The Little Candy Girl

written by Paul Warnock

​

In response to your plea for more Christmas stories, I
have composed one for you.  It is 100% fiction.  I made
the setting in Rockingham and other North Carolina
cities, but it could just as well be in any state or any city
in the US.

All characters are fictional, and any resemblance to
anyone living or deceased is coincidental and
unintended.

Scene 1:

The scene opens in the Buncombe County Court House in
Asheville, North Carolina.  The jury has just come back
from their deliberations.  The bailiff barks that all should
rise as the judge enters the courtroom.  The entire room
waits in anticipation.  The judge asks the chairman of the
jury to make known their verdict.  The chairman states, in
an uneasy manner, that the jury finds the defendant guilty
of all charges.  The room that had been very quiet is now
bustling with whisperings.  The defense attorney senses
there may have been some indecision of the part of the
jurors and ask the judge to poll the individual jurors.  The
judge agrees and asks the jurors one at a time about their
verdict.  The verdict has to be unanimous.  "Guilty"  says
each of the individual jurors in a firm voice.  The
defendant had just been found guilty of felonious child
abuse.  The defendant was the stepfather of a small girl
who according to doctors had had at least three
concussions just in the last year; plus she had scars of
previous abuse including at least two broken bones.  The
defendant has had two previous convictions.  The judge
sentences the defendant to twenty-five years in the state
penitentiary.  The judge dismisses the court, and the
defendant is led handcuffed from the room by the bailiff.

As the room starts to clear, Ms. Margaret Welch, the
Special Prosecuting Attorney from the Attorney General's
office in Raleigh, and Mrs. Deborah Watkins, the
Buncombe County Director of Social Services stay sitting
at their table for a few moments in almost exhaustion.  
Mrs. Watkins starts telling her friend Margaret that she
had just done another excellent job.  This was not the first
case they had worked so closely together on, and it will
probably not be the last.  They are old friends.  The
Director is not that far from retirement.  Margaret is still
a very attractive, slim & trim, thirty-something young
lady.  Mrs. Watkins asked her friend: When are you ever
going to get married?  You know, you are not going to stay
young looking forever.  Margaret replied that she has
several men friends she is seeing, but so far nothing
anywhere near serious.  There is a judge in Charlotte who
invited me out for dinner the next time I'm in town.  He's
a widower and is only a couple years older than I am.  
Mrs. Watkins replied: Maybe you should drop by there on
your way back tomorrow? Are you talking about Judge
Parks?  Margaret Welch has worked cases in at least forty
different counties.  She was very good at what she did,
and she specializes in child abuse cases.  She had
graduated from the University of North Carolina in
Chapel Hill after a long and difficult financial struggle
but with good grades.  Then she went on to the Harvard
Law School in Boston where she had received a full
scholarship.  She had graduated very near the top of her
class in law school.  The two ladies then walked slowly
back to the District Attorney's office.

It was after five o'clock and most of the staff had gone
home.  They settled into Margaret's temporary office for a
final cup of coffee.  Mrs. Watkins knew Margaret's
background very thoroughly, and she asked Margaret to
talk more about her men friends.  Margaret mentioned
that she had a childhood sweetheart named Frank, but his
family moved away from Rockingham when she was just
twelve years old.  I saw him once at my mother's funeral
about ten years ago.  He went on to N.C. State, spent some
time in the Air Force, but was now married and living in
Greensboro.  There was Johnny Waters from High
School.  He was also a good friend in school at Carolina,
but he never could get comfortable with how I worked my
way through college.  He did go on to medical school, and
he now works at the County Coroner's Office back in
Rockingham.  He's always been a good friend, but he too
is married and has three kids.  There were several up in
Boston, but I never did care much for Northern men;
there're just not gentlemen in the same way most men are
down here.  I think I want a nice North or South
Carolinian.  Mrs. Watkins replied: I think you really need
to stop by and have dinner with Judge Parks in Charlotte
tomorrow.  You know, he's from South Carolina, but is
working in North Carolina.  Now, you can't beat that.

Margaret mentioned that she also needed to go by
Rockingham.  John Waters left a message that he had
something extremely important to talk to her about.  Her
mother and stepfather had long been dead; so John was
about the only one she knew in Rockingham any more.

Scene 2:

We are now at the Winston-Salem law office of Lee,
Longstreet, Johnston, Bragg, Early and Hood.  They were
one of the big four law firms in North Carolina
specializing in criminal defense.  They have six offices
located in the large cities in the state, but would defend a
client anywhere in the state.  When the big law firms such
as this particular firm hire law school graduates, they
pick the very best and most talented from each class from
all over the United States.  Some of the very best of these
may start work with a six-figure annual income.  The next
group of law graduates (not as near the top of their class)
may find work as corporate lawyers or with some of the
less prestigious firms.  Then the ones near the middle of
their class find government jobs such as prosecutors or
other county and city attorneys, but they don't make
anywhere near the amount of money the prestigious firms
pay.  This is not always the case, but it more or less tells
the story.  Mr. Lee has called a special meeting of all the
firm's lawyers, which total nearly a hundred.  He has
already retired from active law practice, but he still runs
the firm his grandfather founded over a hundred years
ago.  Mr. Lee states:  We have got to do something about
this Margaret Welch!  We used to win seventy five percent
of our child abuse cases, which in turn has allowed us to
charge very high fees from our clients.  She's now
winning ninety percent of her cases against the big four
laws firms.  Ladies and Gentlemen, we have got to do
something!  If we don't win most our cases, then I can't
afford to pay you those exorbitant salaries so you can
make your payments on those huge houses you live in and
those Mercedes cars you drive, not to mention your yachts
and your beach places.  Does anyone have any suggestion?

Mr. Longstreet then responds: Sir, why don't we just hire
her?  We can easily offer her two or three times the salary
she's making now.  We can talk with the other big four
firms, and maybe all of them can offer her a job.  They're
in the same boat we are.  Maybe we can get the other big
four firms to go in together with us to pay her salary; that
will spread the costs for the firm that hires her.

Mr. Johnston responds: Sharing the cost would be
collusion and would violate antitrust laws.

Mr. Lee replied: Think I care about that?  We aren't
regulated like banks and security houses.  Who would
ever find out if we don't tell them?                        

Mr. Bragg speaks up: Sir, maybe there is just been a rash
of child abuse cases right now.  Maybe some of these
people need to be convicted.

Mr. Lee responds: They probably all need to be convicted,
but our job is to defend them.  A top-of-the-line lawyer
should win well over fifty percent of his cases no matter
what.  With the kind of money I'm paying you people, you
should be able to win seventy-five percent of them.

Mr. Longfellow: Sir, what about the cases that are not
represented by the big four?  The State wins almost eighty
percent of those cases, especially the cases with a court
appointed defense lawyer.  Doesn't that help the District
Attorney with his statistics?

Mr. Lee: Doesn't someone other than one of the Partners
have anything to say?

A recent hire responds: Sir, why don't we just hire a hit
man to take her out?  The audience breaks into laughter.

Mr. Lee replies angrily:  What's the matter with you
people?  Don't you think I have any morals at all?

Scene 3:

This is a flashback to the 1950's, many years before the
first two scenes.  We are in Rockingham, North Carolina.  
We are in the main business area of town, which includes
Harrington Square, Lee Street between Washington and
Franklin, and East Washington Street all the way to
Lawrence Street.  It is in late December only a week or so
before Christmas.  This was before the era of malls and
shopping centers; all shoppers went downtown to shop
especially to do their Christmas shopping.  People were
rushing to and fro just as busy as they are today; most are
so busy that they don't really spend much time looking at
their surroundings.

Just in front of the Washington Street entrance to Belk's
Department Store was a little girl about ten years old.  
She had on fairly old, shabby looking clothes.  Her socks
were of slightly different colors and came to a different
level on her bare legs.  She had a flimsy brown coat,
which could not possibly have kept her very warm.  There
were several white spots at random near the bottom,
which looked like someone had accidentally spilled
Clorox on it.  She had beautiful silvery blond hair that
looked like it had never been washed or properly
combed.  She was a little tall for her age.  She had
gorgeous blue eyes, but it looked like one of them had
been bruised as if she had fallen down or ran into a door.  
She is holding a box of candy in her hands, which
originally had contained twenty-four five-cent Snicker
bars (today they cost fifty nine cents each at Food Lion).  
Then she says:  Mister (or Ma'am), wouldn't you like to
buy a nice candy bar; they're only a nickel.  Some people
would stop and buy a bar, but rarely said anything.  She
had been doing this for several years now.  Some of the
people would say Merry Christmas to her whether they
bought anything from her or not.  She always said Merry
Christmas to everyone she could whether they bought a
candy bar from her or not.  She had to stay on the streets
until she sold out; she wasn't allowed to go home with any
candy bars left unsold.  Sometimes she would go inside
one of the department stores to get warm, but they didn't
like for her to stay very long.  Occasionally, during the
Christmas season, someone would give her a little extra
such as a dime for one of her candy bars.  She had to be
careful not to mix that extra money with her candy money
as she had a strict accounting with Sloan, her mother's
common law husband, when she got home at night.  She
had to turn in the entire $1.20 to him every night.  One
time she had somehow lost a nickel.  Sloan got mad and
slapped her across the room.  She was used to this kind of
treatment.  Some people thought Sloan was her father,
but most people thought it must have been someone else.  
Her mother told her she really didn't know who her
father was.  Sloan's name was really Jack Sloan, but he
insisted that every one call him Sloan.  He had been on
the Chain Gang twice before, once for driving drunk, and
the other for assaulting a deputy.   

They lived just beyond the Pee Dee section in an old store
building about a mile from downtown.  It didn't have
running water, but it did have electricity.  In fact, it had
only one room.  It would never have passed inspection
today as suitable for human habitation, but they didn't
have strict building codes back in those days, nor did they
have Fire Department inspections like we have today.  
There were two storage rooms; one that was used as a
restroom and the other was Peg's room.  The previous
occupants used that room as their dog's quarters.  Both
Sloan and Peg's mother, Peggy, would work in the mills
when work was available, but recently most mills were on
three days and weren't hiring.  Peg had the exact same
name as her mother, and was called Peg to distinguish her
from her mother.  Sloan was prone to drinking and
usually spent any earnings he made and much of what
Peggy earned on just that, mostly beer.  Peggy had
another way to come up with rent money that Sloan wasnâ
€™t aware of.  Peggy was very attractive and had several
gentlemen admirers in town.  Peg knew something wasn't
right about that, but she figured she had enough
problems of her own.  She was a good student, but it was
often difficult to find time to do her lessons since she had
to sell candy every day after school and on Saturday.  The
kids at school teased her awfully, often making snide
remarks about her mother and Peg's love-child status.  
She used to go through the trashcans at the old Post
Office on Hancock Street looking for discarded business
letters so she could use the backs of them to do her
homework.   

One of Peg's candy customers was Mr. Raymond
Truesdale.  He ran his own law firm near Harrington
Square in the top of the old Richmond County Bank
building.  He had bought candy from Peg regularly over
the past several years.  He knew who Peg was and he
knew her mother, but he never let Peg know about that.  
His wife was from one of the leading families in
Laurinburg, and she was nice enough.  They never had
any children although they both wanted to.  They didn't
have fertility clinics back then like they do today; the
technology for that had just not been developed yet.    Mr.
Truesdale had a sister named Thelma who was never
married.  She lived in the same huge home with her
brother and his wife.  She was a social climber, and tried
to impress everyone.  She was shopping with her brother
and his wife several days before Christmas when the three
of them bumped into Peg.  Why don't you watch where
you're going? asked Thelma. Oh leave her alone, said Mr.
Truesdale, she's just trying to make a little extra money
for Christmas. Peg finally responded: Sorry ma'am, Merry
Christmas!  Then Thelma retorted: She's so filthy.  She's
always up here bothering people.  Don't you know what
her mother does?  She's just a love-child.  We don't need
people like that in this town.  Peg sensed it was time for
her to move along so she did.  Mr. Truesdale tried to calm
his sister before someone important sensed his
embarrassment.  But she was not the type you could talk
to.  This was not the first time or the last time Peg had to
deal with Ms. Thelma Truesdale.

Scene 4:

We are back to modern times and back in Asheville.  The
two ladies Mrs. Wilkins and Margaret Welch continue
their conversation.  Margaret mentions that she is afraid
that her past might embarrass Judge Parks should he ever
seek high political office.  What if he decides to run for
Governor or something like that?  Wouldn't those nosy
reporters start digging into his past and then into my
past?  Mrs. Wilkins responds: You only danced in
Durham.  You never danced in Raleigh or Chapel Hill.  
Besides you wore a wig and used a stage name.  Margaret
replied: Yes, I know.  But I would never be able to sleep at
night worrying about that.  Mrs. Watkins said: “Well
as a good Christian, you need to tell him about that before
you ever marry him.  Margaret replied:  Come on now,
Debbie, I haven't even dated the man.  And now you have
me marrying him.  Well, I do agree with what you said.  I
would have to tell him.  But not on our first date.

Margaret did indeed stop by to have dinner with Judge
Parks in Charlotte, and everything went well.

Scene 5:

We are still in modern time, but now back in
Rockingham.  Driving her state owned Ford, Margaret has
stopped by the Coroner's office to see her old school
friend, John Waters, MD.  They greet each other
cordially, and John invites her back to his office.  He says:
Margaret, we now have DNA tests that can link
genealogical backgrounds extremely accurately.  We have
had several convicted felons that were released based on
DNA evidence.  Then John asked: Will you allow me take
a small sample from you to do a DNA comparison?  
Margaret responded:  Sure, but why me? John then took a
small skin sample from the underside of Margaret's arm.  
He goes back to his lab for about thirty minutes; then he
returns and asks Margaret to come back to the lab with
him.  He says: Do you remember Raymond Truesdale, the
lawyer that died about fifteen years ago?  He died of a
heart attack fairly suddenly; so they ordered an autopsy.  
Margaret says:  Yes, I remember him.  He was always very
kind to me when I was a kid.  He had a nice wife, but a
mean sister.  He used to buy candy from me when I was a
little girl.  Then John said: We always keep a blood
sample when we do an autopsy.  We didn't have DNA tests
back then, but we do today.  Then John continued:
Margaret, Mr. Truesdale was your father.  Margaret sat
there in utter disbelief, but she also had dealt with DNA
testing in her trial cases and knew about its validity.  Then
John said:  That makes Ms. Thelma Truesdale your aunt.  
She's a very lonely old lady now and still lives in that big
old house out on Fayetteville Road all by herself.  I think
you and I should pay her a visit.  She and her brother were
both orphans like you.  You and she are the only family
that each of you have left, and on top of that, tomorrow's
Christmas.  Margaret replied: Yes, let's do that.  Do you
think she will remember me?