"There! Miss Cuthbert! I see them!"
Jerry stood up on the lowest rail of the fence and pointed into the distance.
Craning to look, Marilla and Cole could just see a cart approaching, carrying a man and a girl.
"Oh, at last!" Marilla muttered under her breath, rushing to open the gate.
A minute or two later, the cart swept into the yard and came to a halt just inside. Anne jumped down and ran straight into Marilla's arms.
"I've brought the doctor Marilla! How is Gilbert?"
"There, there, child. Gilbert is inside with Matthew. I'm sure he's just fine. Doctor? If you'd like to go in?"
The doctor tipped his hat and collected his bag. "Thank you Miss Cuthbert. I'll go right in and see what's to do."
Anne went to trail after him, but Marilla held her back. Anne looked up at her, questioning.
"Leave them be, child. Just for now. Gilbert needs his examination in private. Doctor will tell us when we can go in."
Frustrated, Anne leaned back on the gate and looked over at Cole.
"How are you Cole? I'm sorry… I should have asked you since… You know."
Marilla decided then it was time to leave them be, just for a few moments. With a nod to Jerry, she took hold of the doctor's horse, and led her off to stable her with their own two. She didn't expect the doctor to be too long, but she might as well see that the horse got a drink and a brush-down.
Cole stood for a moment, as if mentally assessing his various wounds. Then he smiled, just a little.
"Perhaps… Maybe my pride is hurt more…"
Anne nodded, she could see why that might be true.
They stood together, for a few moments, in silence. Each thinking their own thoughts.
"What's it like?" Anne suddenly asked.
"What's what like?" Cole replied, turning to her quizzically.
Anne was suddenly embarrassed, was this too personal?
"What's it like, being switched like that in front of everyone? I mean, don't get me wrong, I had many beatings from Mr Hammond's belt when I lived with them, but there wasn't an audience. I didn't like it one bit!"
Cole thought for a moment, "I don't think I thought much about what others would think… While it was happening… I guess… I guess I was thinking about me. And I saw you. You helped me."
Anne was picking at the gate with a fingernail, and then stopped, "I helped you?"
Cole nodded, "You did. When it got to four or five, I could read the look on your face. It was kind. I could imagine you were telling me to be brave."
Anne said nothing, she just returned to picking at the gate. Cole turned, leaning his elbows on the cross bar, gazing out over the field.
"It's not like other pain I've felt, you know… Like you, I've felt my fair share of belts." He grimaced, and Anne glanced at him, sympathetic. She hadn't known that, but it wasn't uncommon. In some ways… It felt nice to have a shared experience in adversity.
"It's different to… that. Today, it was more like a hot poker from the fire, being pushed against my skin. At first… you feel nothing. Then it just seems to explode in the middle of your brain. And then get worse and worse and you think you're on fire. And then another cut comes, and…" He trailed off.
"It builds and builds, until all you can do is scream?" Anne suggested.
Cole shrugged, "Something like that."
Then there was silence.
As they stood in the quiet of the farmyard together, reflecting on the day, Cole started to feel angry. It just burst over him, like a sudden rain storm. He kicked the gate, and slapped it with his good hand. Anne jumped back, surprised.
"I didn't want to scream Anne! I didn't! I also didn't want to be dragged from my seat and whipped across the behind like a five-year-old! I'm fourteen years old! I was humiliated!"
"Oh Cole…" Anne whispered, lightly touching his back. "You didn't have any control over that. You were already in pain, you couldn't fight back. And… It happened to Gilbert as well…"
"But Gilbert didn't wail like a baby after only two! He took nine and didn't make a sound the whole time!"
Anne could feel her eyes starting to fill with tears. She hated to see her friend hurt and angry like this.
"Cole… He's older than you, and he was ready for it. He accepted it. And he wasn't already hurt."
Cole rounded on her and shrieked, "I DON'T CARE!"
Marilla, still in the barn with Jerry, heard the angry shout and stuck her head out, just in time to see Cole furiously opening the gate and dashing off across the field.
She hurried out, "COLE! Don't you want Dr Spencer to take a look at your hand?!"
Cole didn't even glance back. "COLE!"
Marilla came towards Anne, who was holding the open gate, and staring after the rapidly disappearing Cole with bemusement.
"What, in mercies name, just happened?!"
Anne looked up at Marilla, confusion etched across her face. "We were just talking… And he ran off."
"What could you have possibly been talking about?"
Anne shrugged and scuffed her feet in the soil. "Nothing of any importance Marilla. Just… what happened at school."
Marilla looked across the field, just in time to see Cole disappearing under the trees, and sighed.
"I think you should probably come and sit on the porch with me, and explain everything that has gone on today. Leave NOTHING out. I want to know exactly WHY I've got the doctor in my kitchen, seeing to one boy with blood seeping through a decent pair of britches, and another running through the fields, with a bandaged hand, screaming hell and damnation at you."
Anne sighed, and let Marilla lead her to the bench. She would talk.
