Anne of Green Gables – The Sequel (My Own Version)
Chapter One - Mr Morgan Harris
Winter had long since been forgotten as spring pushed its way into existence. The leaves returned to the trees and they no longer looked bare. Snowdrops, Daffodils, Crocuses, Primroses, Cowslip, Tulips, Bluebells and Hyacinths all pushed up through the soil and decorated the village of Avonlea. The sun blazed down on the ground giving life to everything in its light. Dawn was Anne's favourite time of day – the time when everything woke up, she said.
It was dawn when Anne first saw him. She had just woken up to the sound of Dawn's Chorus and had pulled back the drapes to saturate the early morning air. She saw an elderly man stroll along the road carrying a rather large bulging bag. His hair was a faded dark grey and he had a few wrinkles under his eyes. He was heading towards the newly built house just a little walk away from Green Gables.
"Must be our new neighbour," Anne thought. "I wonder what he's like."
Anne thought nothing more of it until a couple of mornings later when she was preparing dinner for herself and Marilla. She happened to glance out the window at the exact moment when the gentlemen she had seen a couple of mornings before, was sauntering down the lane towards Green Gables. Anne swiftly took off her apron, neatened her frock and tidied her hair. There was a knock at the door.
Anne opened it and gave a warm smile. He was tall and dark and well built. His eyes twinkled and his forever growing grey hair was neatly groomed back.
"Good day to you, ma'am," he spoke pleasantly.
"Good afternoon," Anne smiled.
"I have recently moved into the house just up the lane as you may be aware," he said. Anne nodded.
"I thought I'd just introduce myself to my new neighbour," he grinned and held out his hand. Anne was transfixed by his smile.
"Morgan Harris," he introduced himself.
"Anne Shirley."
"A pleasure to meet you, Miss Shirley," Morgan smiled.
"I would offer you a cup of tea but I'm just preparing dinner," Anne explained. Morgan waved his hands.
"No harm done. I just came for an introduction. Is it just you living here? You look a bit young to be living in such a big place by yourself. How old are you?"
"I turned sixteen last month and I live with Marilla Cuthbert who has just gone to visit a friend of hers," Anne said. Morgan nodded.
"Well, I won't interrupt your dinner making any longer. Nice to meet you, Anne," Morgan said and turned to leave.
Anne hesitated and before she knew what she was doing she spoke.
"Wait, Mr Harris. One last thing."
Morgan turned around.
"If you are to call me Anne, please make sure you spell it with an e," Anne hastily told him. Even though she was that little bit older, she still couldn't stand it when people spelt her name without an e.
Morgan Harris's grin reached his ears.
"Very well, Anne with an e. Good afternoon," and he left Anne there grinning on the veranda.
As soon as dinner was over and the dishes were washed and dried, Anne decided to take a stroll. So she left Marilla who was in the middle of baking a cake, and captured every last inch of sunshine she could grasp. On returning through Lovers' Lane, she heard the sound of running feet behind her.
"Anne?" a voice called. Anne would have recognized that voice anywhere. She spun around just as Diana Barry appeared a few feet behind her. They raced towards each other.
"Diana!"
"Oh, Anne!"
They hugged and kissed and hugged again.
"Oh, Diana, it's been so long!" Anne sighed happily. Her bosom friend was back. "It's been strange without you around!"
A couple of weeks ago the Barry's received a telegram from Charlottetown telling them that Aunt Josephine had fallen ill. The Barry's had to go straight there and since then Anne had been patiently waiting for her friend's return.
"How is Aunt Josephine?" Anne asked anxiously. She knew how much Diana liked her great aunt. She paid for all her music lessons. The first time Anne met her, she and Diana had bounced onto her bed without realising she was in it. Anne had also paid her a visit not long ago.
"She's much better! We had all the best doctor's in town come and visit her," Diana told her.
"Oh, Diana, that's marvellous!"
"I need to catch up on all the latest news of Avonlea, Anne. So come on, tell me what I've missed," Diana pleaded linking arms with Anne.
"Well," Anne began. She thought of the news which had shocked her herself only the day before.
"Josie Pye told Ruby Gillis who told me, that she saw Moody Spurgeon and Jane Andrews holding hands!" Anne exclaimed dramatically.
"Moody and Jane?" Diana was shocked.
Anne nodded and continued.
"Ruby told Jane that she has a thing for Charlie Sloane and Moody asked Charlie if he returned her love and he said yes! Marilla's eyesight is much better and she hasn't said anymore about selling Green Gables. Thomas Lynde isn't very well and Rachel is awfully worried, understandably I suppose. A Morgan Harris has moved into Avonlea. He's terrifically handsome, Diana, even though he looks rather prehistoric," Anne giggled. Diana laughed.
"How perfectly impolite you are, Anne Shirley!" she beamed.
For a while the pair rattled on about Morgan Harris and how he was probably from one hundred years back, and then Diana asked her;
"What about Gilbert?"
"He's just fine, Diana. He's preparing for White Sands in the fall," Anne told her.
"Is he nervous?"
"Wouldn't you?" Anne laughed.
"I still think that you and Gilbert will have a romance later on," Diana solemnly told her. Anne shook away Diana's arm and said to her very sternly;
"Diana Barry, I do not wish to hear you speaking of Gilbert and I that way again. Gilbert Blythe is just a friend."
Diana raised her eyebrows.
"Besides," Anne continued. "He'll find someone over at White Sands, I just know it."
Anne linked arms with Diana again and they skipped away laughing and giggling and placing flowers in the other ones' hair. In the bushes, a little way behind the two girls, a curly haired boy was staring dreamily at the red haired girl. He gave a deep, long sigh and disappeared.
"Anne Shirley, pay attention to what you are doing!" Marilla snapped Anne out of her reverie. Anne look flustered.
"Sorry, Marilla, I was just so caught up in being Lady Cordelia Fitzgerald. I -."
"Never mind your Cordelia Fitzgerald's. Get on with the pie!" Marilla demanded.
"Yes, Marilla."
Morgan Harris was coming to supper that evening and Anne had decided to make a thick crust pie. Marilla was setting out their best cutlery and plates.
For a while Anne was silent.
"I think there's something wrong with the pie, Marilla," Anne told Marilla. Marilla peered into the dish and her eyes flew up in astonishment.
"Anne, how much potato did you put in?"
"The amount you told me to."
"That is not the amount I told you to put in, Anne. Go and wash up. I'll finish the pie," Marilla ordered. Anne, a little dazed, made her way to the East gable and washed off the flour stuck to the corners of her cheeks. She spotted Morgan trampling across the fields. Anne hurried downstairs and opened the door just as Morgan reached the veranda.
"Good Evening, Miss Shirley," he said warmly.
"Good Evening, Morgan," Anne smiled at him and invited him to the kitchen.
"Hello, Marilla."
Marilla had just fixed the pie and was neatening her apron.
"Good Evening, Mr Harris," she said.
Morgan pulled out a seat and he and Anne sat down just as Marilla placed supper on the table.
"This looks absolutely ravishing!" he exclaimed. Anne glowed with pride.
"Anne made the pie," Marilla grinned.
As soon as they said grace, the three of them began to eat.
"So, Anne," Morgan said between mouthfuls. "You've finished school now haven't you?"
"Yes. I finished last month."
"So what are you looking to do next?"
"I'm hoping for a position as a teacher at Kingsport," Anne told him. He seemed interested.
"What do you do, Morgan?" Marilla asked him.
"I, myself, am a teacher."
Anne was astounded. He didn't seem the "teacherly" type.
"I taught for a couple of years at a school over in Charlottetown and then decided it was time to move on," he told them.
Anne nodded with interest. She wondered what exactly had made him move away.
"Were you married before, Mr Harris?" she asked nosily. She caught Marilla's appalled glare in the corner of her eye.
Morgan cleared his throat.
"I was, yes," he said simply. Then he changed the subject.
"Avonlea is quite a sight," Morgan said.
"It's beautiful in spring," Anne agreed dreamily.
Marilla rolled her eyes and for a while the room was silent. The only sound you could hear was the sound of forks scraping at the plates.
"That," Morgan said wiping his mouth with his napkin, "Was delightful."
Anne collected the plates and stacked them on the side. Marilla made some tea and they sat on the veranda talking until the sun began to lower in the sky.
"Well," Morgan sighed standing up. "I'd better get going. It was a delight meeting you both and thank you for the delicious pie, Anne," he grinned at her.
As Anne watched him wander up the lane, occasionally turning back to wave, she vowed then and there to find out about Morgan Harris's past.
"There's definitely some inscrutability to his past and I'm just dying to find out what it is. Even if Marilla scolds me for the rest of this year, or locks me up in the cellar and only feeds me bread and milk – I will find out Morgan Harris's secret," she vowed.