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The boy, trudging along and thinking about an itinerary, a plan for his quest, regretted that he had not paid more careful attention to the letters that hisannoyance, sent off to his father, the letters that were never answered He knew the name Melanoff, of course; it was his own name But he had no idea where to look for, or how to find, the e, with its red-shuttered wooden houses, each decoratedboxes filled with geraniuolds, the boy looked around for a shop He was hungry Although his mother had not packed food for him--his knapsack was filled with clean underwear and vita old key and renificant amount His mother was a wealthy wo the years they had lived in the buried train car Dutifully she had given him his substantial allowance every week When they were rescued, she had taken her own anized woman But the boy had not wanted to part with his He liked the crisp bills with their interesting pictures; he was especially fond of the hundred-franc note that showed a blond boy feeding a lah hisinterest, she allowed his at home

Now the bills filled the pockets of his lederhosen and the crevices within his knapsack, and his hat, with its silly feather that he loathed, was stuffed with Swiss francs as well

In the small shop and café next to the little train station, he bought a meat salad called Wurstsalat; Apfelk&uulass of milk From the café he watched a train enter the station, discharge two passengers, and continue on, disappearing around the er was satisfied and he felt happy, but he was beginning to worry a bit about his own lack of a plan Perhaps the village had an inn where he could spend the night? Or, as a good old-fashioned boy ht, in order to save money, he could curl up in a barn?

But a boy with a quest, he knew, should be getting on with it, should be pursuing his drea, considering his options, the boy decided to finish his lunch with a piece of candy, sorown up and a bit dangerous, buying candy But there was a selection in the slass case Mostly Swiss chocolates He exa to choose a the exotic names that were lettered on small cards: Mandoline, Giandujotti, Stracciatella, Noisettine, Nussfin, Caramelita, Amande de Luxe, Nussor, Macchiato, Cornet Reve, and Noccino

The shopkeeper watched the boy with an aant chocolates were ift ho a different selection, the ordinary, everyday candies that children of the village bought with their coins He watched the boy's eyes light up as if he had recognized an old friend

"Oh! I'll take that!" he said enthusiastically to the shopkeeper, pointing Then he remembered to speak German "Vat callen zei it?"

The shopkeeper reached into the case and handed the long spiral candy to the boy "Lickety Twist," he said

Memories flooded back In his best Gerinal wrapper in which the candy had been packed The shopkeeper, being Swiss, was too polite to criticize the terrible Ger neatly and put it away Now he retrieved it and handed it to the boy, who exa contained the address of the Melanoff candy factory

It was a very long distance--halfway around the world--fro about the nitude of such a journey From where he stood, he could hear a rooster in a nearby fararten, and the rush of water from a small waterfall that tumbled down fro here in Switzerland was placid and beautiful and had not changed, it seemed, in a hundred, perhaps a thousand, years

One of his scratchy wool knee socks was prickered with twigs and had drooped on his leg He glanced down at it, thinking how distressed his rinned Then, sucking his long, pliable candy, the boy went next door to the little railroad station and studied the , silentof adventure and a deterht a ticket to Rotterdam

21 A Decision, an Announcement, and an Unexpected Arrival

It had taken aa test bite alone in his lab, that the candy was perfect Histhat it had been siat before he poured the melted chocolate over and allowed it to harden on the small, delectable bar

Now that his experiive the formula, the recipe, to the workers at his factory, and they could begin production, e stainless-steel vats Thousands of the bars would soon be popping out in orderly rows fro departienically sealed into their paper wrappers with the naht red letters, then packed into cartons and shipped to distributors throughout the world

Soon they would appear in corner stores, inmachines everywhere He could picture therand to ould soon be fa for--