Chapter 4

Hetty King, December 1875, aged 16

"Alec you be careful with that case. Roger that is a hat box, not a hoop, treat it likewise, if you would." To be honest it was all going much better than I had expected it to. Both of the boys were transporting my small amount of luggage to the buggy, and we were even running ahead of schedule by about 10 minutes.

"Hebby! "

However, there was an outcome that I had been expecting.

"Pwease no weave. Pwease!" Screamed three year Olivia as she attempted, for the seventh time, to climb up my skirt. Thinking back on it, I should have never told Olivia that I was leaving before hand, as she had worked herself into a right state by the time I was ready to leave. At that moment I knew that I had two options, neither of which particularly thrilled me. I could either pick up Olivia, and try and comfort her that way, or I could simply continue dragging her about on my skirt. And, to be honest, only one of those options really sounded like it had any potential.

"Now Olivia Jane..." I began in the softest tone I could possibly muster "I'll only be gone for a week, not long at all. And just think daddy is going to be home to take care of you. That will be a nice change, won't it? Yes. I think you will all have a good ... OLIVIA JANE!" To be honest I could not help yelling that last part, as my three year old sister, who was flailing about, grabbed hold of the top of my bun, pulling all my hair down. Thankfully, it did not hurt at all, but now my hair was down, which made me look like a child. At sixteen I had finally been able to put my hair, and now Olivia had ruined it. It was a good thing that everything had been previously been ahead of schedule; as I would need that time to make my hair look somewhat acceptable.

"Alec" I shouted for my brother. "Alec!" How far away could that boy possibly be? "Alexander James!"

Even though he was only four years younger than I, I had, in time, trained Alec to my three warning system. In taking care of my siblings the three system, as it was called, was a way of not only getting a childs' attention, but, getting them to mind in a timely fashion. So far Roger and Ruth were perfect models for the three system; and usually came before I had time to yell for the second time. Alec, unfortunately usually arrived at the third warning.

In his best dress shirt, and overalls on top, Alec looked like the beginnings of a perfect escort for my short journey. " Here take Olivia for me" I said as I passed her over to him. Like normal, when it came to young children, Alec had a look of disgust on his face (which eventually wore off by the time he started courting Helen WIlliams with her brood of siblings).
"I don't see why I have to hold her."

"Honestly Alec, it will only be for a moment" I explained as I attempted to fix my hair " I just need you to hold her while..." as I pointed towards my hair "I fix this damage." Olivia continued to scream and flail about like some sort of young calf. In between sobs and random squaks she cried out "no go, no go" or "pwease Hebby."

"It's Hetty." I corrected her, "how many times must we go over this Olivia Jane?" I avoided talking about why Olivia was crying. The subject should have been avoided until now anyway, but Ruth had blurted something out last night at the dinner table, and it had only proceeded from there. " I cannot understand why you feel the need to carry on like this?"

"She's gonna miss you Hetty"

"And while I am glad of that Alec King, we cannot simply allow ourselves to go to pieces everytime someone goes away for a week. Just think, if the whole world did, Nothing will ever get done."

"Well, if you cannot get her to stop crying, I fear nothing will get done while you're away" came the voice from the other side of the wall. In a moment of near reverie Olivia's screams subsided, momentarily attracted to the sound of our fathers voice.

Although father had taken good care of us since mother had passed, the care had been mostly in the form of monetary concessions. With five mouths to feed, and a family he was too saddened to come home to, after mother died father spent a great deal of his time away from Avonlea, sometimes even as far away as Montreal, following jobs, and sending the money back to myself, who was in charge of not on the children, but the house and budget as well. My brothers, and our nearby Uncle Dixby - along with our hired man Jake - worked the farm, making a good run of it, and supplying many of the things I needed for the general running of the house. As a widower our Uncle Dixby had lived the majority of his live right down the road from us, and would eventually live with Alec and Janet for the final several years of his life. But, enough of the future.

Sadly, whatever effect father seemed to have over Olivia was quickly wiped away as she began screaming again, just as I had finished pinning my hair. "Take her" Alec practically yelled as he thrust Olivia back at me.

"Gentle!" I yelled after his figure which was retreating towards the door " she is not a sack of flour. No matter how chubby she looks!"

"Hetty Beth, you should know as well as anyone that telling a near teenage boy to be gentle is no short order. Why just look at that boy who use to follow you around, that Rommy fellow..."

"Romney Penhallow" I said as handed Olivia to our father.

"That's it, now look at him now about as clumsy as a newborn calf, and just about as ugly as one." Father laughed as his own joke. Oh how petty my father could, then be at times. Before mother had died he had been a gentle, kind soul. Somewhere, it was still in him, I knew it, but the way he acted was more akin to the attitude of a common thief or peddler. And, his jokes all sounded like they came out of some sort of saloon. No, this was not the father i had so previously known and loved.

In just several short years he had changed in such ways I could have never predicted. Not only had his general humour and attitude changed, but also had his nature and his actions towards the children. Except Alec, the children were really too young to have noticed or realized such. But, we both had, and we had no ideas of what to do in order to rectify it. Until a plan could be figured father would just have to come in and out of our lives as he was my job to make sure everything else was stable, at least everything as it pertained to the children, home, family and Avonlea. That's what mother believed I could do, and it was what I would do.

However, that day, that upcoming week was different. It was my interview for normal school, where, if I could be accepted and do well, I could one day become a real teacher. It was one of my first times away from Avonlea, and my first time away from the house since mothers' death.

Despite my promises otherwise, my siblings all knew this would be a hard week for all of us. Not only would I be away from home for the first time, but father was back for the first time, or at least for the longest he had been back since the death.

I must admit leaving them alone with him, especially with the previous kitchen experience of the boys and Ruth, I wondered what state of home I would be coming home to next week.

"Alright Miss Olivia, you ready to see Hetty Beth off on her adventure?" Father asked my still crying sister.

"Maybe I shouldn't leave... Maybe this is a mistake...Perhaps I could take my lessons here, a correspondence course." My nerves were beginning to get the better of me. Maybe this was just too much of an adventure for me.

"And maybe the sky will fall, but you never know until you try" Came a voice from the corner of the room.

"Roger, have you been standing there that whole time? And, since when did you start listening to what I tell you?"

"It's not a bad place, good for hiding. And, I've always listened, I just pretend not to."

"Why?"

"Because it drives you crazy" called Alec from the doorway "Now c'mon Hetty, or you shall be late, and this will have all been for nothing."

"Alec King, you know better not to eaves drop" I said as I walked outside and got upon the buggy. Father, holding the fussing Olivia, and Roger were behind me. "Where is Ruth?" I asked, pointedly looking at Roger, those two were as thick as thieves sometimes.

"She's in her room, playing dolls and crying."

"Crying?"

"She's gonna miss you, but she's a big girl." Roger looked at Olivia as he said the last part of the sentence. And, to be honest I have no clue of whether she heard him or not, as she still carried on. To be honest I half expected father to hand her to me as I hugged him and her goodbye. Olivia once again tried to cling on to me, but this time, aware of it, I was able to avoid her fat little hands.

As I got in the buggy and Alec drove us away a myriad of feeling exploded inside me. The best way to describe it would to call it a mixture of absolute exhilaration and sheer dread.

"We'll all be fine" Alec said, reading my mind like he was increasingly prone to do now a days.

"I know, but leaving... there faces all looked so sad, like no one wants this to happen."

"You want it to happen, don't you? To go to this school?"

"More than anything in the world. Although no place here or anywhere will ever replace my beloved Avonlea."

"Then go, get your degree and come back, we'll wait for you. And besides, this is only one week. It's hard now because it is new. By the time you have to start attending school Olivia will be much more prepared for separation. And, if anything goes too badly we always have the neighbors."

"Oh, that reminds me, should anything happen, should you need any help, go to the Steamers and fetch Irene, she promised to help if any way need. Tell father that too."

"I will." By this time we had arrived at the train station where Alec helped me carry my bags and get settled on the train. As he went to leave he hugged me, something I couldn't remember him doing in such a long time.

"Hetty?"

"Yes?"

"Please don't be gone too long."

"It's only one week Alec. No more than that, I promise."

"Good" he said smiling "We'd fall apart without you. Mother was right, you know exactly what to do everytime."

And, before I had a chance to say anything, he had disappeared, until I could see him, walking down the platform, and back home.

In that next week, away from Avonlea, I saw more and learned more than I ever had previously. I saw for the first time that there was a world beyond Avonlea. There were people I had never met, and were not related to. Worldly people who cared for more than the latest gossip, but instead had lengthy conversations about grammar and philosophy. Up until I had gone away from Avonlea I had never imagined the world was like this at all, I never wanted to leave, but then, it all changed, and it was there, less than a year later I would meet someone, fall in love and have my life begin to change forever.