Did Candy find her happiness? (Part 8)

Many thanks to my friend who sent me the letter to Captain Brown in the old novel, which I have posted in Did Candy find her happiness? (Part 7). According to her, there are more differences between the old novel and Candy Candy Final Story (CCFS). For example, in Candy’s letter to Eleanor Baker, Candy didn’t explain why she had gone to Rockstown. In CCFS, Candy mentioned she had gone there to look for a missing friend who had helped her a lot (she was essentially telling the beautiful actress that “no, the reason wasn’t Terry”). Besides, there was nothing about her promise to Susanna of not seeing Terry again, which is also a new addition in CCFS.

Another interesting change is the venue of the grand opening party of the new hotel. In the old novel, the party was held in Chicago, but in CCFS, many of you know that it took place in Miami, Florida. Not only that, neither Madam Elroy nor Archie went there, and Candy attended this party with Albert plus his loyal assistant Georges. Imagine that! Had they been traveling together, spending hours on the trains? Remember, trains were the main transportation back then, especially for long distance travel.

Besides, remember the reconstruction of the orphanage? In the old novel it was Annie’s adoptive father, Mr. Brighton, who financed the project! But there was not much description about it, whereas in CCFS it’s mentioned twice with details that William Albert Ardlay bought the land and paid for the reconstruction. 😊

There’s yet another difference, the return of the diary in CCFS, which I have discussed in my earlier posts in this series, so I won’t repeat myself. In the old novel, Candy also wrote down her honest feelings in her diary and left it for her adoptive father to read so that he could understand why she decided to pursue her own career path. However, nothing was mentioned about the diary again in the rest of the novel.

Anyway, I’d like to share with you Candy’s letter to Kyoko Mizuki in the old novel. For the original letter in Japanese, please visit Yue Chan’s post Carta de Candy para Kyoko Mizuki. Since Yue Chan got that letter from her Japanese friend, I asked Yue Chan for the permission to translate that letter directly from Japanese. Though I’ve paraphrased slightly, I tried my best to stick to the original meanings and keep the nuances, so don’t be surprised it’s slightly different from the Spanish translation. 😛

Dear Kyoko Mizuki,

Thank you for writing to me. It’s been a year since we last met, right? Somehow I feel that the year seemed to have passed in the blink of an eye.

As for me, I am full of energy. Every day, as the dedicated nurse of the Pony’s Home, I hardly have any spare time; because I not only take care of the children but also the sick villagers in the neighborhood, for it’s a well known fact to everyone that I’m a skillful nurse. (Ahem)

Now, I’m happy thinking that you’re about to start Volume 3 of my story (though it’s a bit embarrassing…).

Having read Volume 1 and 2, I was wondering how the bits and pieces could be put together for the third volume. The second volume was up to the moment when I said good-bye to Saint Paul’s Academy in the midst of morning haze. Even when I remember this, my chest is tightened with emotions…

After that many events followed, and as indicated in your letter, you consider it impossible to collect all these in one book. I think so too.

Many different things have happened since I left Saint Paul’s… after I finally returned to America from England, I became a nurse, and I reunited with Albert-san, who had lost his memory. And then, I really broke up with Terry —

Also, the abominable war started, and Stear was gone as well. There are way too many memories for my hands to hold that I find it undesirable to summarize them all in only one book.

Your idea, that Volume 3 isn’t going to be written in the style of a novel, but rather, you wish to use my correspondence with my friends to serve as the updates of my recent status. I absolutely agree with you. Fortunately, I keep communicating with my old friends using letters.

I think I can certainly help you.

Therefore, don’t act like such a stranger and say “it’s troublesome, isn’t it?” Do make a point to come visit us for your amusement please, alright?

For example, I’d like to show you the fascinating birthday card that Albert-san sent me, or the letters from Archie, Annie and the others…

Listen, please definitely, certainly, come visit, okay? Because I have got many stories to tell you; they piled up like a mountain already.

Flowers are now blooming on Pony’s Hill. Please come before they shrivel, by all means.

But… if it happens that Igarashi Sensai comes together with you, I’ll be so thrilled that I can jump all the way to the sky.

Pony Sensai and Lane Sensai are right beside me, having urged me five times already to pass their regards. (Yes, yes, teachers, I’m writing it properly, you know!)

After that, it is my turn — I’m sending 500,000 kisses to all the readers! Greetings to you.

Well, I’m looking forward to meeting you.

Candice White Ardlay

I’d like to point out the highlighted words above. I think perhaps with hindsight Candy realized it was a turning point in her life, and then many things happened since that moment?

If you read Yue Chan’s aforementioned post, you will notice that Anneth White provided some different translations of that sentence in her comments. Candy uses present tense here, and not to mention that I did do some research, including using a Japanese dictionary. I believe this particular word じん と  means “strong emotions as though your chest is tightened” or “extremely cold feeling/sharp pain that makes one feel numb”. Some dictionaries simply refer to the second meaning as “numbness”, and it is often used when the speaker describes his/her physical discomfort. Hence, I’m afraid the ones Anneth White provided were incorrect.

Like my anonymous friend who has read the old novel and sent me the letter to Vincent Brown said, it doesn’t really matter how Candy feels about her departure in London because the ending of the old novel is absolutely unambiguous. Remember Candy’s last letter to Albert? As my other friend Fay said, she read in a forum that a Candy Candy fan asked a Japanese person (not a fan) about this letter. The Japanese person had no doubt that it was a love letter.

I totally agree with my anonymous friend. She said what matters is if Mizuki (Nagita) changed her mind in CCFS. 😉 If you read the beginning of this post, plus all the previous posts in this series, Did Candy find her happiness?, you will see that Nagita has added important clues and made new changes in CCFS that favoured Candy’s Prince on the Hill. Don’t you agree? 😀 Though I can’t send kisses like Candy, I hope you like my new drawing, my present to you all. 😀 See you in part 9! 🙂

This is the Spanish translation of this post by Yue Chan, ¿Candy encontró su felicidad? (Parte 8).

Candy and Prince on the Hill