Candy;

by Robb White

  "That's good," Candy whispered. Then slowly she added, ril give him back his boat."

  "You will not! He's going back to New York with me just as soon as he finishes here. He's got work to do, and it doesn't include riding around in sailboats."

  Dr. Daniels was finishing. "Tomorrow morning?" he asked. "That'll be fine. I certainly appreciate that. Eastern Air Lines. Fine. Good-by."

  He hung up. "All set, Abe," he said, then came over and sat down on the other side of Candy.

  He took one of her hands in his and smiled at her. "Candy, there's just a slim chance that Tony can see again. He doesn't know that yet, because the chance is so very small that I don't want to break his heart by letting him hope for something that may not happen."

  Candy just sat looking at him.

  "Here's what happened to him," he went on. "Your eye is a little like a glass marble with a mirror behind it. The things you see are caught on the mirror and your mind looks at them and can tell what they are. But your eyes aren't glass, they're made up of a lot of things—muscles, nerves, juice. And right in front there's the cornea, which is a thin layer of fibers all laced together. The fibers are like tiny threads except that light can

  go through them. WHicn that explosion eame in Texas Citv, the flash and heat ruined the eorneas of Tony's eyes—made them so that hght eouldn't get through any more.

  'Tomorrow I'm going to take out the corneas of Tony's eyes and put in new ones which will let the light through, Candy. The Eye Bank in New York is sending them down on the plane tonight. Then, if his eyes are all right inside, he will see again."

  Candy's voice was Just a whisper. *'When—when will he know?"

  "It takes a little while, Candy."

  "Where will he be?"

  "In the hospital here."

  "Can I come to see him?"

  "I want you to. But until we know one way or the other, I don't want him to know what's going on. Candy. I don't want him to spend all those days and nights hoping and thinking that he will see again. I haven't even told him that I'm an eye doctor yet. So—sssh."

  Tony came out, feeling his way along. "Candy?" he asked.

  "Hi," she said.

  "Somebody else is here/' he said, turning his face toward Mr. Kruger.

  "Only Abraham Kruger," Mr. Kruger said.

  "Candy," Dr. Daniels said, "Tony told me how his job ^ith Mr. Carruthers is washed up. I've been thinking that if he stayed down here with me and Abe we might be able to do something for him. How about it, Tony?"

  Tony turned toward Candy. "Well," he said. "What do you think. Candy? You said something about us building boats maybe."

  "We can't do it right now, Tony. We haven't got any wood or money or anything."

  "Then don't you think I ought to stay here, maybe?"

  "I think so," Candy said.

  "All right. But if I can't get a job or something maybe I can come back to Bcachton/'

  ''Sure you can," Candv said, her throat choking.

  "Then I'll stay, Dr. Daniels."

  "Good boy. I've got a place for you to stay and we'll see what we can do. By the way, though, don't worry if a girl comes in your room in the morning and sticks a needle in your arm. I just want to get one more reaction, Tony."

  Tony grinned and said to Candy, *Tou ought to have been in there. Fve been reacting all over the place, haven't I, Dr. Daniels?"

  "A lot of reacting," he said.

  "Well," Candy said awkwardly, "so long, Tony. I'll see you. I'll vmte you a letter. But I've got to go now or Dad'll leave me."

  Tony walked forward and they shook hands. "Good-by, Candy. Tell your mother and father—well, tell them thank you."

  "I will, Tony. Good-by." Then, suddenly, she said, "Good luck, Tony."

  Dr. Daniels followed her out and closed the door. "Fine. I don't think he suspects a thing, do you?"

  Candy shook her head. "What'll that needle do to him?"

  "Put him to sleep. Like that!" He snapped his fingers. "Then, when he wakes up. Candy, his eyes will be bandaged while they heal. Then Tony wall either see or—he will be forever blind."

  She looked up at him. "I think he's going to see."

  "Perhaps, Candy. I'll let you know when to come back."

  "I'll come," she said.

  For Candy the next few days were long and strangely empty, but at last Dr. Daniels telephoned and said that the time had come.

  A lady at the desk in the hospital told her the room Tony was in and she rode up in the silent elevator.

  Tlie door of the room was closed with a sign on it saying No Visitors. Candy waited, but no one came out. Then her watch said ten o'clock, and timidly she knocked on the door.

  It opened silently, and Dr. Daniels, in a white smock, came out, closing the door behind him. She couldn't tell anything at all from his face as he said hello.

  ''Listen, Candy," he said in a low voice, "I've got a funny feeling about this. I can't exactly explain it, but I don't want Tony to know you're here."

  Candy was surprised.

  'Tou see. Candy, if he's still blind, then I'll have to tell him. I'll have to tell him that he can never see again. That's going to be very hard for him to bear. You know that. And he might not want anyone there when I have to tell him. Do you think I'm right?"

  "Yes, I do."

  "I thought you would. So you just go in without saying anything. Stand at the foot of the bed. Then, if I've failed, just go out. Candy."

  "All right," she said.

  He opened the door and she went in.

  She was surprised to find a lot of people in there. They were crowded around the bed, and the only one she recognized was Mr. Kruger. There were nurses and men with smocks on like Dr. Daniels's, and an old, old man in a white linen suit. A nurse who didn't look much older than Candy and who had on a different uniform from the others made room for her at the foot of the bed.

  Tony was propped up in bed by pillows and had bandages all the way around his head and over his eyes.

  The Venetian blinds held back the bright sunlight so that it was only a soft gold color in the room.

  The people were talking a little, but to one another. No

  one was saying a word to Tony, and Candy felt a stab of anger. They were treating him as though he was something in a museum to look at. They weren't treating him like a boy who was blind.

  Candy, who had on a white linen dress with long sleeves, stood at the foot of the bed between the two nurses and waited. Her hair was held back with bows and she wore a thin gold necklace with a locket on it.

  Beside the bed there was a stand with a white tray on it. The things on the tray were covered with a cloth which Dr. Daniels raised and dropped into a wastebasket on the floor.

  "Gentlemen," he said quietly, and the murmur of talking stopped instantly.

  He picked up a pair of crooked scissors with a blunt end on one blade.

  ''Ready, Tony?" he asked.

  "Yes," Tony said.

  Dr. Daniels reached behind his head, and Candy could hear the bandage being cut.

  Suddenly Tony raised one hand and held the bandages against his eyes. His voice was hoarse as he said, "Is this going to be hke the other time?"

  Dr. Daniels went on snipping the cloth. "Don't know, Tony. But let's take a chance. Want to?"

  But Tony didn't take his hand down. "Would it help maybe—I mean, would there be a better chance if—if we waited a little while?"

  "Nope," Dr. Daniels said. "It's as good right now as it's going to get, Tony." He snipped through the last piece of cloth and put the scissors down on the tray.

  Then he said quietly, "We're all set, Tony. How about it?"

  "Go ahead," Tony said.

  He lowered his hand slowly. Candy watched it as it moved over to his other hand. He laced his fingers together, and she saw them begin to strain against each other.

  Dr. Daniels took the bandages off ver^ carefully and dropped them into the wastebasket.

  For a
little while Candy thought that Tony was asleep. She knew that he wasn't, but he looked like it. His eyes were closed—not squeezed shut, just closed. She was surprised at how long his eyelashes were. She hadn't remembered them being that long. His face looked peaceful and quiet, as though he were dreaming about something.

  No one in the room made a sound, but outside the window you could hear birds and cars and people and the waves in Biscayne Bay.

  He opened his eyes very slowly, the lashes moving slowly upward and at last stopping.

  Candy's breath caught in her throat, and her heart seemed to stop beating because Tony's eyes looked just the way they had before. Exactly the same. Dr. Daniels hadn't given him back his sight at all, Candy thought, as she stood perfectly still, looking at Tony.

  Then she couldn't stop her tears any longer. His eyes were the same. They hadn't changed at all.

  Tony slowly untangled his fingers. He raised his arm and pointed. He pointed directly at her, and then began to smile as he quietly said, *'Candy."

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