"Candy" by Anne-Cécile Geffard

26 janvier 2009

"Candy" by Anne-Cécile Geffard

Candy

The whole story began on a sunny Saturday afternoon in Hidden Park. Jordan, a six-year-old boy at the time, was playing joyfully on the grass. He liked coming here on beautiful week-ends when his father, a successful and very busy businessman, would postpone some of his meetings to spend quality time with his only child. Jordan would always make the most of these moments, even more so as they were so rare. His mother was a lecturer and, as such, had also very little time. Little Jordan was then used to spending more time with his nurse, the young and dynamic Cathy, than with his parents.

Cathy would also eventually take him to the park around the corner, and play with him for hours. She was one of his best friends, but deep inside he wished he had a good friend of his age whom he could play with. For Jordan often felt lonely. He had some good friends at school, but they lived outside the city and he could not see them at week-ends. And at home, he had no one to play with, except his friend Poppy, the teddy bear. But that day in the park, something changed.

Jordan was playing with Poppy on the grass, talking to him. His father sat on a bank a bit further away, reading the newspaper. Had he taken a look at his child at this precise moment, he would have noticed that Jordan was no longer playing alone. He seemed to have a lot a fun with a new friend, even smaller than Jordan was. His friend had dark skin and dark eyes and was full of energy and joy. Both were playing with Jordan’s favorite red ball, and it seemed they could play like this for hours.

As the father called his son to go home, his friend was already gone and only Jordan had seen him. During the next summer weeks, Jordan would ask Cathy more and more often to go to the park, to meet this friend again and play with him. And Cathy, too happy the poor boy had finally found a good friend to talk to, would go with him.

One evening, coming back from Hidden Park, Jordan told his mother about his good friend. He said he was really happy because they could play together and he could tell him everything and he would listen, and they would play again and have fun together. He called him Candy, because he liked Jordan’s candies. What Jordan said next, however, was quite unexpected: “Mommy, Candy is not happy where he lives. He did not tell me, but I know it... Mommy, could Candy come and live here? Please?”. Mrs Johnson looked at her son with eyes full of love and amusement. She smiled and, with a very careful voice, explained to her child that it was not possible, because Candy surely had a family and they could not take him away from them and she and his father had never seen his friend. “He has no family, I know it and if you come with me, I will show you!”, Jordan replied.

The next Saturday, Mrs Johnson went to the park with his son, to meet Candy. As she saw him for the first time, she reacted violently. Without any explanation, she took her son with her and went home. Jordan was crying, he could not understand what had just happened. His mom had not even talked to Candy. He was afraid he had done something wrong, and her mom was sad because of him, and Candy would not live with him. But he knew Candy was nice and he was his only friend.
That night, Mrs Johnson told her son he was no longer allowed to go to the park to see Candy.

A few days later, as Mrs and Mister Johnson went home, they could not find Jordan anywhere in the house. Cathy told them he was playing in the garden. But they could not find him there either. Mrs Johnson started panicking, imagining everything that could have happened to her beloved son. Jordan would never have left home like this, he was so small! He had been kidnapped, for sure! But why? Mister Johnson was already calling the police. A policeman came a couple of minutes later. He asked the couple and Cathy the usual questions, trying to understand what could have happened. And when he asked Mrs Johnson about the behavior of her son during the past few weeks, she suddenly knew where he was: “Hidden Park!”. Neither the policeman nor his husband had had time to add anything. Mrs Johnson was already outside, running towards the park.

And there he was, playing the ball with Candy, laughing and having fun. He smiled when he saw his mom. She seemed to feel bad, but he did not understand why. She ran towards him and took him passionately in her arms, kissing him. She was crying.

- “Mommy, what is happening?”

- “Jordan, please don’t you ever do that again!”

- “I was just playing with Candy! I wanted to see him, I was too sad!”

- “Oh sweetie! Promise me you won’t leave home again without Cathy! Mommy got so scared for you!”
Looking at her son, she added:

- “Oh honey! You miss having brothers and sisters, don’t you?”

- “A little. I’m always alone.”

In the meantime, Mister Johnson, Cathy and the policeman had arrived. Mrs Johnson looked at her husband, asking him a silent question. Mister Johnson nodded, showing his agreement.

- “Jordan, honey? Your father and I took a decision. We’re going home with Candy!”

The face of the little boy suddenly lit up. He fell in her mother’s arms! Then, talking to Candy:

- “You hear this Candy? You’re going home with us! Are you happy?”

Candy was jumping for joy and was obviously happy, but something in his eyes showed he could not quite understand everything. And he never answered. But Jordan had known for a long time that dogs couldn’t speak.