Candy and the Outfit

By Gregory Tetrault

Life is not sweet for eleven-year-old Candy. Her widowed mother married Brad Maneval, who is not what he appeared to be. They live in a dumpy house in a bad neighborhood in Chicago. Candy’s stepfather has goals for each family member. His goal for Candy’s mother was to turn her into a doormat who shows no love for Candy. He met that goal a few months after the marriage. Her stepfather’s goal for his fifteen-year-old son Dirk is to turn him into a sociopath. That task is nearly complete. Candy’s stepfather had multiple goals for her. The first was to put Candy in a fairy tale—the first part of Cinderella. Candy does every bit of housework except cooking. The second goal was to destroy Candy emotionally. He belittles her, insults her, and smacks her head often. He lets Candy visit friends because he believes that seeing the normal lifes of her friends will demoralize her. Her stepfather’s third and most important goal is to starve Candy. For food—she weighs only seventy pounds. For affection—her mother no longer loves her, and he and Dirk certainly don’t. For decent clothes—everything Candy wears was bought at a thrift shop. For entertainment—Candy has no access to books, music, TV, or computers. Candy survives because her stepfather is away from Friday evenings through Monday mornings. Candy believes he loses money gambling and keeps them poor.

Candy eats her scant lunch with three casual friends at school. They offer to bring her food, but she explains that her stepfather cuts her portions if she gains weight. Candy appreciates the concern of her friends. Candy sees her best friend, Amber Healey, every third weekend. Half the visits are pajamas parties with Amber and three other girls. Candy’s joy from being with Amber and their friends greatly outweighs the demoralizing effects and jealousy of seeing their great lives. Candy becomes angry and frightened when she learns that her stepfather has a sinister reason for allowing her to make friends.

On her twelfth birthday, Candy’s life changes disturbingly. Her stepbrother pays more attention to her—all of her. Her stepfather will let Dirk do whatever he wants. Candy fears being raped and tries to get help from school counselors. They are too afraid to help. Candy learns that her stepfather only pretends to be poor. He is the head of enforcement for the Outfit, a powerful organized crime group. Candy turns to Amber for help. Amber has interesting connections. Her physician father was a Navy SEAL and brings in two colleagues. The have cracking and burglary experience but fail to penetrate the Outfit’s computer or headquarters to get information for blackmail. The SEALs devise a plan to whisk Candy out of Chicago. Unfortunately, Dirk assaults Candy before the plan could be initiated. But, the escape part of the plan was ready. The former SEALs take Candy from the ER in a way that greatly embarrass the Outfit. Candy must escape from Chicago while being sought by the Outfit, the police officers in its pay, and the many private investigators the Outfit hires. Candy’s stepfather oversees the search by the Outfit that wants to capture her and learn who engineered her escape. Candy’s stepfather also heads a personal search. He wants Candy killed so the Outfit won’t learn that his son started the embarrassing situation. Now, two girls and three ex-SEALs must elude many searchers, get Candy to a hospital for facial surgeries, get her a new identity, find a safe place for her to live, and leave no evidence of their involvement. Their plans work well until something very small disrupts the last step, and the searchers become hunters.

Book length: approximately 55,000 words

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gregory Tetrault
• Release date: Nov 13, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463292150

Gregory Tetrault

Gregory Tetrault grew up in Phoenix, New York, a small town north of Syracuse. He attended medical school at SUNY Downstate Medical Center. Dr. Tetrault became a clinical pathologist and directed medical laboratories for twenty years. He started writing novels after he retired. The Jennifer's Magic trilogy was published in 2015. Kassie, Girl Genius, is a contemporary fiction series. The first two novels were published in February 2016. He’s working on a third Kassie novel.

Book preview

Candy and the Outfit

Chapter 1 - Candy’s Circumstances

Monday, September 19, 2016

Candy gets home from school and hands her book bag to her stepfather. He inspects it for contraband food and books. Her stepfather allows her to bring home only textbooks and books needed for school assignments. Candy feels fortunate when she has to read a short story or poem that’s in an anthology, because she will read as much of the anthology as possible. Candy goes to her room and puts the textbooks and notes she will need on her secondhand dresser that features dents and scrapes, peeling paint, and sticky drawers. Her bed is her only other furniture. She uses the kitchen table for assignments that require more than a few minutes of writing. In class, Candy finishes worksheets, spelling tests, quizzes, and in-class writing tasks faster than anyone. She can split her attention between the teacher talking and something else. The something else usually is reading library books. She has to put the book back in the library every day. Candy sometimes takes weeks to finish a long book.

Candy carefully places her worn book bag on the floor of her tiny closet. Sliding the book bag will wear it out quicker, and she’ll probably have to use plastic grocery bags as a replacement. She felt lucky when her mom found an ugly and very cheap book bag in a thrift store two years ago. Candy goes to the kitchen and grabs a paper napkin and her one allotted graham cracker before going back to her small room. She unfolds the napkin and puts it on her dresser. She holds her graham cracker just above the napkin and breaks it into eighths. She slowly eats each piece and then eats the crumbs on the napkin. She drinks water from the bathroom sink faucet so she won’t have another glass to wash.

Candy has strict limits on all foods. Her breakfast appetizer is a multivitamin pill. Her entree is one half cup of a generic version of Cheerios with less than one quarter of a cup of skim milk. Her school lunch is one half of a peanut butter sandwich with scant peanut butter and a ‘desert’ of ten hard raisins. She never has money to buy food at the cafeteria or from vending machines. Dinner is small portions of whatever her mother cooks. All foods that can be eaten uncooked except graham crackers are kept in a locked pantry or the locked refrigerator. Her parents and her stepbrother Dirk have keys.

Candy’s stepfather began restricting her food more than three years ago, about four months after her mother married him and just after Candy had a bunch of casts removed. She was told that she slipped in front of her mom, and they tumbled down many steps outside of a big government building. Her mom had bad bruises but no fractures. But, she fell on Candy. The orthopedic doctors discovered that Candy has fragile bones. Candy was concussed and doesn’t remember the event.

Candy complained about hunger a week after her diet began. Her stepfather told her they only have so much food. He needs to eat more so he can work, and a worthless girl doesn’t deserve much food. Her mom and stepbrother get more than enough to eat. Her stepfather stays home weekdays and does nothing except talk on his cellphone. Apparently, talking requires him to be forty pounds overweight. Seven-year-old Candy generously thought, Maybe he works when he goes away every weekend.

Candy was very hungry one evening three weeks after her diet began. She was enraged that Dirk didn’t eat almost a third of his dinner, which happened at least once a week. She previously had asked Dirk to give her what he wouldn’t eat. He said, Up yours. Her stepfather said, Stop bothering Dirk and smacked her head. She lowered her head and tried not to weep. She did not know why her stepfather lied to her about not having enough food. She did not know why he wanted her half starved for food—and for reading, music, and positive attention. She did not know why her mom stopped caring for her. Candy washed and dried the dishes, as usual. She did her homework that didn’t take long. She felt very hungry only ninety minutes after supper, and breakfast was twelve hours away. Later that evening, Candy took Dirk’s pantry key when he was showering. She took one cookie from each of two packages. The next afternoon, Dirk had cookies for his snack and suspected that Candy had stolen one. He told his dad who thoroughly inspected Candy’s room and found two cookie crumbs. Her stepfather bared her bottom and beat her with a wide and thick leather belt. She broke her promise to herself that she wouldn’t make a sound when her stepfather hurt her. But, this punishment was far more painful than a smack on her head or a slapped face. She screamed after every hit. Her stepfather deprived her of food for two days.

One afternoon three years ago, for no reason other than meanness, Dirk took a graham cracker. Candy’s claim that Dirk took it resulted in a punishment of two days with no food. She was forced to sit at the table while the others ate dinner, and she had to endure a Dirk smirk every time she looked at him. She was very angry but didn’t dare glare at her stepfather.

Candy was desperately hungry one day two years ago and tried to take instant mashed potato flakes from the unlocked pantry cabinet. She poured them into her pencil case. Her stepfather saw her walking from the kitchen, was suspicious, and looked in the case. He bared her bottom and beat her again. Her stepfather felt that taking potato flakes was such a severe crime that she also got no food for a day. Candy has not tried to sneak extra food since then.

* * * * *

Friday, December 16, 2016

Candy barely controls her excitement about the pajamas party. She desperately wants to see her best friend Amber and her other friends. Her stepfather encourages her to attend the pajamas parties that occur every six weeks from Friday evening until Sunday noon. Candy also spends Saturdays with Amber on the alternate six weeks. Candy’s stepfather said he wants her to experience the contrast between normal living and home living. He hopes she will become demoralized. Candy reinforces his hopes by looking sad for the next four or five days after a pajamas party or a visit with Amber. She doesn’t know that her stepfather has a sinister reason for her to be with friends.

Five girls sit in Amber’s bedroom. They have had pajamas parties for three years. The girls discuss school, teachers, bratty schoolmates, movies, books, music, and famous actors, models, and singers. The girls tend to follow Bridget Dominique. She is the oldest at twelve years and eight months, the tallest at five feet-six, and the one who most often presents new ideas. Bridget says, We do the same things every PJ party. We’re older and should do something different.

Candy Maneval, who is the youngest at eleven-and-a-half, the smallest and thinnest at four feet-eight and seventy pounds, a brunet with hair just above her shoulders, completely prepubertal, and the most adventurous, asks, What kind of different?

Bridget says, We can get ready for sex. Candy’s eyes light up.

Erin Sentell is the middle girl in age, size, and intelligence. She’s the most conservative. She asks, Are you crazy? Do you mean have sex here?

Bridget says, I mean practice kissing.

Erin is relieved and miffed. "Learning to kiss is not preparing for sex."

Bridget says, I got everyone’s attention.

Erin says, You could have said we all have foot rot to get our attention. Dana and Amber laugh.

Candy smiles, but her excitement about Bridget’s proposal is evident. She wants to maintain her reputation as the boldest girl, and asks, French kissing?

Bridget says, I don’t know. Is anyone besides Candy interested in kissing practice?

I’m game, says Dana Winslow. I want to be ready for Teen Right. She’s roughly the same size and intelligence as Erin, but she’s the beautiful girl. She’s also the sweetest girl, Amber’s best friend, and a follower. The others are surprised that Dana agrees so quickly.

Erin says, I don’t like the idea. Amber, what do you say?

Amber Healey’s family is very well off. Her father, Martin, is a physician, and her mother, Adele, is the Director of Accounting for a large corporation. Amber’s bedroom has wide bunk beds and enough clear floor space for two sleeping bags, so she hosts most of the PJ parties. Besides the big bedroom, the Healey’s have a great home theater. Amber also offers the best snacks. She’s the second oldest of the friends and is five feet tall with short, honey brown hair. She’s the kindest and most empathic girl, the frankest girl, and the brainiest girl, but she is only a bit smarter than Candy. Amber knows how smart Candy is; the other girls do not. Amber says, I’d like to watch for a while, if none of the kissers mind. Erin, do you want to play music in the home theater?

I’ll stay with you unless it gets too weird.

Amber says, With Candy involved, it’s always too weird.

Candy ignores that and brightly says, Bridget, sit on the chair.

Bridget looks bemused. What if I want to practice with Dana?

She’ll have to wait.

Bridget laughs and sits. Candy hops on her lap with her legs straddling Bridget’s lower waist. She wastes no time and briefly kisses Bridget. They experiment with different angles, pressures, and times. After their initial fumbling, they enjoy the kisses. Erin hasn’t gone squeamish and watches intently. So do Amber and Dana. Amber says, I think they’re getting better by the second.

Candy unlocks her lips from Bridget and says, I have not yet begun to kiss! The girls laugh. Candy is superb at mangling quotes. A minute later, Candy makes good on her statement and pokes out the tip of her tongue against Bridget’s lips. Two seconds elapse, and then Bridget shakes her head. They end their four-minute practice session.

Erin says, Tell us.

Candy says, It was wonderful!

Bridget says, It felt nice after some practice. What’s also nice is not having to worry about a guy thinking you aren’t very interested because your kisses are so-so, or a guy thinking you want to go further because your kisses are too hot. I don’t know what guys will think about French kissing.

Amber proves her frankness, and her worldliness, by answering, Fuck me now.

The other girls laugh, though they know she’s serious. They have wondered why someone as nice as Amber who has sophisticated parents can use vulgarities so often.

Dana asks Candy, Will you kiss me?

Absolutely. I get two pleasures—kissing you and seeing your beautiful face up close. Dana blushes. She knows she’s beautiful, but she doesn’t think about it. They use the same position as Candy and Bridget. They start kissing. Candy is more enthusiastic than before. Dana pushes Candy away. Slow down. This is practice for me. Candy nods. She realizes she was a bit frenetic. She maintains her rep for boldness and asks about French kissing. She pretends to be disappointed when Dana says no. Amber recognizes that but says nothing. She might tease Candy later.

Bridget, Amber, and Erin see that Dana is enjoying her practice session. Bridget looks at Amber and Erin and asks, What about you two?

Amber looks at Erin and says, I hope you don’t mind, but I want to ask Dana. I hope Candy doesn’t wear out her lips. Candy and Dana ignore that. They are too busy wearing out each other’s lips.

Bridget asks, Erin?

She gets up her nerve and says, I’ll try some regular kisses. Can we kiss while standing? I think that would be more realistic for first kisses with a boy. Bridget agrees.

Amber watches and wonders what kissing will be like. Will boys want good kissing, or will they be impatient for other things? Will I be impatient for other things? She has had no sexual urges or even kissing urges, so she sets those thoughts aside.

Amber sees that formerly hesitant Erin has morphed to eager Erin. She likes kissing almost as much as Candy and Dana do, and she doesn’t seem to need practice. Bridget and Erin separate after less than three minutes. Both smile.

Dana and Candy decide that they are done. Amber looks at them and says, I’m looking for a partner.

Candy didn’t consider kisses with Bridget and Dana to be anything more than practice. She really wants to kiss her best friend Amber, but it’s obvious that Amber wants to kiss her best friend Dana. Candy hides her disappointment. She’s good at that. She sprawls on the lower bunk bed.

Dana smiles at Candy. Amber believes that kissing her will be great. She doesn’t associate kissing her girlfriend with expressing a homosexual or bisexual orientation. She’s certain that Dana feels the same. Dana says, I need a bathroom break first.

Amber kicks Candy off the bed. Candy gets off in front of Amber and kisses her. Amber steps back, smiles, and kisses Candy’s forehead. Amber lies on her side—she believes this will be the best position for kissing. Dana returns and needs no invitation to lie beside Amber. They’ve shared beds on previous pajamas parties, but not with lips touching. Dana goes slow, which pleases Amber. Both girls keep their eyes open. Amber decides that she’s done practicing and just enjoys the kisses. She caresses Dana’s upper arm. Amber sees that the other three girls watch avidly. She ignores them and looks back at Dana, whose back is to the audience. Amber loves looking into Dana’s vivid green eyes with gold halos around the irises. They stop two minutes later, after fewer kisses than the other pairings, and the other girls applaud. Dana blushes. Amber ignores them. Her kisses with Dana end twelve minutes after Candy hopped on Bridget’s lap. No one suggests another round with other pairings.

Bridget says, That went well. Are you game for lesson two.

Erin asks, What’s that? How to deal with foot fetish freaks?

Hah, hah. What’s with you and feet? It’s a test to see if you will respond well to sex. I learned about it from my fourteen-year-old cousin Sue. It’s easy, and you do it yourself. I’ll demonstrate if you’re interested.

Naturally, Candy says, I’m interested.

Amber says, I think it’s time to resume our normal programming. We can consider advanced programming at a future meeting.

Dana and Erin agree. Bridget and Candy accept the decision of the majority. Candy is the most disappointed. Amber knows Candy better than anyone else does, and she believes she knows the two main reasons why Candy wants to rush to sexual activities, and neither of them is related to a longing for sex.

* * * * *

Friday, March 17, 2017

The girls have two more pajamas parties without kissing or anything related to dating or sex, though Bridget raised the subject of doing more at both parties, and Candy immediately agreed. The other three girls, in retrospect, were surprised at their boldness three months ago. They haven’t mentioned the kissing practice, but none of them feel regret or shame.

Candy gets her hair cut every other PJ party since her father won’t pay for a salon haircut and her mother won’t cut Candy’s hair. Erin is the best at cutting. Dana is best at recommending what to cut. Today, Candy requests a shorter cut because longer hair makes her look skinnier. She also wants a short cut that doesn’t require any special care since she has cheap shampoo and no cream rinse or conditioner. They find an online video on how to do bob cuts, and Erin and Dana do their best to give Candy a short, classic bob with a side part. The girls agree that Candy looks better. Candy wonders if anyone at home will notice. She realizes that if she looks less skinny, her stepfather might reduce her calories. She brushes that off. If her stepfather says anything, she’ll just say he can check her weight.

* * * * *

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Candy feels that borderline starvation is preventing her from going into puberty.