CHAPTER 6: Company Picnic
For a few minutes, Candy leaned her back against the door, hoping for Albert to knock at the door. She stood like that holding her breath until she heard diminishing footsteps.
Albert left…
Her fault! She shouldn't overstep their friendship boundary and created misunderstanding a day before he went for a year! She had to fix this before he's leaving!
Candy worked out a speech to explain it to Albert and practiced it until she got it perfectly memorized. The following day, she woke much earlier than before her alarm rang. She lay in bed practicing her speech waiting until six, Albert's usual wake up time. At five, she couldn't stay still anymore. She got up, changed, and ran towards the door. She froze at the sight of an envelope on the doormat. Her heart sank recognizing Albert's handwriting on the envelope. It felt like a deja vu.
Vigorously, Candy tore the envelope open.
.
Dear Candy,
A client just called. I have to leave tonight with the last train to New York. I don't want to wake you. You have a night shift tomorrow, I don't want to tire you.
See you next year.
Take care!
Albert
..
Candy started to cry. You never tire me, Albert! You should have woken me... Quivering in tears, Candy stared blankly at the note in sad disbelief. Albert has gone!
Oh why... why! She cried all her soul out. She searched her pockets to look for another dry handkerchief and her finger hit a piece of paper.
Neo's letter! Oh! I forgot about it…
Candy poked her finger into the envelope and took the letter out.
.
Dear Alden,
I never expected that the bottle would be found by someone in my lifetime. The surprising thing is the letter survives and someone replies to me!
Your guess was correct, I am a man. I just recently graduated and started working. The letter I put in the bottle was written after "that woman" ditched me. I just blew it with her - big time! Yes, I was in wreck. Badly! Which made me want to scream to the sea and wrote that letter.
But, here I am still alive – thank to my nice family who always supports me. Still there're a few questions left unanswered. You said you don't mind to listen? Super!
First, let me make it clear that I am not at all a lonely guy. If you tried to look for me in a party, more likely you can't since I am usually surrounded by a crowd of girls.
Now, without further due, the question…Except "that one woman", other women beg for my company. "That woman" is the opposite. She rejected my invitation, she rejected my gift, she rejected everything from me. No one did that to me! It irritated me greatly. So I shouted at her and ordered her to obey me. She slapped me usually and things went really ugly afterward.
Enlighten me, please. Tell me where I did wrong.
Your suggestion of anonymous correspondence is plain fantastic! I've been wanting to talk about this to someone for a long time. You know Alden, you can ask me about guys too! I will give you the most honest reply from man's perspective which others, I'm sure, won't give to you.
Well, that's all for now! Look forward to hearing your reply.
Regards,
Neo (not my real name!)
.
Candy laughed and cried at the same time reading Neo's offer. This was good! She could ask Neo what to do with Albert. She couldn't ask that to her male friends, even Stear and Archie, since Albert was the famous Sir William. Now, she could ask Neo!
Crying is pathtetic! I will wait for Albert and ask Neo for advice, thus Candy decided.
.
.
oOo
Ooo oooOo oOo oOo oOo oOooo
oOo
Times rushed through. A week later on Friday morning...
Neal was in his office getting ready to meet a car salesman who came to show him a prototype of Porsche. Neal was so excited. He really liked cars.
"Neal, we have a company barbeque picnic at ten thirty today," reminded Dayna, his private assistant.
"Ah...? Remind me, which one is it again?"
"The one to be held close to the zoo on the outskirt of Chicago," reminded Dayna efficiently.
Now Neal remembered about the memo which he didn't really read. It's the company barbeque picnic the human resources organized to introduce Eliza's staffs to him, their new boss.
Outskirt of Chicago! Close to the zoo!, Neal thought, grouchily. What's in there? Whoever arranged this activity must be fired for not holding the lunch in downtown Chicago. A barbeque! He hated the smoke.
Neal didn't want to go.
"I'll be quick. Tell everyone to go first, I'll go later." Neal planned to pretend he forgot. He would skip the event and meet the car salesman instead. What could they say anyway? He's the boss.
Dayna nodded and left to tell everyone that.
Neal quickly slipped outside to meet the Porsche salesman in front of the office building. The salesman was already there with the car. It was brilliant! Neal had seen so many cars, but he could tell that this was the car destined to survive the test of time!
"You want to do a test drive, Mr. Leagan?" asked the salesman.
"Yes!" said Neal. He was so thrilled. He wanted to spend the whole day with this car.
The salesman opened the door and Neal was about to hop in, but Dayna came.
"Neal, Mr. Leagan wants to discuss the Tarbell Standard Oil acquisition plan with you now."
Neal groaned silently. Dad means work. This monstrous acquisition really gave him headache. Why Eliza had to have her maternity leave! He'd rather attend the picnic than meeting his father. Even the barbeque smoke was better than oil acquisition hell.
"Tell dad I can't meet him. I'm meeting someone…er... imporant now." Neal gestured at the Porche salesman. "Then I have a company picnic to attend in a few minutes."
"Of course," said Dayna, promptly. She left.
After a while Dayna came back again. She brought Neal's hat, coat, and bag which she lay nicely inside his limousine.
"All set, Neal," Dayna said. She gave Neal a stack of letters which just arrived.
Reluctantly Neal looked at the Porsche. He didn't want to part with it. "I buy it," Neal told the salesman. "Get it ready, I want to drive it tonight." Another staff quickly stepped forward to take care of the payment transaction.
Neal then slid himself into the back seat of his limousine, quite annoyed to have his test drive cut way too short and he had to go to a middle of nowhere on the outskirt of Chicago. He checked the stack of letters in his hands. There's one from Alden! She replied!
Answer to Candy's problem! Impatiently, Neal tore the envelope open.
.
...
Dear Neo,
It's such a pleasant surprise that you reply! Indeed! It's a thrill for me too to have an anonymous pen pal from the sea!
To answer your question about "that girl" of yours, next time try to be calm and stay nice with her. If she aggravated you, don't shout at her. Take a deep breath and count to ten. To shout at her and to order her to do things are a complete no-no! I don't like to be ordered or shouted at by my dates. Women in general don't! Try that first. She should appreciate your new gentler effort and -
...
.
What?! Neal almost screamed in exasperation. NONSENSE! Alden expected him to reciprocate Candy's evilness with kindness.Alden just doesn't understand Candy! A few days of wait for such a stupid answer. What a letdown!
Angrily Neal skimmed the letter a few paragraphs below.
.
Thanks for the advice offer! I have a question for you, too. There's this man who I have liked for years. I kissed him without warning. Is that wrong, Neo? Because after I -
...
.
Neal groaned impatiently. Alden gave a nonsense advice and expected him to give her a free advice?
Fuming, Neal crumpled the letter and tossed it into his bag.
Forget about Alden, Neal thought angrily. There's no good free things in this world. It's best to think nothing more of both Alden and Candy!
*o*o*
oOo oOo oOo
At about the same time, Candy and Natalie just finished their class and got ready to go to Happy Clinic.
Happy Clinic had flourished these past few years. Still, Dr. Martin never enforced payments to his patients and had been living modestly for that. He couldn't afford to buy a house nor to rent an apartment. He lived and worked in the clinic which itself required a lot of maintenance. Almost all the windows broke; it had no furnace, heater, and many other basic things.
Candy who knew how much Dr. Martin gave his life to his patients volunteered every Friday afternoon in the clinic to help. When she told her friends about Happy Clinic, some volunteered to donate their service as well. Today, Natalie came with her.
"So you kissed Albert?" Natalie asked. "How was it?"
"Can't tell. Albert is discreet you know."
"Even in kissing?"
"I guess."
"Don't give up," encouraged Natalie. "Some men are like that... My husband, say, when we're dating-"
Natalie was too busy talking that she didn't see her step. She got stumbled and fell. Her white nurse uniform fell into a deep wet ditch, muddy from last night's rain fall.
"Oh no... How can I use this in Happy Clinic?" Natalie lamented.
"You can borrow mine," offered Candy. "We passed my home."
"Thanks Candy."
Candy took Natalie to Lakewood Mansion and lent her white uniform nurse. They had lunch there, too. They're good friends now.
"Look here!" exclaimed Natalie as she walked passed one picture in the hallway. "Who is she?" She looked at Candy and the portrait and back at Candy again. "She looks a lot like you!"
"Yeah yeah," quipped Candy. "Everyone says so."
"She's your…?"
"No, we're not related." Candy laughed. "She's Albert's sister, Rosemary." Candy took Natalie to see more of Rosemary photos.
"Wow... you look a lot like her!" Natalie commented in awe. "You're sure you are not related?" Natalie looked at Candy and the photos again. "Perhaps... I mean... we don't know who your parents are-"
Candy laughed again. "No, Natalie! For people like Sir William and his family, everyone would have known if they have babies!"
Natalie shrugged. "Better so otherwise you and Albert are a family and you can't date him."
Candy shivered. "Damn scary!" she agreed.
"Ah this must be Albert." Natalie recognized one portrait.
"Yup!" said Candy proudly. "Isn't he-"
"Whoaw… Who's this?" cut Natalie. "Heartbreaker!" She giggled. "Anyone said he's hot?"
"That's Neal." Candy snorted disinterestedly.
"Neal! This is Neal?" exclaimed Natalie, surprised. "But you said... Then why..."
"Don't get fooled by his dorky look, you know when you meet the real person. Come, let's go. We'll be late."
Taking Natalie with her, Candy drove to Happy Clinic. When they arrived, Dr Martin was getting ready to leave. He was holding a young boy's hand.
"Good that you two are here," Dr. Martin said. "This boy said his mom fell ill. He had five other younger siblings at home. I think I'll go to check how his mother is. You think you two and Judy* can handle this clinic for an hour?"
"Things will be smooth as rain, Dr. Martin," assured Natalie.
"Everything will be taken care of, Dr. Martin," Candy added cheerfully, patting the boy's shoulder to show support.
She had been working in Happy Clinic for years and nothing extraordinary ever happened. Afterall, it's just a small clinic close to the zoo on the outskirt of Chicago… right?
-TO BE CONTINUED-
Thank you for reading.
* Judy Netz: one of the nurses in manga, Candy's friend now.