shiiki - The Bend in the Road, Anne Shirley (Anne of Green Gables), G
Title: The Bend in the Road
Author: shiiki
Fandom: Anne of Green Gables
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Prompt: #112 - I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity. -- Gilda Radner (1946-1989), American comedienne and actress.
Summary: Anne and Diana have a talk about the future. Set between Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea.
Author's Notes: I owe a big thank you to pili204 for the beta help! All remaining mistakes are my own.
She sat cross-legged by the banks of the Lake of Shining Waters, a large wide canvas lying forgotten upon her lap along with the pencils by her side. A few strands of dark red hair fluttered across the fingers that were propping her chin up as she stared out over the sunlit water, all thoughts of sketching clearly abandoned.
Anne Shirley didn't move until a voice calling her name startled her out of her reverie.
'Why, Anne, that's the third time I've called you!' said Diana.
Anne uncrossed her legs and got to her feet, spilling her drawing materials onto the dewy grass around her. 'I'm sorry, Diana dearest. I was thinking of how different things are all of a sudden.'
'Well, you aren't very different,' said Diana, peering in amusement at the empty canvas.
Anne gave it a look of bemusement, as though she hadn't any idea what the scattered items at her feet were doing there -- which was followed by dawning recollection as she remembered how she had thought it a good idea to sketch the lake ... only once she'd arrived it had seemed much nicer to just sit and enjoy its beauty and think.
'No, I don't suppose I am, much,' she said in reply to Diana's question, but her voice was much quieter and contained less laughter in it than the voice of the Anne of a month ago. 'A good deal has changed, though, Diana, and I'd be surprised if we haven't either. After all, isn't that the way of life?'
Diana didn't answer this. 'I heard you signed the papers for the Avonlea school. You're really staying, then?'
Anne linked an arm through her friend's. 'Yes, I am. It feels so strange to be thinking of it ... I'll be teaching some of the pupils we went to school with! But it's all settled. You're looking at the new Avonlea "schoolmarm".'
'And Gilbert Blythe is to teach at White Sands,' added Diana, sounding satisfied. 'And you're friends now.'
Anne nodded. 'It was awfully decent of him to give up the school for me. Especially after the way I treated him.' She shook her head. 'If I've changed in any way, I hope I've grown out of judging people too quickly. I've turned out to be wrong so many times. I think it'd be easier to find kindred spirits if I were less hasty.'
'Do you think Gilbert is a kindred spirit, then?'
Anne couldn't understand why she felt a blush rise in her cheeks, the same way it had yesterday when Marilla had asked about Gilbert. She fought the blush down. She had no reason to feel it. 'I think he could be.'
'Well, I think it's grand that you two are friends now. It was so odd when you weren't. I think you were meant to be good friends all along.'
'You know, it's funny. Gilbert said almost the exact same thing yesterday.'
'Did he?'
'I met him down the hill last evening, and he walked me home.'
Diana gave her a furtive little smile, but Anne's eyes had wandered out over the lake again and she didn't see her best friend's knowing expression. Diana didn't push the subject; there was plenty of time in the future to talk about such things. Especially when they would all be in Avonlea.
'I'm glad,' Diana settled for saying. 'We'll have some good times with everyone together now.'
Anne turned back to her and grinned. 'I have so many ideas, Diana. I was thinking that since I'm going to be staying in Avonlea, I ought to do my best to do something for it, besides teaching school. Though, of course, I mean to do my very best with that as well. '
'Oh, what else are you planning to do?'
'I haven't quite figured that part out, but don't you think there are a lot of little things that could be changed that would make Avonlea so much lovelier? I mean, it is lovely -- it's the dearest place in the world -- but just imagine, Diana, think of all the abandoned public areas that no one seems to care about. If we could have them spruced up and prettied ...'
Diana laughed. 'I don't have any doubt it could be done, if you were organising it, Anne.'
'We'd need more people to chip in, of course. Diana, don't tell anyone just yet, all right? Well, maybe Gilbert -- we may have spoken a bit of it yesterday -- but I want to think about it a bit more before I suggest the idea.'
'All right.'
'There's so much to do before fall begins. I really must get together my plans for school. I think I ought to meet with Gilbert and Jane to compare notes. Why, it'll be just like at Queen's!'
Diana refrained from pointing out that Anne had hardly deigned to speak to Gilbert Blythe at Queen's.
'It's delightful, Diana. I thought I'd be building up new ambitions throughout the summer, but here I am with so many of them already.'
'Do you wish you could have gone?'
'To Redmond?' Anne placed a finger on her chin thoughtfully. 'It seemed like a dream come true. There are things that are much more important to me than college, though, and I wouldn't trade Green Gables for a million degrees.' She looked suddenly wistful. 'I think Matthew would have agreed.'
Diana hadn't known Matthew Cuthbert very well, but she was certain enough that the man would have agreed with anything Anne decided, so she said, 'I'm sure of it.'
'Before, I thought the future was all mapped out and everything was settled. Then, everything changed so quickly and now I have so many new plans to make again ... but I'm not sorry at all, Diana. I may not get to go to Redmond after all, but that doesn't mean I can't live out my dreams right here.
'That's life, isn't it? We can't ever know what will happen -- we just have to change, take the moment and make the best of it without knowing what's going to happen next. But there's something beautiful in all that. Delicious ambiguity.' She laughed softly. 'I reached a bend in the road this week, and I'm going to find out what lies ahead.'
For a moment the girls stood silently together, considering that path to the future which shone as brightly as the sunbeams dancing on the Lake of Shining Waters. Then Anne bent to gather her drawing materials.
'Come, Diana, you're having tea with me, and we'll have a nice chat over Marilla's plum preserves about what we mean to do this summer.'
And they linked hands and strolled together down the winding path to Green Gables, their figures getting smaller until they disappeared around the bend in the road.
Author: shiiki
Fandom: Anne of Green Gables
Rating: G
Warnings: none
Prompt: #112 - I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious ambiguity. -- Gilda Radner (1946-1989), American comedienne and actress.
Summary: Anne and Diana have a talk about the future. Set between Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea.
Author's Notes: I owe a big thank you to pili204 for the beta help! All remaining mistakes are my own.
She sat cross-legged by the banks of the Lake of Shining Waters, a large wide canvas lying forgotten upon her lap along with the pencils by her side. A few strands of dark red hair fluttered across the fingers that were propping her chin up as she stared out over the sunlit water, all thoughts of sketching clearly abandoned.
Anne Shirley didn't move until a voice calling her name startled her out of her reverie.
'Why, Anne, that's the third time I've called you!' said Diana.
Anne uncrossed her legs and got to her feet, spilling her drawing materials onto the dewy grass around her. 'I'm sorry, Diana dearest. I was thinking of how different things are all of a sudden.'
'Well, you aren't very different,' said Diana, peering in amusement at the empty canvas.
Anne gave it a look of bemusement, as though she hadn't any idea what the scattered items at her feet were doing there -- which was followed by dawning recollection as she remembered how she had thought it a good idea to sketch the lake ... only once she'd arrived it had seemed much nicer to just sit and enjoy its beauty and think.
'No, I don't suppose I am, much,' she said in reply to Diana's question, but her voice was much quieter and contained less laughter in it than the voice of the Anne of a month ago. 'A good deal has changed, though, Diana, and I'd be surprised if we haven't either. After all, isn't that the way of life?'
Diana didn't answer this. 'I heard you signed the papers for the Avonlea school. You're really staying, then?'
Anne linked an arm through her friend's. 'Yes, I am. It feels so strange to be thinking of it ... I'll be teaching some of the pupils we went to school with! But it's all settled. You're looking at the new Avonlea "schoolmarm".'
'And Gilbert Blythe is to teach at White Sands,' added Diana, sounding satisfied. 'And you're friends now.'
Anne nodded. 'It was awfully decent of him to give up the school for me. Especially after the way I treated him.' She shook her head. 'If I've changed in any way, I hope I've grown out of judging people too quickly. I've turned out to be wrong so many times. I think it'd be easier to find kindred spirits if I were less hasty.'
'Do you think Gilbert is a kindred spirit, then?'
Anne couldn't understand why she felt a blush rise in her cheeks, the same way it had yesterday when Marilla had asked about Gilbert. She fought the blush down. She had no reason to feel it. 'I think he could be.'
'Well, I think it's grand that you two are friends now. It was so odd when you weren't. I think you were meant to be good friends all along.'
'You know, it's funny. Gilbert said almost the exact same thing yesterday.'
'Did he?'
'I met him down the hill last evening, and he walked me home.'
Diana gave her a furtive little smile, but Anne's eyes had wandered out over the lake again and she didn't see her best friend's knowing expression. Diana didn't push the subject; there was plenty of time in the future to talk about such things. Especially when they would all be in Avonlea.
'I'm glad,' Diana settled for saying. 'We'll have some good times with everyone together now.'
Anne turned back to her and grinned. 'I have so many ideas, Diana. I was thinking that since I'm going to be staying in Avonlea, I ought to do my best to do something for it, besides teaching school. Though, of course, I mean to do my very best with that as well. '
'Oh, what else are you planning to do?'
'I haven't quite figured that part out, but don't you think there are a lot of little things that could be changed that would make Avonlea so much lovelier? I mean, it is lovely -- it's the dearest place in the world -- but just imagine, Diana, think of all the abandoned public areas that no one seems to care about. If we could have them spruced up and prettied ...'
Diana laughed. 'I don't have any doubt it could be done, if you were organising it, Anne.'
'We'd need more people to chip in, of course. Diana, don't tell anyone just yet, all right? Well, maybe Gilbert -- we may have spoken a bit of it yesterday -- but I want to think about it a bit more before I suggest the idea.'
'All right.'
'There's so much to do before fall begins. I really must get together my plans for school. I think I ought to meet with Gilbert and Jane to compare notes. Why, it'll be just like at Queen's!'
Diana refrained from pointing out that Anne had hardly deigned to speak to Gilbert Blythe at Queen's.
'It's delightful, Diana. I thought I'd be building up new ambitions throughout the summer, but here I am with so many of them already.'
'Do you wish you could have gone?'
'To Redmond?' Anne placed a finger on her chin thoughtfully. 'It seemed like a dream come true. There are things that are much more important to me than college, though, and I wouldn't trade Green Gables for a million degrees.' She looked suddenly wistful. 'I think Matthew would have agreed.'
Diana hadn't known Matthew Cuthbert very well, but she was certain enough that the man would have agreed with anything Anne decided, so she said, 'I'm sure of it.'
'Before, I thought the future was all mapped out and everything was settled. Then, everything changed so quickly and now I have so many new plans to make again ... but I'm not sorry at all, Diana. I may not get to go to Redmond after all, but that doesn't mean I can't live out my dreams right here.
'That's life, isn't it? We can't ever know what will happen -- we just have to change, take the moment and make the best of it without knowing what's going to happen next. But there's something beautiful in all that. Delicious ambiguity.' She laughed softly. 'I reached a bend in the road this week, and I'm going to find out what lies ahead.'
For a moment the girls stood silently together, considering that path to the future which shone as brightly as the sunbeams dancing on the Lake of Shining Waters. Then Anne bent to gather her drawing materials.
'Come, Diana, you're having tea with me, and we'll have a nice chat over Marilla's plum preserves about what we mean to do this summer.'
And they linked hands and strolled together down the winding path to Green Gables, their figures getting smaller until they disappeared around the bend in the road.