S for Scopophobia

"Candy! Sweetie, the guests are here! Come on out, quickly!" my mother shouted from the living room of my two floored house.

I clattered down the stairs as fast as I could and ran into the living room to confront my mother and the undoubtedly boring guests.

"Candy, this is my college mate from almost twenty years back. We've somehow managed to keep in touch," my mother said, with her arm around the stranger,"and I'm very glad we did! She was an amazing friend!"

"Hm, really?" I replied, raising my eyebrows and trying to look interested.

But my attention was on the tall girl behind my mother's friend. She looked very shy, and kept her gaze on the vase of flowers on the living room table.

"Candace, this is my daughter, Harriet, Harriet Mendoza. She's your age," my mother's friend said, noticing my curious expression.

Presuming her surname from what she had just said, I looked at her and smiled the most charming smile I could produce.

"Mrs.Mendoza, how about you and Mom go and chat for a little time? I'm sure you have a lot to catch up on, so you could just leave me and Harriet for a short while, to get to know each other," I said, making my voice as persuasive as I could.

"What a brilliant idea, Candy! We'll go, then," my mother said, taking a rather doubtful looking Mrs. Mendoza by the hand and dragging her out of the room, looking relieved.

As soon as I was sure they had gone, I turned around and smiled at Harriet.

"Hi, I'm Candace, as I'm sure you already know, but everyone calls me Candy 'cause I really love lollipops! Yeah, I know lollipops are for kids and all, supposedly, but I totally adore them!" I exclaimed, trying not to overwhelm her with my excitement to have a girl my age to talk to. "Please do have a seat!"

"Hi, I'm Harriet, and everyone calls me Harriet because I don't really have any special interests, I suppose," Harriet replied, tucking her blonde fringe behind her ear, and sitting down, looking terrified.

"Hey, are you okay? You look a little worried. Is everything okay?" I asked, thinking what an understatement that was.

"Uh, nothing," Harriet replied, her blue eyes wide and scared, still keeping her gaze on the flower vase.

"Okay…anyways, you said that you, um, didn't have any interests, yeah? I'm sure you do. Just you wait, I'll come up with a nickname for you in no time!" I said enthusiastically. "Let's see…do you like sports?"

"Well, they're okay, I guess," Harriet replied, her voice the opposite of mine.

"Art?"

"No."

"Reading, maybe?"

"Definitely not."

The conversation continued for a while like this, with Harriet's monosyllabic, flat-voiced answers and her apparent fascination with the flower vase until I gave up. She looked so petrified, with sweat shining across her brow, that I grew sick of trying to have conversation with her.

"Maybe you'd like a choco chip cookie?" I asked, making a valiant attempt at breaking the awkward silence.

"No, it's fine," Harriet said, her voice suddenly become high-pitched.

I blushed with a sudden thought. Was it me that was making her feel uncomfortable? Was I scaring her in some way? I looked at the flower vase as well and decided to lengthen the silence.

In a few minutes, my mother and Mrs. Mendoza reentered the room.

"We'll have to go now, Candace. Sorry we're leaving so early," Mrs. Mendoza said, looking cheery.

She walked out the front door, beckoning to Harriet. Harriet clumsily stood up and jogged after her mother. My mother followed them, smiling rather nervously.

As soon as they had all got out of the front door, Mrs. Mendoza said in a most un-cheery voice,

"Betty, I hope your daughter realized that Harriet is not comfortable to talk to strangers. She suffers from scopophobia and I hope that Candace did not try to make unnecessary conversation!"

"Candy!!!!"

Uh-oh.