CODE NAME WOLFGIRL: LOST CHILDREN IN AMERICA

“So how long will we be gone, Jason?” Candy asked him as they sat her house on the grounds of Harvest Moon. The weather was warm for this time of the year. Jason left his jacket back at the main building. “I don’t know, Candy,” he told her. “It all depends on how you like staying there and how soon this…project takes.” Jason hadn't gone too deep into why they would be in Louisville, Kentucky. He didn't want to talk to her about the reason Captain Saunders wanted her to go. Candy was back to drawing the raccoon that lived in her tree. Once again, she'd made a careful study of the creature. This time the raccoon was accompanied by two babies who sat on a limb. They found out last week the raccoon had cubs. Candy insisted she be allowed to watch them. For some reason, she didn't mind the raccoon in her tree now that it had children. The institute gave her some drawing tools, once it was decided she could use them without any concern for her safety. Jason was fascinated by Candy's level of artistic skill. He'd spent the better part of the morning with Mrs. Major and the captain as they decided what Candy needed to take with her. There was the whole package of medications, but Jason knew she would need those. Several changes of clothes were purchased. By now, Candy understood the need to stay covered in public. This wasn't easy for her to accept in the beginning, as she didn’t wear a lot prior to her discovery. One theory was that she wasn't allowed clothes prior to her time in the wild. Sometime later, Candy came around to the idea of wearing shoes when outside, although she let them know it was only to make everyone else happy. Still Jason was suspicious of why the captain wanted to see if Candy could help the Louisville police solve the rash of child abductions. Mrs. Major already made it clear to everyone that Candy would not be used as a bloodhound so long as she had anything to say about it. “I need to go back to the big building,”Jason told his budding artist. “Will you promise to stay here until I return?” “Of course, Jason,” she replied. “I haven’t finished my picture yet.” She returned to her drawing. He stood up and looked at the small woman as she continued on her art project. Jason wanted to give her a hug, but personal contact of any kind was forbidden with Candy. Early on, they’d learned that even a casual touch could send her into frenzy. It was assumed Candy had no contact with a human being until she was discovered in the wilds of the Pennsylvania mountains early in the year. Her progress was astonishing, but she had a long way to go before she could interact with normal humans. Jason turned and walked out of the kitchen where Candy was seated at the table. At least the woman understood she was to wear a shirt and sweat pants at all times. He shuddered at the memory of the first few weeks they’d moved Candy into her own dwelling. All hell broke loose the third day when one of the security cameras technicians informed Ms. Major that Candy was climbing buck-naked in the tree next to her house. However, she did get used the idea of wearing clothes even when she didn’t want to do so. It wasn’t until last month she began to wear clothes inside the house too. Her socialization proceeded at its own pace. Jason didn’t need to use his security badge to leave the house, but it dangled on a chain from his neck just the same. He nodded to the security camera as he opened the door and stepped outside. Every place inside Candy’s house, and outside it too, was under constant surveillance. Jason wondered if Candy understood she was watched at all times. As he walked back to the main building, Jason thought about the rash of child abductions around Louisville. There was a nightly report on them on the news last evening. The city was up to six in the past three months. The local police were baffled and the FBI hadn’t turned up much evidence at who was behind them. Already, activists at a few rallies had accused the police of doing nothing. People were angry and demanded something be done. He passed a landscaper at work and thought about how Candy fit into this. Granted, she was assumed to be the product of an abduction at an early age, but he didn’t see how it would give her any special insights. All they knew was that Candy was kept isolated from anyone before she could speak, sexually abused at puberty, and dumped into the wild. How she’d survived undetected so long was the subject of many theories. How she’d survived at all was a completely different matter. Jason checked his wristwatch. He needed to meet with the staff again today. Candy still had to be evaluated again before could take her to Louisville. He didn’t think it would be an issue. The few brief trips when he’d taken her out of the facility where productive. Other than the look of rage he saw when someone caught Candy staring at a baby, he’d not seen anything to cause him concern. They’d had a talk about why you didn’t show too much interest in children afterwards. He felt Candy understood what she was supposed to do this, but not why. In some ways, Candy was very complex, but also very simple. They didn’t know who’d kept her imprisoned all those years; perhaps they never would. Candy herself wasn’t hard to work with. Give her a tree to climb and she was very happy. Years of sleeping off the ground for protection conditioned her to be at peace once she was up in the air. They only way they’d found to get her to sleep in a bed for was to suspend it on chains from the ceiling. A motel bed would be a whole new challenge for her.