Candy Hart

The needle cartridge landed on the vinyl track, a short shh shhh sounded, and the first chords of "Earth Angel (Will You Be Mine?)" by The Penguins began to play.

“Earth angel, earth angel

Will you be mine?” The first words of the legendary song filled the kitchen.

The duck carefully rubbed with spices took its place on the oven tray. The juicy red apples, picked early in the morning, were placed around. A gas burner flashed, a cheerful circle of flames started dancing, the stove door closed, leaving the bird to get crispy.

“Earth angel, earth angel

The one I adore…”

Cocoa, flour, and sugar were sprinkled into the egg yolks. A dark color whisk whipped up the chocolate mass and women's hands added everything to the milk heating on the gas.

“Earth angel, earth angel

Please be mine

My darling dear

Love you all the time...” Candy Hart sang too, washing fresh asparagus with running water. She was in a wonderful mood, like the cloudless blue sky outside the window or the pink little flowers on her apron. As soon as she opened her eyes this morning, she realized that that day would be special, the best one. Therefore, Candy was especially careful in choosing the dress, picking over perfectly ironed cloth in the closet for a long time. Yes, it was just cooking, but the young woman wanted to look special because it is not said in vain: "The food prepared by a beautiful woman is doubly delicious." As a result, her choice fell on a soft blue plaid house dress in Look style so fashionable at the moment. Candy let her curled hair down, neatly styling them, put on lipstick, powdered her face, even took out her best kitten heels in beige. And it was a beautiful day, the sun was shining brightly, generously giving the blooming crocuses with April warmth. The duck was crusty in the oven, pancakes with maple syrup were chilling on a plate, a bottle of good wine was in the fridge. Candy went to James' grocery early just to buy everything she needed. Of course, all that stuff cost a lot, but did the money matter on a day like this? In addition, she was sure that if you want to make peace with a dear person, you will have to sacrifice something. It's good if the only matter is money.

And she did not doubt that she would have to work very hard to make their life just like in the good old days. The last of two coal mines in the town closed a few months ago. Those mines worked for more than 80 years, but after the end of the Second World War, the coal supply began to dry up, and now the inevitable happened. The town lost its main income and that affected the lives of all residents. One by one, houses were emptied, people moved out in search of a better life, boarded up their windows, and left their homes to slowly die and collapse. There was only one small shop left in Greenwall, where it was still possible to buy the most necessary things. The library was empty and soon, too, reproachfully gazed at the last townspeople with the empty holes of the windows. The school was still functioning, although now there were only 15-20 students. And all this remains from the once flourishing town. Men left their places and went to work, although more and more often they left with whole families. So Hart's neighbors, Franklins and Briggs moved out a week ago. At first, Candy felt strange and lonely, looking at the empty porches, but the man gets used to everything.

Candy poured the hot pudding into heart-shaped baking tins.

Ray, her husband, also wanted to leave.

“Listen, honey, we have nothing to do here,” he urged his wife. “We need to go like everyone else and look for a new place.”

But the woman did not agree with him. What does it mean to look for a new place? Their place was here in Greenwall, their home was here.

“What do we do?” Candy distractedly sat on the perfectly made bed, watching Ray.

“We're going to New York. I'll get a job at some factory ... We'll think of something, anywhere is better than here.”

It seemed that he had already decided everything, but Candy could not do that. She loved this town, this house, her beautiful crocuses ... And now ... Her eyes sadly examined the things dear to her heart, placed around the room. Her hands were helpless in her lap, defenseless and vulnerable.

“But we have land, Ray,” she persuaded her husband. “We can live by growing vegetables. You can buy a cow with your savings ... or even two.”

“Land?” The man asked derisively. “This piece of the vegetable garden behind the house? Candy, this city is dead. Can you take this? So,” he sat down next to her. “I will talk to Donovan, maybe he can help. And you pack your stuff, we will leave in a week at the most.”

And that's all. Candy cried, begged him to change his mind. She was frightened by the big world and the noisy huge cities. All she knew from birth was Greenwall. But Ray was relentless. They even had a little quarrel, which was very unusual. The couple had never squabbled. before. And after that Candy lost her peace, she could not eat, the food seemed to her tasteless. She could not sleep, dreams left her, and until dawn, the woman looked and gazed at the dark ceiling, on which strange shadows danced. Her heart was breaking. Her thoughts burned. The last conversation with Ray turned into a scandal.

Candy never argued with anyone, she was one of the kinds of people who are incapable of conflicts. After another incident, she lay awake for a long time, pondering how she could respond to her opponent. She couldn't argue with her husband either, she just couldn't. She on cried, wiping her tears with a lacy starched handkerchief from powdered cheeks.

“Ray, Ray, I beg you.” The inconsolable woman just repeated, but he didn't hear her.

“Why do you so clutch onto this house?” He shouted, pacing up and down. “Candice! What's wrong with you?!”

Candy didn't answer, sobbing and swallowing the words.

And there was that woman...Becky Sanders... The only single lady in Greenwall, a spinster. She had flirted with all the men in the town before, and now that woman completely lost all shame, constantly asking Ray to help her with the housework. One day it was needed to fix the door, another day a faucet was broken ... But how can that be? Does a decent person do the things like Beckie did?

Candy was all nervous, the future was so vague and unsettled ... She sobbed all evening until Ray finally calmed her down. Just like before, he hugged her, rubbing her back.

“Well, don't worry so ... Don't cry, honey. Everything will be fine, we can handle it.”

In the end, they decided to try ... Just try to live, survive in the town. Plant potatoes, cabbage, fruit trees. After all, people live in the villages. They always have time to leave.

And it was the happiest moment in Candy's life, apart from the wedding. She wiped away her tears, smiling weakly but hopefully at her husband. Now she will do everything to justify his hope and faith in her.

“Thank you, dear ... I love you so much.”

“Please be mine

My darling dear

Love you all the time…” Candice paused, staring thoughtfully at the cooling pudding. She wanted to do something special, something small but meaningful. Thinking a bit, she pulled out a package of Satellite Wafers from the closet. Saucer-shaped pockets fell onto the plate. Candice took each pocket and shook tiny candy beads out of it. Then she carefully sprinkled the multicolored Pellets over the warm pudding. When the chocolate heart was strewn with enough candies and began to resemble an Easter egg, the baking tin was placed in the refrigerator. Candy was just about to check the duck when the front door slammed.

“Dear, is that you?” She looked at the clock: there were still two hours before lunch. No one answered. “Dear?”

It certainly couldn't have been Ray. But it could be one of the friends remaining in the town. Candy went out onto the porch and looked around, and again, no one was there. Looking at the empty houses of her neighbors through the fence, she felt uncomfortable. At the thought that someone could wander there and look into the windows of the tenants ... The woman returned to the house, carefully locking the door, and peeped out of the window as if she wanted to make sure no stranger was hiding behind the bushes.

“You're just tired,” she said to herself, taking the mitt and heading for the stove. The woman tried to convince herself that it was just the wind, but her soul was restless. She did not want an accidental guest to interrupt her plans.

The dishes turned out to be great. The duck was roasted just right, brown, flavorful. Potato pancakes, garnished with thawed blackberries, cold wine, stewed vegetables, deviled ham, and chiffon cake, similar to the yellow disk of the April sun. And of course the chocolate pudding with sweets.

“Dear, you will like it! And do not think about money, the main thing is that we have made up, do you agree, my love?” Candy laid the table, smiling serenely at her thoughts.

Ray didn't answer.

His head fell on his chest, like a man, or rather what was left of him agreed with his wife.

A cadaverous worm, like a whitish thick macaroni, fell down his blackened cheek. Rotting hands lay on the table, on either side of the plate, some of the flesh already began to peel off, revealing pale skewers of bone. A large cadaveric fly sat on the thumb of his right hand. There was a disgusting smell of death in the room.

Candy walked over to the corpse, took a napkin, shook it, and carefully tucked it into her husband's collar.

“Well, now we are ready for lunch,” she said blithely, almost cheerfully. “Oh, I made your favorite pudding for dessert. But I decorated it a bit this time. I hope you don't mind.”

If Ray was against it, he still couldn't say it.

“I was just thinking maybe we should invite Becky Sanders to our place. What do you think? There are few people left in Greenwall, we must stick together. Right, dear?” Candy giggled putting food on plates. She specially converted this room into the dining area, it could not be seen from the street. They will stay in Greenwall forever, even if everyone leaves the town, they will stay. And from now on everything will be fine with them because she and Ray are together. And together they will handle any difficulties.

The day was wonderful, the duck was delicious, the pudding in the shape of a heart with a rainbow scattering of sweets was waiting in the fridge, and the simple words continued to pour out of the player quietly:

“ I fell for you and I knew

The vision of your loveliness

I hope and pray that someday

That I'll be the vision of your happiness.”