's sitting up in his room all wrapped up in a blanket with a heating pad around his feet."

  "He ought to go to bed," Candy decided.

  "That's what I told him. I got down on my knees and begged him, but you know how they are."

  Candy nodded.

  "He said if we so much as let a pin drop he was going to come dowTi here and hang us up by the thumbs."

  "Don't worry," Candy said. "I've got to go anyway."

  Dotty T. clapped her hand to her forehead. "A fine thing! You come to spend the night with me and then you say you have to go as soon as you get here. What's that?" she asked, taking Candy's bundle. "Well! P-jays and toothbrush." She looked sternly at Candy as she held out the pajama bottoms and waved them gently back and forth. "What's the meaning of this, Candy Pritchard? What are you up to?"

  "I've got to go. Dotty T. And I'll be gone most all night. But I'll come back and spend what's left of it with you, so it won't be such a big story."

  "What's the matter, Candy? You look serious."

  ^^ ^,

  Dotty T. looked at Candy sternly. "What's the meaning of this, Candy Pritchard? What are you up to?"

  "I am serious, but I can't tell you anything about it, Dotty. Later I can, but not now.*'

  *'Is it about the blind boy?"

  Candy nodded.

  ''I feel so sorry for him. He's such a sweet boy. But where will you be?"

  "I can't tell you, Dotty T."

  ''Suppose your folks call up or something?"

  "They won't."

  ''Oh, dear, now I'm all worried about you, too. Do you have to go. Candy? It's a terrible night."

  "I do," Candy said. "Hide these things and leave the back door open so I can get in."

  "Oh, I won't sleep a \dnk all night," Dott' T. wailed.

  "Don't worry. And don't let anybody know I'm not here, will you?"

  Dott}' T. looked at her. "Suppose I have to tell somebodv a he?"

  Candy thought for a moment. "Don't do that. But tr' not to get tangled up. And if you have to tell anyone I'm not here, tell them that I'm perfectly all right where I am and will be back soon."

  • "Oh, dear, oh, dear," Dotty T. said. "Now I feel all scared inside."

  Candy looked at her. "So do I."

  CHAPTER

  21

  Candy waited a moment outside of Tony's window while she caught her breath. As
she leaned against the stone wall of Mr. Jenkins's house, gulping in air after running all the way from the greenhouse, the moon shone for a little while as a ragged hole in the clouds swept across the sky.

  The moonlight shone into Tony's room and she went close to the screen, looking in.

  As she saw him she remembered suddenly the way she had felt when she saw him moving around in that shed he had once lived in.

  Tony was sitting in a chair with his bare feet propped up on his bed. In his lap was one of the big Braille books, and Candy could see the pale outline of his hands as he sat reading in the darkness.

  She scratched on the screen and said, whispering, 'Tony. Sssh."

  He closed the book and without feeling around at all came straight over to the window. ''Candy. What's the trouble?"

  Candy whispered through the screen. 'Tve got to go out to the island and it's too rough for me alone. Will you go with me?"

  "Sure."

  'Where's Mrs. Malone?"

  ''Asleep, I guess. Tm supposed to be, too, but I slept all afternoon, and Fm too excited to sleep any more."

  "We'd better leave her a note.''

  "When will we get back?"

  'Tonight sometime, but she might come in."

  "All right. I'll try to find something to write with."

  He came back in a little while with a paper bag and a big pencil. Candy could hardly see what she was doing, but she wrote in large letters: "Tony is with me. We are all right. Candy."

  "Put it where she'll find it. On the pillow."

  In a moment he pushed the screen open and Candy helped him climb out the window. Walking behind him, she held his elbows lightly and guided him along, keeping in the shadows of the trees until they were well clear of the house.

  It was almost ten o'clock before they were ready to go. Candy put Tony's left hand on the main halyard cleat. "When we get out of the Bay, the wind is going to be whipping around all over the place, Tony, so just keep the halyard wrapped around this cleat once, so that when you let it go it'll run free."

  She put the downhaul in his right hand. "This rope goes to the top of the sail, so when I yell 'Down' turn loose the halyard with your left hand and yank down on this one with all your might. That'll get the sail dovm out of the wind and we won't turn over."

  "Is it that rough?" Tony asked, his voice a little anxious.

  "It's a stinker," Candy told him, "but we'll make it all right. But when I yell 'Dovm!' really yank that thing, Tony, because the wind wall be so strong the sail won't want to come dowoi."

  "Yell loud, so I'll hear you," he advised.

  Candy laughed. "Don't worry. Okay, here we go."

  It was wild even in the Bay. Candy decided that before they got into the open they ought to practice. Without saying

  anything to Tonv she suddenly yelled ''Down!" and watched the thin peak of the mainsail. Within half a second it began to crumple, folding stiffly and coming down the sail track with reluctance.

  "That takes more hauling than I thought/' Tony said.

  "The wind jams the guides against the track. Can you get her up again, Tony?"

  He felt around with both arms until he caught the flying halyard and hauled the sail back up the mast. "Maybe I ought to tie the end of the halyard so I can find it easier," he suggested.

  "Good idea. Tie it to the mast below the gooseneck."

  In a little while she yelled "Down!" again. This time Tony got his shoulders into it and the sail slithered down in a hurry.

  "That's the way, Tony. That was fine."

  Candy then set the Faraway on the port tack and sailed her as close to the wind as she dared. Occasionally through the mist of spray lining the coast she could see the flashing light on the Point. She wanted to keep that always to her left and then tr' to get it lined up with the airways beacon when she got out toward the islands. That would put her within hearing distance of the Pebble Island bell buoy.

  As she worked toward the mouth of the Bay, the line made by the open sea dri'ing in against the closed water kept growing whiter and ^^•hiter. Candy knew that when she got there her troubles \ ould really begin, and she dreaded it, but there was nothing she could do about it.

  After a while Tony said, almost yelling, "What's that noise I hear? The one underneath the other noises."

  "Open water," Candy yelled back, the wind blowing spit out of her mouth when she said "open." "Waves," she added.

  "Sound big," Tony decided.

  "They are big. They're making a sort of line across the Bay, Tony. After we get through them it'll be a little better."

  Candy eased up out of the cockpit until she was perched on the few inches of deck between the cockpit coaming and the sheer. She felt with her toes until she got both feet hooked around the short cockpit stanchions. As she watched the wall of gray-white water ahead coming closer, she tested her grip on the jib and mainsheets, and gave the tiller a few quick jerks to see if it was well jammed into the rudder head.

  Then, in sudden fear, she wondered if she had shoved the pintle pin home on the rudder. Candy remembered losing a race once when the whole rudder, tiller and all, floated up off the gudgeons, leaving her helpless.

  But the pin was home.

  She then checked the mainsheet block on the runner and asked Tony to wiggle the shrouds to see if the chain plates were loose.

  But the Faraway was taut and shipshape topside. If no lines parted and the sail stitching held, she would get through, providing the sea didn't pound the bottom out of her.

  Candy braced herself then. ''All right, old girl,'' she said to the Faraway, ''here she comes."

  "What'd you say?" Tony asked.

  "I was talking to the boat. Sort of brace yourself now, Tony, because we're going to jump around some."

  Her jaw set and her whole body feeling the movement of the boat in the water. Candy drove her against the white wall.

  It was like hitting a freight train. The Faraway pushed against the first wave and crashed head on into it. The water simply threw her straight backward on her transom. The wand caught the sails aback and they fluttered like dry leaves for a moment.

  "Bang!" Tony said. He had been thrown down into the cockpit, but was still clinging to the halyard and downhaul. He climbed back to his seat.

  Candy let the sails slat as the wind drove the drifting boat back into the Bay.

  When she had gone back far enough, she set the sails again, but this time she eased her sheets a httlc.

  The Faraway, not so close hauled, gathered speed as she went back toward the white wall. Candy did all she could to help the boat through the turmoil of water, for she knew that it was going to take all the drive she could get to push the Faraway across the barrier.

  She smashed again, and Candy felt the boat begin to give away under the weight of the water pouring against her. The waves ahead were so high that they practically blanketed the sails, so that they no longer drove the boat ahead.

  The Faraway kept clawing her way up the face of the wave, only momentum keeping her going. Slowly, however, the peak of the mainsail reached up into the wind again. Candy felt the little surge of strength, and more sail climbed into the wind.

  Fighting, drowned in spray, the bow pointed skyward, the Faraway struggled against the water, the sails pulling the sleek hull up and up.

  And then she wzs on top.

  She hovered there, high above the sea, her hull teetering. She felt to Candy as though a gigantic knife blade had come up underneath her and lifted her up.

  Then as the bow went down inch by inch, dipping down. Candy felt the first tiny breath of cool wind against her right ear. The word "Down!" burst out of her as the full smash of the squall wind struck the sails.

  For a second it was wild up there. The bow was tipping downw^ard into a trough which was three boat lengths below. The veering wind sent the jib slashing across, the block screaming on the metal runner. The mainsail went weak, the boom rising in the sick arc of a jibe, the rudder g
oing as limp as oatmeal.

  Perhaps, Candy thought afterward, if Tony had been able to see he w^ould have been so petrified by the viciousness of everything around them that he could not have moved a muscle.

  But Tony couldn't see, and when she yelled ''Down!" he let the halyard run with one hand and threw his weight against the downhaul.

  Everything happened at once. The giant wave ran out from under the Faraway and she fell straight down, Candy and Tony clawing to stay aboard her. The mainsail came screeching down the track, blocks lashing back and forth on the runners. The squall wind screamed above them as though angry that it had not caught them and torn the mast out of the boat. Tlie sail guides rattled on the tracks like dry bones.

  The Faraway fell straight down into the water and buried her bow in it clean up to the centerboard well. Candy and Tony ended up in a heap against the mast, solid water rushing over them.

  Then it vms quiet and almost peaceful in the trough as the boat pulled herself loose and came back to an almost even keel.

  Candy helped Tony get back on the seat and then sat down herself. Tony hauled the mainsail up again and Candy pinched off the tip end of the squall wind, running eater-cornered along the trough and slowly climbing the next wave. At the top the wind hauled back to normal, so that she could more or less sail the boat down the heaving back of the wave.

  They fought and clawed and smashed their way over or through eight more big waves before they at last made their way out into the open ocean.

  There it was bad enough, but not so terrifying as in the rip. Candy relaxed a little. ''That ought to be the worst part," she told Tony.

  Suddenly Tony began to laugh, his laughter sounding strange coming back to her with the roar and hiss of wind and water.

  "What's funny?" she asked.

  Tony kept on laughing as he tried to say, "A little while ago you said we were going to jump around some. That's what I call really jumping."

  Candy laughed a little also, but now that they were

  clear of the Bay she had a new worr\ She had not counted on having to struggle so hard and so long to get clear. She held the tiller with the crook of her leg, and put her wrist watch close up to her eyes but could see only a blur of dim, cold green light. Even by cupping her hand around it, she couldn't tell what time it was.