What About Yesterday? - anne with an e

Chapter 6, Part 2 - Roslyn

//"Aren't we just terrified? Shale, screen your worry from what you won't ever find"\\

"Fred! Don't keep Mr. Blythe dawdling. He has school to get to." Mrs. Cowley reprimanded.

"So do I Nana!" Fred mocked offense, holding one hand to his heart as the other scooped up his plate.

"Well, so you do. Both of you, off!" she snapped, unbothered by her grandson's pretence. Fred shook his head, laughing to himself. Gilbert smiled at their banter, and in a few moments both boys were out the door, exiting the Wright House, and looking up Lochen Lane.

"I wanted to talk to you Gilbert." Fred turned to him suddenly as they walked. Gilbert blinked rapidly at his change in tone.

"I know you are a good person Blythe. I know next to nothing about you, but I get a sense from you. I don't know much about your family, but mine can be particular. And I don't want them to scare you off." Fred said most of this while staring straight forward. Although serious, he still had a small joke at the end. Gilbert nodded with out making a sound, so Fred knew he understood.

"My Nana, she's been around a long while. She used to say to me and Alice,'when your as old as I am, things get muddled, and sometimes on purpose, and that's not a bad thing.' I never really understood what she meant, but Alice would always nod solemnly, as if it all made perfect sense. Little sisters seem to do that a lot, like they know something only they could know, and it wouldn't help even if it was explained to you. It's embarrassing, really Gilbert." Fred sighed, now blinking up at the sky. Gilbert nodded and sighed, chuckling light-heartedly. "I think I know how that feels." Fred looked at him then, "Right." He shook his head, grinning and laughing.

"Anyways, if Nana does say anything particularly odd, its likely not true. She's older than she lets on, our Nana." He scrunched his nose, and smiled at the last part.

"I'm grateful to her, offering to take me in at such short notice." Admitted Gilbert. Fred chuckled quietly, and scratched his eyebrow.

"Actually... that was me, Blythe."

"Ah." Gilbert laughed shortly at this new information. "Thankyou then, Fred." He said as sincerely as possible.

"You're welcome. You know, it wasn't easy, convincing her to take you in."

"Really?"

"Oh yeah," Fred shook his head at the memory, amusement in his eyes. "She called you a 'stray chicken', and yelled that we wouldn't become a 'charity henhouse'." he scoffed.

"And why were you so determined to take in this 'stray chicken' ?" Gilbert questioned, genuinely surprised that Fred would argue against his Grandmother, for someone he had never met. Fred shrugged, putting his hands in his pockets.

"It gets lonely here, and Alice isn't much company. She'd rather talk to her trees than hold a conversation with me. It's a big house, we could take in 10 more stray chickens if the opportunity arose. If you asked nicely, maybe Nana would even let your 'almost' stay in one of the spare rooms."

Maybe it was the teasing way he said 'almost',  or the smirk he wore, or perhaps it was because in the back of his mind his thoughts had already been circling her already, but he knew who Fred was alluding to.  Gilbert tried to reply, to dismiss, to change the subject, anything, but all he could come up with were half-sentences. Eventually he gave up, staring at the ground in defeated silence. The thought of Anne,  the topic of her used so casually in conversation, had thrown him. It left that hollow ache in his stomach, and his throat dry.

A moment passed.

"Is it hers?" Fred asked gently.

"What?" replied Gilbert, his voice scratchy. Fred gestured to Gilbert's hand.