A Bend in the Road Chapter Eleven

 Chapter Eleven

The Carmody Ball

"The annual Christmas ball was the first ball I ever went to," Anne told Katharine as they stood in the hall of Green Gables waiting for their respective rides. Outside the window, sleighs glided along the icy road and the snowy meadows, glistening beneath the stars, were all aglow with lantern light as happy, laughing party-goers wended their way Carmody-ward. "It was a dream come true for me… with that dear old blue dress and its ridiculous puffs and all!" she laughed in memory, but her eyes filled with sadness for a moment. "Matthew gave me that dress… the first pretty dress I ever owned. And Gilbert here," she grinned as he opened the door, brushing the snow from his coat. "Ignored me completely, despite the dress."

"I was afraid you'd make me stand on my head," Gilbert laughed.

"And then my dance card disappeared…"

"Did it?" Katherine laughed. "Who on earth would do something like that?"

"I've always supposed it was stolen by some mysterious secret admirer," Anne continued, dreamily. "I wonder…"

"I still have that old dance card somewhere," Gilbert grinned. "You left it on the punch table. Too great a temptation to resist."

"Aha! So the mystery is solved at last. Diana said it was you but I wouldn't believe her. Why would you do that anyway?" Anne cried.

"So no one else could dance with you. And I'll do it again… You're not dancing with anyone but me tonight, Anne-girl. Katherine, I'm sorry but I guess you'll be stuck with us tonight…" he turned to her, grinning ruefully.

"Why?" Katherine frowned. "Isn't David coming?"

"I'm afraid not," Gilbert sighed. "He had an emergency with one of his cows… I think she went into labor far too early. Could be bad. So he won't be able to make it tonight."

"Oh." Katherine felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her sails. Suddenly the prospective idea of her first ball wasn't quite as exciting as it seemed before. It was on the tip of her tongue to refuse and stay home… after all, a evening spent knitting before the fire and listening to a steady stream of Mrs. Rachel's gossip whilst preventing Dora and Davy from seriously injuring each other couldn't possibly be any less pleasant than arriving at a ball unescorted. Well, not exactly unescorted, but without David's friendly conversation and comradery the evening wouldn't even be half as interesting. But here she was, preparing to do something she'd never done before… and in an outlandishly expensive dress made for the sole purpose of this evening. Whether it was the dress or Anne's persuasiveness, Katherine found herself within the hour sweeping up the elegant stairway of the Carmody hall.

After depositing her friend safely with Mr. and Mrs. Wright who stood talking in the corner to a rather elegant lady with feathers in her hair, Anne twirled away on Gilbert's arm. Katherine was duly introduced to "Aunt Jo" and proceeded to listen rather amusedly to the old lady's chatter.

And so whiled the evening away. Katherine found it not altogether devoid of enjoyment for Aunt Jo was entertaining and more than one young man rather willing to add his name to her dance card. Sandy was there, of course, with a substantial slice of cake in one hand and a punch glass in the other… how had he managed to find a punch glass twice as large as the others? In spite of his rather magnetic attraction to the buffet table, he did dance half of three dances with Katherine… only half for he found that he had to stop midway to catch his breath. Ruby was there also, with Herb, of course, who had seemed to be making more of a headway than any of her previous beaus. But Ruby seemed rather different that night… her eyes too brilliant, the flush in her cheeks too high. But she was as ecstatic as ever with the world and everyone in it. Particularly with the young men in it.

"Oh I'm just so eager to hear all your news!" she had cried happily, taking both Katherine's hands in her own, which seemed rather thinner than usual. "How are all the doings in Summerside? I'm after the White Sands school this year… it's quite a bit more distinguished than Avonlea, you know. And close to Spencerville… you haven't met the new Spencerville teacher, have you? He's a dream. All the girls are just nuts over him! Poor old Herb quite detests him, I fear. He just… bristles… every time he's around. Are you here with David, Katherine? Oh! Here's Herb back again, I forgot… he wanted this dance. I'll catch you later, Katherine!" And off she went, light and merry. Katherine felt herself rather fortunate that Herb had interrupted before it was necessary for her to answer Ruby's question. It was an uncomfortable feeling, being passed up for a cow.

As she paused in the corner, uncertain where next to move, Katherine started in surprise as someone took her dance card from her hand.

"Let's see. You haven't filled it up yet, have you? No, there are four dances left. All for me, I hope."

"Gracious… David! You're the last person I expected to see…" Katherine reached to take her dance card back, but stopped herself as he wrote his name down in all the last empty spaces.

"Hope you aren't disappointed," he grinned. She shook her head, mutely, as he continued. "Had a bad scare there… and with my best milker too. She went through labor, all right… it was twins. One was stillborn, but the other is just fine."

"And you came anyway?"

"Wouldn't miss it. I got away as soon as I could. I'm sorry I wasn't there to escort you… but I can still take you home. And now for our dance?"

"You never even waited for an answer," Katherine laughed. But she took his hand and followed his lead as he drew her into the circle of couples. She saw Anne turn her way and smile brilliantly. Being so happy herself, Anne longed for all of her friends to be happy also. And Katherine was happy. And, though not perfect, David was still a much better dancer than Sandy was. At least he didn't step on her feet. Neither did he have to pause to catch his breath.