It’s been a while since I last updated my blog. Thank you for your patience! I’ve been working hard on a new drawing lately, and I’m planning to post it some time next week. Anyway, enough of that, so have you heard of the English idiom “don’t judge a book by its cover”?
It means that we shouldn’t presume the worth or value of something or people by its outward appearance alone. This is what Candy had done; she had misjudged Dr. Leonard by his appearance. I believe a lot of us, including myself, sometimes do this too. Come on, admit it! LOL… 😉
In other words, I couldn’t say that Candy remembered her husband had repaired the music box, no sweat, and then she glanced at Albert’s portrait right away. Some time had elapsed in between. Although the reader agreed that it made more sense that Albert was the one who had done the repair, she suggested me not to use the timing as a clue for who Anohito was. Actually, there’s another place in CCFS that Candy remembered how hopeful Candy had been about reuniting with Terry when she had just returned to America. Then right away, Candy recalled the time she had relayed her stowaway experience to Anohito.
Nevertheless, the reader kindly scanned me two consecutive pages in CCFS in which Candy indeed mentioned Albert right after talking about Anohito. Candy recalled she had been fired by Dr. Leonard because she had wanted to continue taking care of Albert. Then Candy said Anohito had advised her not to judge people merely by their appearance, like the way she had judged Dr. Leonard (see ‘HIM’ in the spoilers below):
I had been regarding deputy director Leonard as a cruel doctor.
I wanted to keep on taking care of Albert, therefore I was fired by him.
I think it was a reasonable step now. He needed to maintain discipline in the hospital.
Don’t judge people by appearances, I must have learnt quite well, however I still tend to misjudge and it makes HIM laugh at.
Albert …
I didn’t even know his full name at that time.
Albert was just Albert. It wasn’t something I had to wonder about.
His presence gave me a marvellous feeling of security.
Now I can understand the meaning of the bond that tied us with invisible threads
Even though the reader said it wasn’t a good idea to use the sequences of Candy’s recollections and present events as clues, I still couldn’t help thinking: if Terry was Anohito, isn’t it odd that Candy mentioned him in the middle of her recollection of Albert during his unpleasant days at the hospital?
Furthermore, Candy was told not to judge people this way because she had learned a lesson from her experience with Dr. Leonard. This implies that her husband knew Dr. Leonard personally, and if he wouldn’t judge the doctor simply based on his looks, neither should Candy. What do you think? 🙂
But Terry never knew this doctor, let alone the doctor’s ‘unfair’ treatment to Candy. In the manga, Candy was fired some time near her birthday in May, which happened months after she had broken up with Terry in New York.
You might argue that Candy could explain the whole situation to Terry later, but still it wasn’t his personal experience, so he couldn’t use this as an example to teach Candy not to judge people by their appearance.
On the contrary, since Albert had been neglected as a patient under Dr. Leonard, Albert knew first hand what kind of person the doctor was. Being abandoned in Room 0, Albert was fully aware of how ruthless the doctor had been, but based on CCFS spoilers, Albert actually hired this doctor as their family doctor later (see Candy’s letter to Aunt Elroy from CCFS spoilers):
And, director Leonard of St. Joanna hospital is a very kind and good doctor despite his appearance.
I believe he is the perfect doctor for the Ardray family in the new era, and also for you.
I was very impressed by Granduncle William’s excellent choice. (… I’m sorry for the impertinent comments.)
I hope your neuralgia eases off as much as possible.
Apparently, Albert had a forgiving spirit. Not only he didn’t hold grudges, but he had an open mind to evaluate this doctor without prejudice. This conveyed his maturity and wisdom. In fact, no other man could be as convincing as Albert the victim himself to talk some sense into Candy! After all, she had had conflicts with this doctor mainly due to his maltreatment of Albert. Yet, because of Albert, Candy undoubtedly acknowledged that she had misjudged Dr. Leonard in the past. Therefore, she was willing to change her opinion of this ‘cruel’ doctor and learned that she should no longer judge a book by its cover (although in her thirties, she admitted that she still tended to misjudge, which made her husband laugh…).
So, isn’t it obvious who Anohito was? 🙄
Now that I can read the Japanese text myself from the scanned image (many thanks to the reader!), I’m going to discuss the next paragraph about Albert giving Candy a marvelous feeling of security and the invisible thread between them. This post is already long, so I don’t want to combine these two topics together. Until next time! 🙂