Candy;

by White, Robb, 1909-1990

  "Is there anybody around here you don't know?" Mr. Carruthers asked.

  Candy just laughed and went on sandpapering a piece of wood.

  Mr. Carruthers finished the mast and ran his hand over it. He had put in the new pieces of wood so smoothly that it was hard to tell where they joined. "There," he said. "That'll hold you in any breeze of wind short of a nor'east snorter. Let's ship her and see how she behaves before we varnish her up."

  Candy took him for a short sail around the Bay, and both were satisfied with the job he had done. As he climbed stiffly up on the landing he said, "I'm glad you've finally got yourself a proper craft. Candy. I've been watching you for years-SB

  ever since you launched the Mistress oi the Seas—and I've always privately thought that you deserved a boat more by a league than most of these gandy dancers scooting around here in their fancy yatchets/'

  Candy thanked him, and as soon as he had gone she hoisted sail and got under way again. By the time she was out a little way, she couldn't help yelling. At first she just said, 'Tippee!" as her boat sailed as smoothly as cream. Then she made a louder yippee, and hugged as much of the boat as she could get in her arms.

  The sun was almost dovm when Candy, reluctant, turned back.

  As she got in closer, tacking in the light air, she saw a man standing on the wharf. The reason she noticed him was because he just stood there waiting, while everybody else moved around.

  As she reached for the sheet to come about she noticed that her hand was shaking a little.

  The man stood there, waiting, watching her. He was tall and was smoking a droopy pipe.

  A lot of wild ideas came and went. She would turn around and sail away so that he couldn't find her. She would hide out on one of the islands. Or she would just simply refuse to give him back his boat.

  But in her heart she knew that when he asked for it back she would just nod her head.

  Candy came about smoothly and dropped the sails. She went up in the bow and fended off as the boat slid in beside the wharf where he was standing.

  "Hello, Candy," Mr. Daniels said.

  She glanced up at him and then was very busy mooring the boat. ''Hello," she managed to answer.

  CHAPTER

  5

  U.S. 665072

  Candy took as long as she could to make fast, furl the sails, ship the tiller, and unhang the rudder. Every part of the boat she touched made her love it more. And she was sure that she was saying good-by to it.

  Mr. Daniels waited in silence for her to finish, and at last she climbed out of the boat and went slowly up the steps to the top of the wharf.

  'Tou have had the mast fixed," he said.

  She nodded. She couldn't even look at him and just stood staring down at the deck of the boat.

  ''Candy," he said, 'IVe changed my mind."

  A little sad song began crying in her mind as she waited. ''Good-by boat, boat. Good-by. Good-by," the song cried. "You were my boat for a little while,'' the song sang, "but youVe got to go away now.''

  "I almost ruined everything," he said. "If Fd hired a boat to take me out to the islands, everybody in Beachton would have heard about it."

  Candy was hardly listening to him, but she nodded.

  "Fve got to keep it a secret, Candy," he went on.

  Candy knew what he was going to say. He wanted his boat back so he could sail out there all alone. Then no one would know where he had gone.

  Suddenly she wished that he would say it and get it over with. She wished he would say, '1 want my boat back." Then she would nod. That would be all there was to it, and she could go away without even looking down at the boat again.

  But he said, ''May I ask another favor of you, Candy?"

  She looked up at him then. In a low voice she said, "You don't have to ask me. You can have it back. Good-by."

  She started walking away as fast as she could, hoping that walking fast or perhaps running would keep the tears from dribbling out of her eyes.

  But he came, too, walking behind her. ''Wait, Candy."

  She didn't want to stop, but did, and stood still with her back to him so he couldn't see how her eyes were swimming in tears.

  He laughed quietly. ''That isn't it, Candy. I gave you the boat. I won't take her back again."

  Candy turned around very slowly and looked up at him. "You can have it if you want it," she said, almost whispering.

  "No. She's yours. I was talking about something else entirely. I want you to help me, Candy."

  Candy wished there was something she could sit down on because she felt weak, especially in the knees. "What do you want me to do?"

  "Sail me out to the island. And then not tell anybody."

  "All right," she said. She looked at the almost dark sky with a dim moon and pale stars. "Now?" she asked.

  He seemed surprised. "Would you go out there in the dark?"

  "I could try," she said. Then she wondered what her parents would say, because it would take almost all night to go out and get back. She didn't want to do it unless they knew about it. "I'd have to get permission, though."

  "Let's wait until morning, then. I'd rather that no one knew anything about it."

  "Not even my father?"

  He thought for a moment, and then shook his head. "Fd rather he didn't. You know grownups don't think the way we do, Candy."

  'Tou're grown up.''

  "Not any more."

  ''All right, we'll go in the morning. At sunup?"

  ''Sunup. And, Candy, thanks a lot."

  Candy suddenly felt herself blushing. "I never have even thanked you for giving me the boat. I do now, though."

  He held out his hand and she shook it. "Sunup?"

  'Til be here," Candy promised.

  On the way home she caught herself skipping and jumping up to touch the leaves of trees that were low enough. She stopped, though, when a lady stared at her curiously.

  At home she asked her mother for permission to go sailing early in the morning.

  "How early?" her mother asked.

  "Sunup."

  Her mother laughed. "Why is it, Candy, that when you're going to school I have to pry you out of bed with a crowbar, but when it's summer you want to get up even before the birds?"

  "Oh, well," Candy said, "school's different from saihng. May I go?" she asked again.

  "If you want to. But take some breakfast with you. I don't want you missing meals the way you did last summer."

  "I don't remember missing many/' Candy said. "I thought I ate a lot."

  Her mother laughed. "Darling, all I see of you in the summertime is what I see out of the upstairs window while you sail around and around that Bay. I believe you'd sleep down there if we let you."

  Candy smiled, shaking her head. "Unh unh. I like my bed. Oh, and can Dotty T. come spend the night with me soon?"

  ''Any time you want her. How is she, anyway? I haven't seen her for days."

  ''Just the same/' Candy said, remembering the last time she had seen her best friend. ''She says she's going to be a ballet dancer when she grows up."

  "My. The last time she said she was going to be a cowgirl."

  "She changed her mind after a boy let her ride his horse."

  "That Dotty T.," her mother said, laughing. Then she changed the subject. "Let's make Dad go to the movies tonight. Candy. Maybe he'll forget groceries for a while."

  "Fine," Candy agreed.

  When Candy finally got to bed that night she began wondering about the man who had given her the boat. But she fell asleep before she could think about him very long.

  They sailed away in the soft glow of the false dawn. The boat moved slowly, for it was heavily loaded and the wind before sunrise was light and shifting. Mr. Daniels helped her get the sail on but wouldn't take the tiller. "I'm going to sleep while you work," he said. "I was up most of the night loading the boat."

  And he did go to sleep. As the sun began its long climb up from the sea, he lay awkwardly on top of th
e pile of stuff he had packed into the cockpit and slept. Candy didn't mind. As the wind grew stronger and steadied down, she was happy just to be sailing her wonderful boat.

  After a while Mr. Daniels woke up. He opened one eye and looked at her. "There yet?" he asked.

  Candy laughed. "It's still a long way, so sleep some more.'*

  He yawned and stretched, then began looking for his pipe by patting his pockets. He pulled it out. "Is the smoking lamp lit on this ship, captain?" he asked.

  She nodded, and he lit his pipe. The smoke didn't smell bad, as the wind blew it past her.

  "Think we got away?" he asked.

  38

  mit

  ''I think so. I don't believe even Mr. Carruthers saw us."

  ''By the way, how'd you get this boat down off the greenhouse?"

  Candy began to tell him, and he laughed when she got to the part about Mr. Jenkins. Then he interrupted her when she told him about the blind boy.

  ''What did his eyes look like?"

  Candy tried to remember. "I couldn't see them very well because his hair was so long. But they looked dreamy."

  "Did he tell you how he lost his sight?"

  "No."

  He puffed on his pipe. "Funny he's not in a home for the Wind. Running around by himself is dangerous."

  "He doesn't want to be in one. Mr. Carruthers said he hated them."

  "The blind are wonderful people," Mr. Daniels said. "Nothing can stop them when they start out to do something. But Tony has set out to do the wrong things."

  "How do you mean?"

  "Well, the bhnd need so much. Not just people leading them across streets, but real, solid help. They must be taught, and they have so much to learn that people with sight already know. Tony should be in an institute for the blind where they have the right kind of teachers and the tools he needs."

  "Mr. Carruthers knows Tony, and he says he doesn't want to go to one of those places. He's scared to go, Mr. Carruthers said."

  "He'd get over that. By the way, has Tony ever been to a top-notch eye doctor?"

  "I don't know."

  He got a pencil out of his pocket and found a piece of paper. He wrote on it and handed it aft to her. "Here's the address of a doctor down in Miami. If Tony'll go see him, he might be able to do something for him."

  "I don't know whether I'll ever see Tony again," Candy said,

  putting the address in her shirt pocket, ''but if I do, Til tell him/'

  ''Some kinds of blindness can be cured. But the chances are always very slim."

  "Do you know a lot about blindness?" Candy asked.

  "Some," he said. "Fm a doctor. At least I used to be."

  "What happened?" she asked.

  He looked at her gravely. "Let's don't talk about it. Very dull."

  Candy sailed on in silence for a while, but she wanted to know why this man acted the way he did. What was the matter with him, she wondered. And why was he running away? At last she asked, "What are you going to do when you come back from the island? Be a doctor again?"

  "Come back?" he asked, his voice slow. "Yes, when I come back."

  Then he said so quietly that she hardly heard him, "But I may not come back."

  "You can't stay out here always," Candy said.

  He looked up at the smooth curve of the sail, glowing with the sun coming through it. "Always can be a very short time," he said.

  There was something strange, even frightening, in the way he said that, and Candy felt a chill race across her shoulders.

  "Suppose you run out of food or water or get sick?" she asked.

  "Fve got some fine red rockets. If I can't handle this thing, ril keep shooting them up into the sky until someone sees them and comes to help me."

  "I'll watch out for them," Candy told him.

  He laughed. "Don't stay awake nights watching. I think I'll get along without any trouble."

  They had reached the reefs then and Candy threaded the boat through them toward a little island which she had decided was the best one for him. She let the boat drift into the

  small lagoon and dropped the sails as the bow touched the white sand of the beach. ''Here we are/' she said.

  The island was prettier even than she remembered it. And it was larger, and had quite a lot of trees and green things growing on it.

  The first thing they did was to walk all the way around it. They did not see a footprint or any other sign of humans.

  ''Soil's good/' Dr. Daniels remarked. ''It'll grow me some vegetables. And there're plenty of fish and crabs and there should be lobsters out on the reefs. Candy, this is going to be wonderful."

  "Sort of lonely/' Candy said.

  He smiled. "That's what I want."

  She helped him unload everything and at last there was nothing more for her to do except leave. But as much as she wanted to sail, the boat to windward, she hated to leave him there troubled and alone.

  "Do you want me to come back sometime and see you?'* she asked.

  He thought for a moment. "No, Candy. And no matter what happens, never bring anyone out here. Will you promise me that?"

  "I promise," Candy said. She reached out for the mainsail halyard but didn't pull on it.

  ''Good-by, Candy."

  "Good-by," she said. But she couldn't go. She tried to think of something to say but couldn't.

  "Good-by," he said again. "And thank you."

  Then he gave the bow of the boat a gentle push so that it swam slowly out into the lagoon. He turned then and walked up under the trees.

  Candy was biting her lip and blinking hard as she raised the sails and the wind caught them. She couldn't look back for a long time, as she had to work the boat out past the reefs.

  Then, when she did, there was no sign of him at all. Just a green, small island rising from a crystal green-and-blue sea.

  It was late afternoon when she got back to the Bay. She went by Mr. Carruthers's and found him out in the back yard cleaning some giant conch shells a diver had brought him. The smell of the dead conchs almost made her stagger.

  'Tilthy brutes/' he said, walking to windward of them. "Mast all right?"

  'Tine," Candy said. '1 think it's stronger than when it was new."

  'Tlattery is wasted on me. Want me to slap a coat of varnish on her after the dust dies?"

  ''Oh, thanks. Til come help you. Have you seen Tony today?"

  "Not hair nor hide. But Fve been in the shop some."

  "Wonder where he is? Well, Fll be back after supper." Candy went around by the Bay so she could look once more at her boat anchored there, then she went slowly home.

  Her father and mother were outdoors looking at the ruined porch.

  "Hello, commodore," her father said. "What for a day?"

  "Fine."

  "Hungry?" her mother asked.

  Candy realized that she hadn't eaten all day long. She suddenly laughed. "I read in a book once when one of the people said he was so hungry he could eat a small boy with the measles."

  Her mother laughed as she went into the house.

  Her father sat down on one of the beams that held up the porch. Seriously he asked, "Any developments about the boat. Candy?"

  Candy remembered her promise to Dr. Daniels just in time. She couldn't tell her father a little of what had happened without telling him all of it. "Well, she's still mine," she said.

  "Good. Get that mast fixed?"

  •>,j«

  ''Mr. Carruthers fixed it. And he said that he had seen Tony every now and then."

  ''Oh, that reminds me. I had to go to Miami today. I was in a taxi and saw a boy sitting on the street begging. I didn't even think about Tony until later. But I wonder if that boy was Tonv?"

  "What did he look like?"

  "All I can remember is that he had dark hair. There was a sign hanging from around his neck and he had a tin cup in his hand. That's all I remember."

  "Was his hair real long?"

  "I think it was."

 
; "Maybe it was Tony. Oh, Dad, that's tenible, isn't it? Tony begging on the street. Nobody would give him anything, would they?"

  "Not much. I wonder why he isn't in that place for the blind in St. Augustine? If he's only eleven, he ought to be kept there."

  "Maybe he wouldn't like it."

  "Perhaps not, but it would be so much better for him. Anything would be better than begging."

  "When are you going back to Miami again, Dad?"

  "I've got to go down for a little while tomorrow."

  "May I go with you? I want to see if it's really Tony."

  He thought for a minute. "Candy, suppose it was Tony, what could you do?"

  Candy frowned. "I don't know. I could talk to him. I

  could " She started to say that Dr. Daniels had told her

  that some people could be cured of blindness, but she remembered just in time.

  "I feel as sorr}' for him as you do, darling," her father said. "But I think the best thing to do is to see to it that he goes to that place in St. Augustine."

  "Even if he didn't want to go. Dad?"

  "I think so. Candy. After all, he's only eleven."

  "You wouldn't make me do something I really didn't want to do, even if I wasn't even eleven, Dad."

  He smiled a little. "I would if I was sure it was the right thing to do, Candy."

  ''I guess so," Candy said. "Anyway, may I go to Miami with you?"

  "If you want to."

  "I do. I want to see if it's really Tony."

  After supper she went back to the beach. While Mr. Car-ruthers varnished the splice in the mast, she held a light for him.

  She told him what her father had seen.

  "Sounds suspicious," Mr. Carruthers said. "I know that Tony often takes the bus to Miami. He might be begging."

  Candy bit her lip. "Fm going to go find out," she declared.

  Mr. Carruthers went home after he finished, but Candy stayed. Since she couldn't sail until the varnish dried, she just sat in her boat and watched the reflection of the lights in the water or the green streaks the fishes made swimming by. She wondered why she didn't feel happy and want to skip any more. Maybe, she decided, it was because of Dr. Daniels out on the island, or Tony begging for money on the streets.