Description by Candice
Translation by Aleksandra
Patty was hiding a tortoise at school and Sister Gray accidentally saw it. She decided to punish Patty. Candy tried to defend her friend and her imprudent words angered the abbess even more.
"Candice White Audrey! I forbid you to participate in the May Festival! You'll be punished!"
"To anger Sister Gray was very silly, Candy", Sister Margaret said accompanying the girls to the "Room for thinking". - "You know yourself what she can do."
"Sister Margaret, I am guilty", Patty said sadly. "Candy was punished because of me."
"Patty, you aren't right", Candy winked at her friend. "I simply have been dreaming to visit the "Room for thinking" for a long time."
The nun showed the rooms to them.
"And now, Patty, give me the tortoise."
Patty could not obey Sister.
"Sister Margaret, let me take Julie", Candy asked. "I will take care of her myself and I promise to be responsible for her myself. Let me, please."
"I understand everything, Candice, and I believe you. You can take Julie."
"Thank you, Sister Margaret", Candy took the tortoise. "Patty, she'll be fine with me, I promise."
The nun closed the door. Candy looked around in her room.
"Welcome, Julie. I think Mr. Albert will help you. Probably he has already got my invitation", Candy let the tortoise to swim in the sink. "When he comes I'll find an opportunity to give you to him. I wish the Festival came soon…" Candy remembered that was punished. "And if… I won't participate?.. The abbess has clearly said: "I forbid you to participate in the May Festival!" - Mr. Albert will probably laugh for a long time that I was locked up in the "Room for thinking". And my Uncle William… He was always so kind to me. I think he will be glad to see that I became a grown-up lady… But I am afraid he will be frightened when he finds out that his foster-daughter was forbidden to participate in the school May Festival. But I am afraid to see Aunt Elroy's face expression most of all…"
"It is a shame for all the Audreys, Candice", Aunt Elroy might have said.
Candy went to bed.
"Well, let's see how everything will be."
Candy met the morning sitting in the "Room for thinking".
"Julie, have you already woken up?" Candy took the tortoise to her hands. "Patty often spoke to you when she felt lonely. Even if you did not respond she was glad to speak to you, because you are an alive creature."
"Good morning, Patricia. You may leave your room", she heard from behind the door. "Good morning, Candice."
"Good morning, Sister Margaret", Candy greeted the nun who entered the room with Patty. "Have you come to let me out?"
"No, I brought the breakfast to you. But I'll ask Sister Gray to forgive you once again."
Candy imagined what the abbess could answer; nothing except: "I repeat that Candice will stay in the "Room for thinking" till the end of the May Festival!"
"Candy, forgive me", Patty said quietly.
"Don't worry, Patty, I am not lonely here", Candy took her breakfast.
The girls were dancing with each other in the park.
"What a beautiful music. The girls are preparing to the Ball of Flowers", Candy said to the tortoise. "Julie, do you want to dance? Then may I invite you to this dance? You'll be my dance partner today", Candy began turning the tortoise around. "One-two-three, one-two-three…" Candy hit her head into the window frame and the glass broke. "What have we done?.. Now we won't be let out of here…" Candy's face suddenly brightened.
"I know! It seems I have an idea how to help you. But first of all we have to get out of here. Now there is not only the entrance, but also the exit. Let's go, Julie!"
Candy got out through the window and ran along the roof holding Julie in her hands. Annie noticed her.
"What has happened, Annie?" Eliza asked, because Annie stopped to twist the handle of the gramophone and the music stopped too.
"Nothing…" she began to twist the handle again.
"You pronounced 'Candy', didn't you?"
I… I… I simply thought what Candy could be doing now…"
"She is probably crying in the "Room for thinking". I hope so", Eliza and her friend looked to the side where the "Room…" was situated.
"I wonder how she managed to get out of there", Annie was guessing.
"Stop thinking about this Candy", Eliza said. "You know that we have invited you here because we felt pity for you. You are so lonely without Candy."
"But I wonder where she has gone anyway. What is she going to do?" Annie continued to twist the handle.
"Hey, stop!" Candy shouted to a cabman. "Mister, can you take me to the Blue River Zoo, can't you?"
"Do you know how much the way to the zoo costs? It is very expensive. Do you have money?"
"Certainly, I do!" - Candy answered. "When we arrive to the zoo, I'll ask Mr. Albert to pay for me", she thought.
The cab moved.
"What a stone do you have in your hand? It's precious, probably."
"You're absolutely right. For me it is the most precious in the world", the girl answered and whispered to the tortoise: "Julie, you have to look like a stone. Hide your legs, please."
Candy couldn't sit calmly. She was looking around. "How wonderful! A man who sells balloons, a street musician…"
"Miss, you seem to spend your life somewhere far in the mountains", the cabman noticed.
"No, I spent it in prison", Candy answered. Her answer shocked the cabman.
"I was told not so long ago that nowadays children became very dangerous for adults… And today I am so unlucky!" he turned his head and looked at Candy. "Her face is sweet, but the appearance may be deceptive, and I'm afraid that she'll hit me with that stone in some calm place and steal all my money! What to do?.."
They arrived to the zoo.
"Miss, we have come already", the cabman muttered.
"Thank you a lot. Wait a little, I'll call my friends and they'll pay you for the trip."
"Your friends?.."
Candy got out of the cab and smiled to him. The poor man imagined her "friends" and frightened even more.
"No-no, it isn't necessary. I must hurry! You don't have to pay. Bye!" and he drove away as fast as possible.
"What has happened to him?" Candy asked herself. "Probably he liked me very much and decided not to take money from me."
She ran to the hut.
"I wish Mr. Albert was at home", she came nearer and heard the laughter. "Only Mr. Albert can laugh in such a way." But she recognized the other laughing person too. "Terry too is here, isn't he?" she looked through the hole. Two young people were cheerfully laughing. "He is cheerful… He is laughing so loudly… Mr. Albert can make everybody happy, he is such a good man", Candy raised the tortoise. "Julie, Mr. Albert loves animals very much. He'll make you happy. You'll feel fine here."
The tortoise affirmatively nodded.
Some time later Candy was greeting those who were in the hut.
"Good morning, Mr. Albert."
"Candy!"
"I didn't expect to meet Terry here."
So here you are", Terry said.
"We were speaking about you right now", Mr. Albert explained.
"Any terrible things probably, am I right?"
"Certainly not. Terry was telling me why he calls you 'Freckled Tarzan'."
"I understand. That's why you were laughing so loudly… So you were laughing at me, weren't you?" the girl asked.
"We didn't want to offend you", Terry objected.
"But you did", Candy compressed her lips.
"Tell me please, why have you come here and what a tortoise do you have in your hands", Mr. Albert asked.
"I came here because of her. Her name is Julie. Mr. Albert, can she live here for some time?"
"Here?"
"Yes. She is the best friend of my best friend."
"The best friend of your best friend? I understood", Mr. Albert carefully touched the tortoise. "How are you doing, Miss Julie?"
"Thanks to God, everything is all right!" Candy exclaimed joyfully.
"Hey, guy, you're doing nothing again, aren't you?" an old man looked into the hut.
"I'm sorry", Mr. Albert said to his young friends. "I'll be free in two hours. Walk around the zoo, ok? Bye."
"I haven't been in the zoo for a long time, Julie", said Candy.
"I've almost forgotten the friend of your friend", Mr. Albert remembered.
"Behave well", Candy kissed the tortoise and gave her to Mr. Albert. "Be careful with her, please."
"Certainly", he winked at the girl.
Candy was left with Terry.
"I thought that I'd tell Terry a lot when I meet him again, but I can't say any of the words I wanted to say. And even if I say them they won't be heard because of the beatings of my heart…"
Terry kept silence too. The girl reddened. The door squeaked.
"Don't want to walk around the zoo, Candy?"
"Sure..."
Candy was going two steps behind Terry.
"There are so many people everywhere", she said to herself. "The whole families come here, parents bring their children, big and little… There are so many tourists from different cities. If only the children from Ponny's House could come here…" Candy remembered that she was not alone here. "Terry!"
Now she was thinking about another things.
"I wonder how we look like when we are together. Like a brother and a sister? Nonsense. Maybe like a couple in love?.." the girl reddened. "No, it's better not to think about it now…"
"Candy!" Terry called her. "Do you want me to show whom you look like?"
"Sure!" Candy looked. "Wha-at?" it wasn't pleasant to her to be compared with monkeys.
"They can make exactly such faces as you do!"
"You're a fool!!!"
"I shouldn't call you 'Freckled Tarzan'. You're 'Freckled Monkey'!" Terry began running.
"You like to laugh at me too much! I'll beat you!" Candy followed him. "Wait for me, Terry!" she shouted surrounded by the crowd. "Where might he have disappeared?.. No, probably I won't beat him."
"Candy", Terry brought some candies. "Take a half."
"Thank you. Confess that you ran away because were afraid."
"Me? Never in my life", Terry adroitly threw a candy into his mouth. Candy too wanted to try but wasn't lucky.
"What funny squirrels…" she laughed. Terry took her elbow, but reddened and removed his arm. Candy was confused.
"Have you come here only because of tortoise?" he changed the topic.
"I've run away from the "Room for thinking."
"From the "Room for thinking?"
"I was locked up there yesterday in the evening…" Candy told him how she was punished for her words to Sister Gray: "You are heartless!…"
Terry burst out laughing.
"You shouldn't laugh."
"Heartless". Well-said. I'd never invent such a phrase, Miss Freckle", he praised.
"I was forbidden to have fun during the May Festival because of it", Candy complained. "I am so unhappy…"
"Is it necessary to pay so much attention to such a nonsense?.." Terry thought looking at her.
"The girls who were born in May will be given flowers, they'll have a big cake, they'll dance till night!"
"Certainly, it sounds great", Terry agreed. "But we can cook a cake ourselves."
"I've invited Mr. Albert and now I don't know what to tell him."
"What are your relations with him?" Terry asked a question which was very important to him.
"I met him when I was living in America", Candy began telling. "I was looking after the horses in Eliza's house and he helped me to run away from there…" Candy remembered how she was carried in a boat to the waterfall and shouted: "Help!.. Somebody!.. Help me!.." But she was rescued. - "It happened that he is always near when I need help", she said standing near the lion's cage. "He is a very sympathetic person…" a time for sad memories has come. "He cheered me up when Anthony died…" Candy remembered how he said to her: "Candy, what are going to do now when Anthony has gone?.. You only cry and remember him… You aren't interested in anything…" - Lakewood, where I have lived was a beautiful place. I was happy there. Anthony's roses probably are in the heyday now…" she thought loudly.
"She mentioned this name again…" Terry remembered how he found her when she lost consciousness. Then she was repeating this name: "Anthony… Anthony…" - "Who is Anthony?"
Candy's face became sad.
"When I saw you on the ship for the first time you seemed to me to be very like him… But you are not like him at all. Anthony liked to grow up roses and his heart was very kind."
"I'm glad that I am not like him", Terry answered, but did not turn his head.
"Terry!.."
"A man who likes to grow up roses usually is weak and cowardly."
"Terry", Candy was offended by such an answer. "You have no right to speak about Anthony this way. He was not weak, he was strong. He was the best of all."
"And what?" Terry objected. "He seems to love roses more than you. And you still love him, am I right? And now the guy you love, is admiring his roses in America!"
"Anthony… Anthony… He died… He fell down the horse…" Candy said in hardly audible voice and tears appeared in her green eyes.
"He died… he fell down the horse…" Terry began understanding. "So that's why she was repeating his name!.. That's why Candy is afraid of horses so much…" That night she was crying in horror: "Don't ride this horse!.. Stop this horse!.."
"Candy… She loved Anthony very much…" he looked at her. The girl was standing not looking at him. "It is a very sad story, but we, alive, can only pray for the dead."
"Terry, you can't speak about it this way! Terry!"
"Listen, Candy, you can't think about the same all the time!" Terry has said before he said "good-bye".
"What right did he have to say that Anthony was weak?" Candy was indignant. "I'll never forgive him… Maybe I shouldn't have spoken to Terry about Anthony …"
"Candy!" Mr. Albert called her. "Has Terry already left?"
"Yes… And he… he is a very bad person!"
"I don't think so. Once I helped him to give up drinking. And now he often comes to visit me."
"Then he behaves badly only with me!"
"Have you quarreled? I can't help you then. Look here", he showed her the tortoise.
"Julie!" Candy exclaimed. "Mr. Albert, have you got the letter with my invitation?"
"To the May Festival? I'll be glad to come, thank you. I even spoke to my friend, he'll get a costume for me. You'll see I'll look the best of all during the Festival."
"It's very good, but… I was forbidden to participate in the Festival."
"Forbidden?"
"It's because of Julie. I'm so sorry."
"Then it is not necessary for me to come", Mr. Albert concluded.
"I am very sorry", Candy felt guilty.
Candy returned to the "Room for thinking" in the evening.
"So, that's all…" she sat down the bed. "I hope nobody noticed that I was away. I thought Mr. Albert will cheer me up, but he got upset himself", she heard the raccoon's squeak. "Klin!" Candy took her friend to her arms. "Klin! You've come to me. When I parted with Julie, I thought I'd have nobody to speak with. I'm so happy that you've come to me."
"I thought that if I had such friends as Mr. Albert, Stear and Archie I would never feel so lonely as Patty. But now when my friends are not with me I so grateful to you, Klin, that you've come to me. Thank you. I won't feel lonely. Thank you, Klin!.."
Candy said much more kind words to Klin because now she was sure that even if she did not participate in the May Festival she would not feel lonely.
The end of 40th series.