Anne Shirley Cuthbert... Bylthe - translation

a birthday

March had arrived, and with it Anne's birthday. She was excited, but much less so than the previous year, as 17 seemed much less important than 16. She had an extended weekend and planned to return to Green Gables for the occasion.

Anne woke up that morning, the sun was beginning to shine in the room. She stretched and saw that Diana was no longer in her bed, which was strange, Diana liked to sleep in on her days off. Puzzled, Ann dressed and prepared to go downstairs when the door opened with five girls coming into the room shouting.

They shouted "HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANNE!" and took Anne in their arms. She was surprised and almost fell backwards but her friends stopped her.

Thank you, girls, really," stammered Anne, still surprised.

- Come on, get your things, we're going into town for lunch," said Josie, taking her by the hand.

- But girls, I'd love to but I'm going back to Avonlea this morning.

- No you're not, not just yet, you'll be on the train this afternoon, I've changed your train ticket and arranged everything with Marilla," said Diana, "come on now.

They all went downstairs happily and were getting ready to leave when Miss Blackmore called out to them.

"Good day young ladies, enjoy your day. A happy birthday to you Miss Shirley, and may this morning's incident not happen again!" Anne thanked her with a broad smile and nodded at the remark.

They walked into the small café on Charlottetown's main street, sat down at a table and ordered their lunch. They chatted about everything and anything, when Jane began:

"And Josie, I saw you coming home with a nice young man the other day, when will you introduce us to him? Josie blushed shyly and looked at Ann, only she knew the details of this relationship.

- I... soon, I don't want to go too fast you know.

- Tell us a bit about him then at least," Ruby offered gently.

- Oh, he's lovely, he's in my Literature class and we hit it off straight away, but being both a bit shy, we only dared to make the first move very recently. His name is Alex Dew, and he's from Summerside. He's a year older than me. And he's studying in Queens and then going to Redmonds, he wants to take over his father's shop and expand it," Josie replied calmly. His father has a big bookshop in Summerside.

- That's wonderful Josie! But... since when have you been shy with boys? It used to seem more like... asked Tillie

- I've learned from my mistakes, I was pretty traumatised at the fair last summer, I still have the images in my head, and... I was scared actually," she answered with a little more confidence. Ann felt happy for Josie, that she had managed to get over her fears and talk to Alex.

- You were traumatized by... my brother," asked Jane. Seriously Josie? He didn't do anything wrong. She got up, annoyed, and left.

Josie was stunned, tears welling up in her eyes. Anne took her hand and squeezed it.

"Jo, Jo, listen to me. You didn't do anything wrong, you know that, she might understand that one day, but this is all Billie's fault. You didn't do anything wrong.

- I know, she was crying softly now, but it's hard to believe when you're being questioned.

- We believe you Josie, and we're with you," Diana replied, taking her hand. Ruby and Tillie nodded.

- Thank you, girls, very much. Now let's get out of here and go and see that blouse you spotted last week, Anne, I know you like it, don't bother.