Harriet May Savitz           
412 Park Place Avenue
Bradley Beach, NJ 07720
(732) 775-5628
e-mail: hsavitz@aol.com
www.harrietmaysavitz.com

Ferida Wolff           
21 Candlewyck Way
Cherry Hill, NJ 08003
(856) 424-0157
e-mail: fwolff@erols.com
www.feridawolff.com

NO CANES ALLOWED
By Harriet May Savitz and Ferida Wolff

Candace Worthing Middleton Tufts was driving along a quiet country road one beautiful spring day when she came to a sign that said Welcome to Stucky Hill:  A CANE-FREE TOWN.

"How odd," said Candace. "Whatever could have caused them to write that?"

Now, that sign was a challenge to her. Candace was an excellent salesperson. She could sell anything to anyone because she believed in what she was selling. And it just so happened that she had a special
line of canes that no one could resist, not even the residents of Stucky Hill.

So Candace drove straight into town. She found an empty shop and although the owner was reluctant to rent to her when he noticed her inventory of canes, well business was business and she wouldn't last
long in Stucky Hill anyway.

Candace, however, was sure that soon there would be canes all over the town. She set to work putting up displays. She put the fancy canes in one section and the practical canes in another. She filled a barrel with
walking sticks that looked as if they had just come off the tree. There was a table for the telescoping and adjustable canes for short people or tall people and everyone in between. She hung the umbrella canes on a stand right by the entrance and placed the seat canes beside a very comfortable sofa so that her customers would feel they could come in and sit awhile. In the front she put the canes with heads sculpted like lions and cheetahs and giraffes with a sign that said *Handmade Canes From the African Plains*.

When everything was just the way she wanted it, Candace went outside and carefully painted the words CANE MUTINY on the window. She was ready.

George was the first one in on opening day and blanched as soon as he saw the canes. He turned to Candace and said, "I thought this was a bookstore. Don't tell me it's a cane shop," he said.

"Yes, it certainly is," said Candace. "There are canes here from all over the world and for every purpose. I have every kind of cane you can think of and some you never imagined."

"You'll never sell a cane in this town," he said.

"Why not?" asked Candace.

"Didn't you see the statue?" said George as he opened the door to leave. He stumbled on the curb outside the store.  "Not again," he muttered. It was occurring more and more lately. If he couldn't walk with confidence, he wouldn't be able to walk in the Independence Day parade. He had walked in that parade with his friends every year and would hate to drop out because he couldn't keep his balance. But he'd be darned if he'd get a cane, not after what happened to the mayor.

Everyone who came into the shop that day told Candace the same thing. "You'll never sell a cane in this town."  

But Candace smiled. She knew once someone, anyone, bought one of her canes then others would, too. They just had to understand about canes the way Candace did, to know how helpful they could be, to know the confidence of walking with a cane or the special feeling of wrapping a hand around the head of a cane that fits perfectly into the palm. There was just something wonderful about the right cane and Candace was a specialist in fitting the right canes to the right people.

Doris came in and asked, "Are the canes really from Africa? I went to Africa. I saw the cheetahs run faster than a moving train. And how those lions roar! They aren't afraid of anything. I always wished I could be
that brave." 

"Then this is the cane for you," said Candace taking out the cane with the carved lion's head. "Anyone who uses this cane will feel as strong as a lion."

Doris looked longingly at the cane. She was thinking of dating again after being a widow and was nervous about it. She could use a lion's courage but she said, "No, thank you. The mayor lost his good luck the
day he won a cane at the county fair and it affected the whole town. No, no cane for me."

Candace was still holding the cane as she watched Doris walk away.

One morning Candace found a note taped to her door. It was written in bold red letters. NO CANES ALLOWED! She took it down and replaced it with her own sign: BEST CANES AROUND.

Day after day, people came to check out the new store but when they saw the canes, they turned around and walked right out mumbling about how the mayor was kicked off the school board and how he choked while eating his favorite pie and had to be rushed to the hospital. All after he got that cane.  

"It is time for a new plan," Candace said after a month had passed and not one person in Stucky Hill had bought a cane.

Candace put out a few tables and chairs in front of the shop and offered free coffee and cookies. The children begged their parents for cookies but their mothers hustled them off or walked across the street to avoid passing her store.  

The grocer on the right complained that he was losing business. The hardware store on the left put up a bright orange sign that said WE DON'T SELL CANES.

But Candace wasn't discouraged. She arranged a display of *Amazing Workout Canes* in the window and offered a booklet on exercise for free.

Abigail came in wearing a brace on her ankle and asked if she could have the booklet without buying a cane. "I need to get this leg back into shape after I sprained it," she said, "but we don't allow canes in this
town, you see, since the mayor's cat disappeared. It was so sad. He really loved that cat."

Candace sighed and gave her the booklet anyway.

Candace was certain that the fashionable women of town would soon be vying for her flower canes, especially the clear one with rose petals delicately tucked inside. She advertised them as the "must have"
accessory of the season. But though the women of Stucky Hill bought the new summer handbags and shoes from the boutique down the street, none of them felt the need to have a fashion cane.

It was harder than she thought to sell a cane in Stucky Hill but Candace wasn't ready to give up. She exhibited a large collection of jeweled
canes. Dapper Mr. Hunnicutt looked over the display and even tried out the ruby headed cane.

"I like this cane," he said, "I really do. If I were going to buy a cane this would be the one but well, the mayor and all. Bad luck, you know. He never did get to make his speech at the convention." Mr. Hunnicutt went off caneless.

Every store on Main Street was busy. Every store except Candace's Cane Mutiny. Maybe George was right, thought Candace. Maybe canes were bad luck. She was the only one selling canes and the only one without customers. Soon her lease would be up and it would be time to move on. But she had never left a town without selling her wares and she didn't intend to now.

Candace sent march music out into the street to introduce her *Walk Like a Hero* campaign. There was a picture of Winston Churchill with his cane, standing proud and tall. She had everyone in town stopping to look in her window and it looked as if Candace just might make a sale. But as soon as someone in the crowd mentioned the statue, people forgot about Winston Churchill and Candace's canes and rushed off.

"Where's the statue?" she called after them.

"At the top of the hill, of course," someone called back. Until that moment, Candace had been so busy trying to sell her canes that she never got to the top of the hill. She closed the store and headed up to see
the statue.

There, looking down on the town, was a life-sized statue of the mayor stooped over the cane he had won. It was covered with fancy writing and the handle was inlaid with so many different kinds of wood it looked
like a pinwheel. A plaque on the base read A Fine Man Who Lost His Luck.

"Well, no wonder," said Candace. "He had the wrong cane."

She went back to the store. She knew what would be the right cane for the mayor. From all the stories she had heard about him, she knew he was a man who loved animals and children, who said what he meant and liked humble food. He was a plain man with simple tastes. Candace found just the cane for him. It didn't have jewels or squiggles or gadgets. It was the plainest cane in the store. And it was just his size.

She closed the store once more and went looking for the mayor. The clerk at the Town Hall said that he was home as usual.

"Our mayor doesn't go out much since he threw away his cane," the clerk said.

"I know," said Candace. "The bad luck. But that's all about to change."

She knocked on the mayor's front door.

"Go away," he called from inside.

"It's Candace Worthing Middleton Tufts," said Candace. "I run the cane store on Main Street."

"I don't need a cane. I already had one and it brought me nothing but trouble," said the mayor. "See my garden? It used to be filled with flowers. I was once the best gardener in town. Now nothing grows and
it's all because of that cane."

"It was the wrong cane for you. I have a better cane."

"I don't want any dratted cane."

"Fine," said Candace. "But my lease is up in a week so I'm packing and leaving Stucky Hill. I am here to give you a cane as my going away present to the town."
She put the cane beside the mayor's door and walked away.

"Don't you leave that there," the mayor yelled.

He opened the door and grabbed the cane to give it back. But as soon as he touched it, the mayor's anger left him. The cane felt good in his hand, like it belonged there. It wasn't too high and it wasn't too low. He turned that cane all around and upside down and looked at it from every which way. And he suddenly knew.

"Wait!" he cried. "This is the right cane for me!"

As he chased after Candace, he poked the tip of the cane at the edge of his garden and was surprised to see that a flower sprang out of the ground. He touched it again and the same thing happened.

As he walked along Main Street, everywhere his cane touched, another flower sprouted.

"Look!" cried Doris. "It's the mayor. And he has a new cane."

"It's not just a new cane," said the mayor. "It's the right cane."

He touched a spot next to Doris's foot and a rose bush pushed through the dirt with the most beautiful roses they had ever seen. Then a cat came out from behind the bush as if it had been sleeping there all along.

"It's my cat!" cried the mayor. "This is not just the right cane, it's my lucky cane."

"Maybe I should buy the cane with the lion's head after all," Doris said. 

"There's nothing like the right cane," said the mayor as he made his way up Main Street with his cat purring away beside him.

Everyone in Stucky Hill was amazed. Their mayor was out and about and he had the right cane. Flowers were growing again and the mayor's cat had reappeared.

Now that the mayor's luck had returned, it seemed that everyone in Stucky Hill was having good luck, too. Doris was just leaving the Cane Mutiny with her new lion's head cane feeling braver than ever and on her
way to get ready for a dinner date, her first in two years.

Then Mr. Hunnicutt came in and asked for the ruby-headed cane. He was being awarded for his community service and the cane would be a fitting accessory to his acceptance outfit.

The members of the local men's walking club came in to see the walking sticks. They thought it would be a good idea to have the sticks as sort of a logo for their club especially now that they were being recognized
by the National Walking Association.

Abigail stopped in for a cane because she liked the exercises in the booklet and thought the cane would help steady her.

It took George a while before he decided that maybe a cane would bring him some good luck, too, or at least stop him from falling so much. He scowled as he picked a traditional walnut cane almost as plain as the mayor's but not quite. He walked around the store testing it out because George never bought anything without trying it first. His scowl slowly softened and then turned into a smile. He could see himself walking proudly in that parade with his friends as usual and it felt good.

"I'll take it," he said and he went off to sign up for the parade.

Flowers blossomed wherever the mayor walked and smiles bloomed on people's faces.

By the end of the week, Candace had no canes to pack. Every single one had been sold and the people of Stucky Hill were happily using their canes. She closed her store for the last time and waved goodbye.

On the way out of town, Candace stopped at the Stucky Hill sign. She thought that giving the mayor the cane was her present but she saw that she had one more thing to do. She changed the sign from Stucky Hill to Lucky Hill: A CANE FRIENDLY TOWN.

Then Candace got back into her car and drove away. She would find another town and set up another store. After all, Candace Worthing Middleton Tufts was an excellent salesperson.