A Bend in the Road Chapter One

Chapter One

The Magic of Green Gables 

Katherine… with a K… surveyed her reflection in the little mirror nervously. She had always been a little nervous about said reflection. She knew she had always been plain… her earliest memory was that of being told she was an ugly child. And as she grew older, it was with the tentative knowledge that her looks became even worse. Tall, austere, grim… the perfect picture of a "spinsterly old schoolmarm". But as she looked into that little mirror in the tiny gable room, she surprised herself. Why… she wasn't ugly at all! Anne had helped her to pile her rich, dark tresses atop her head in the latest fashion and it did rather suit her. Anne had further insisted that she invest in new clothes and the shirtwaist of creamy lace with the sweeping skirt of rich wine-red velvet was really something marvelous. How could she truly look like that! Young and almost… pretty.

    "I can believe almost anything in this Green Gables of yours," she had told Anne just that afternoon. And it was so. This lovely place was like coming… home. Home… after a dark, cruel, unfriendly world. Here, where the sea crashed on the shores, where cows wandered placidly through the lush pastures, where children ran along the red roads and shouted with laughter in the ever-changing forests. Here, where the lights of comfortable little farmhouse flickered through the shadows of the beautiful twilight, where blossom-laden branches swung gently in the breeze, where the delightful, homey smells of biscuits and cream puffs and spice cake drifted through the rooms of beautiful Green Gables.

    Who could ever have known that the world was such a wonderful, lovely place to live? Who could ever have known that such kind and loving people really lived and breathed? Who could ever have known that such beauty truly existed? Who could ever have known that she… Katherine Brook… Katherine with a K, that is… could ever be someone's kindred spirit?

    That was why she had said she could almost believe anything at this Green Gables.

    She took a deep breath and smiled at that flattering reflection. Perhaps this bonfire tonight wouldn't be quite so frightening as it sounded. Perhaps she would even enjoy it. And…

    "I happen to know of two eligible young men who have asked about you."

    That was what Anne had said. Two eligible young men. Two! When no young man had ever dared to look at her before! She had always been cast aside. Laughed at. Sneered at. But now…

    But she wouldn't allow herself to hope. She would be careful, guarded. Thank goodness Anne would be with her! She just couldn't do this alone. But where was Anne? It was nearly time to go… and Anne had still not come in.

    At that moment, she heard the door open downstairs. Heard Anne's quick, light step on the stairs, and then she came into the little gable room, her eyes shining like stars, her cheeks aglow… truly happier than Katherine had ever seen her before.

    "Anne!" she cried in surprise. "Whatever is the matter?"

    "Nothing is the matter, dearest of Katherines," Anne laughed. "Nothing at all." She spun around the room, landing with a happy sigh on the edge of the bed. "Isn't the world such a lovely, beautiful place? And isn't this the most glorious of days? Just the sort of days in which dreams come true!"

    "Something most certainly has happened," Katherine contradicted, raising an eyebrow. "I can see it in your eyes."

    "Oh Katherine, you goose! Doesn't anything ever escape you?"

    "Does anything ever escape a teacher?" Katharine shot back, amused.

    "I'll make a solemn pact with you, Katharine. If you promise, on your honor, to live up to your name this evening, then I'll tell you what happened."

    "Live up to my name?"

    "Indeed. A brook should be sparkling… limpid… merry."

    "Everything I'm not."

    "Everything you've been this summer. So you can be it."

    "That's only the magic of Green Gables. When I go back to Summerside, twelve o'clock will have struck for Cinderella."

    "You'll take the magic back with you. Life is only beginning for you now… since at last you're quite free and independent. And you never know what may be around the next bend in the road."

    The next bend in the road! In spite of her new state of mind, Katharine felt a bit of her old sarcasm returning.

    "Bend in the road. There's no bend in my road. I can see it stretching straight out in front of me to the skyline."

    Anne laughed. It was safe to laugh now, for the bitterness had gone out of Katherine's voice. It sounded merely rueful and impatient.

    "Anyhow, we're going to be friends. I've always wanted to be friends with you, Katherine… spelled with a K! Under all your prickles, you truly are a kindred spirit."