(Untitled)

[alec_or_alonzo]

Phil is curled up by the fire with the latest issue of The Canadian Woman. She has flipped right past the articles on new crochet techniques and moved directly on to the short serials at the back. There's this simply darling one about the wife of a Methodist missionary, but that's beside the point

Comments

[kindred_spirit]

"Hello, Phil. Happy New Year."

1882 is shaping up to be a wonderful year, in Gil's opinion.

[alec_or_alonzo]

"Gil!" Phil dog-ears the corner of a page, closes her magazine, and smiles up at her friend.

"Do sit down. Happy New Year to you too! It's been ever so long since I've seen you. How have you been? And how is Avonlea? Or, rather, White Sands, I suppose it is. Have you been imparting great wisdom into impressionable young minds?"

[kindred_spirit]

"Less wisdom than I should have liked," he says, sitting down. "Alec Dawson has, in his latest compostion, informed me that Joan of Arc was Noah's wife. But White Sands is good, and Avonlea is better, and Anne is very very well indeed. How have you been, Phil?"

[alec_or_alonzo]

She raises an eyebrow, "Joan of..." and then she laughs, "of Ark! You know, that would really be quite funny if it were done intentionally, though I must admit it's rather sad for your poor student. He must be very confused in Sunday school."

She grins, "And I'm so glad that everything is well. I've been meaning to write, you know, for I think our, well, our time schedules seem to be matched up again, but I'm a truly dreadful correspondant. It is a part of my New Year's resolutions to be much better at it, but, then, I'm not terribly resolute, am I?"

And she laughs again, "But I'm well, nonetheless. Bolingbroke is as exciting as ever."

[kindred_spirit]

"I suspect, my dear Phil, that you are quite resolute about the things you consider worth being resolute about," says Gil, with a grin. "But should you ever decide to write, I should like to hear from you."

"Alec Dawson is a lot of things, but, alas, clever is not one of them. He also thinks an allegator is a large kind of insect. But he's thoughtful and well liked, and he'll do well enough in life, I suppose, so long as he does not aim to be premier of Canada."

[alec_or_alonzo]

She grins wickedly, "But if he's thoughtful and well liked, he's in a perfect position to be premier of Canada. A politician doesn't have to be brainy, you know, or even passably smart if he's popular enough."

Phil, it seems, does not have a particularly high opinion of politicians.

She shrugs, "Though if I were a teacher, I'd far rather have a stupid pupil who behaves than a smart, disruptive one. I think that would frazzle me to the end of my very last nerve. I don't know how you and Anne can stand it."

[kindred_spirit]

"My students do not disrupt my class. At least, not more than once."

Gil is not unnecessarily harsh. He is, however, necessarily harsh, at least by 1882 standards.

And then he grins. "Perhaps he would, at that. But he's a terrible liar, Phil. So perhaps not."

[alec_or_alonzo]

"My, Gil, that does sound ominous," she says, and she really is trying not to laugh at him. He just sounds so...authoritative.

"I tried to behave myself in school, and really, I should have been a model student, only, and I'm sure you can guess it right off, I talked too much. It's simply a part of who I am, and I just can't ever seem to shake it."

Phil? Talk too much? Never.

[kindred_spirit]

"You, Phil? Talk too much? Never."

Someday he should hear her with Anne or Amy.

"Talking suits you, and as you are not currently enrolled at the White Sands school, by all mean, Phil, talk away."

[alec_or_alonzo]

She takes this in the manner in which it was spoken, and laughs. And, oh, when he hears her with Anne or Amy he'll be truly amazed.

"There, you see. They tried to cure me of it, and all to no avail. I'm simply a hopeless case without a prayer in the world, nor would I want one. I do not understand those sorts of people who can watch the world go by without a comment, or worse, with only one word sentences. It would be a terrifically dull place if everyone were as terse as my schoolmaster wished."

[kindred_spirit]

"Probably."

[alec_or_alonzo]

She mock-scowls at him. And then says, in an extremely patronizing voice.

"You, Gilbert Blythe, are lucky you spend so much time with Anne. She can save you from your unfortunate bouts with terseness if anyone can.

She is, remarkably, keeping a straight face. Mostly.

[kindred_spirit]

Gil throws back his head and laughs.

"Anne is actually quite good at causing bouts of terseness," he says. "Once she warms to a topic is can be very hard to get a word in edgewise, let alone whole sentences or paragraphs, especially if you're trying to disagree with her."

It can also be hard to talk when you're busy kissing. But that can be quite eloquent, in its own way, you know.

[alec_or_alonzo]

"Well, when you put it that way, I imagine you're right," she laughs. "I probably cause a few bouts of terseness myself, given those sorts of guidelines. I suppose we shall have to settle for a happy medium. After all, we talkers will always need our listeners."

[kindred_spirit]

"Yes. And those of us who are, occasionally, terse need people to listen to. But I shall endeavor, Phil, to be less terse when you and Anne permit me."