Chapter 1:
Cavendish, Prince Edward Island, Canada
Sunday, September 11, 1988
The sun shone on a house that looked like it was built by grass, but was built with brick walls, and had a green look to it. This house was called Green Gables. Three people were living in this house, 2 girls and 1 boy, and a shy one at that. The woman, aged 58, was Marilla P. Cuthbert, and her brother was hitching up the sorrel mare. Her brother's name was Matthew M. Cuthbert, and, just yesterday, they took in an 11-year-old girl, which had a brown sailor hat with red hair extending down the back. This girl was obviously an orphan, with the name of Anne Rilla Shirley, but she did NOT like the name. She wanted people to call her Cordelia Shirley, instead of plain, old Anne Shirley, "Anne spelled with an E," as Anne herself would say.
Anne Shirley was reading a wonderful book called The Lady of Shalott. She had a very fascinating love for poems that hit home on a person's heart. Anne had a very active imagination, and she used it whenever she came across something beautiful, like Barry's Pond, but she called it the Lake of Shining Waters. She always loved the beauty of nature when it was shining in the east gable window on the top floor of Green Gables. She even said one time, "I'm so glad I live in a world with shining frosts." She does, however, have a very weird temper, which people say goes with hair "as red as carrots," as Rachel Lynde once said. Anne, when she heard that, went into an unexpected rage, flying at Mrs. Lynde with everything she had. Miss Shirley is a strange orphan, and a "spunky one at that." In the animated series, when she was talking to a stray dog, she said, "It wasn't until I came into Matthew and Marilla's care that I became part of a family."