"So Mrs. Andrews left him a present," Anne said. "How about that? A birthday present for Walter."
Gilbert looked wary; her voice was bright but her eyes were dangerous. He decided not to respond. He felt it would be safer to just wait for her to continue, because surely she would-
"You know what she bought him, Gilbert?"
"No," he answered.
Anne seemed all too pleased to deliver this news: "A brownie camera! A brownie camera! It costs two dollars, Gilbert! He needs new shoes, and she spent two whole dollars on a brownie camera!"
"He needs new shoes? I can get him new-"
"That's not the point!" Anne interrupted. "Who gives a four year old child a present that costs that much? And she didn't even buy him the brownie, she bought him the brownie 2. The new one! I haven't let him open the box yet but it said something about needing a key to work the camera and he'll probably lose the key, and then it won't work at all. They're made of cardboard, you know- brownie cameras are. Just cardboard covered with leather...he'll probably step on it or something and there it'll go!"
Gilbert was deciding what to say, as Anne went on:
"He can take eight pictures at a time, and then it's going to cost us sixty-five cents whenever he needs to start over!"
Anne handed the box to him.
Gilbert had an itch to try out the brownie camera himself. He thought it looked like a lot of fun. But he didn't show his excitement, because he was wise enough to know that enthusiasm over this particular gift would not go over very well right now.
He handed the box back to her, understanding Anne's stance on this. Not only that Mrs. Andrews had tried to "get in with Walter", but also…
Really, he thought, its obtuse of Mrs. Andrews to gift a CAMERA, when it had been a *photograph* that had caused all of their troubles to begin with. After all, the whole reason Anne had shut Mrs. Andrews out of Walter's life was because of what she had done with his PHOTOGRAPH. You'd think she wouldn't want to give Anne any reminders of what she had done...
Anne was still talking, but Gilbert interrupted her. "How did she give it to him?"
"What?"
"How'd she give it to him?"
Anne's face clouded over. "By being sneaky. She gave it to the lady who teaches Walter's Sunday School class- Mrs. Whitaker. That way Mrs. Whitaker could hand it off to him as class let out."
"Walter didn't have it when we left," Gilbert recalled.
"That's because Mrs. Whitaker forgot to give it to him," Anne explained. "We left church. She brought it by this morning, apologizing, saying that Mrs. Andrews had left it in her Sunday School classroom and that she forgot all about it, and by the time she remembered, we had already left church. So she went back to ask Mrs. Andrews if she wanted to deliver it herself, and Mrs. Andrews told her she couldn't and that maybe Mrs. Whitaker could drop it by for her."
"Oh," Gilbert said, reaching out for her hand.
"And of course Walter was right with me and of course she handed it right to him!"
Gilbert sighed. "Oh, Anne, I'm sorry. Mrs. Andrews didn't even give you the opportunity to refuse it. And she put Mrs. Whitaker in an awkward spot, too. ...What are you going to do? Do you want me to take it back to her?"
Anne shook her head sadly. "I can't. And that's how she got me!"
"She got you?" Gilbert asked, his brow creased.
"Yes, she got me- Mrs. Andrews knew that once Walter saw the present, I couldn't take it away from him! Because if I take it away from him then I'm the bad guy! She makes it where I'm always the bad guy! Walter's already angry with me for pulling him away from her that day in church! And now I have to take her present away, too? Of course I can't, and she knows I can't! That's what she does, Gilbert! She's making it where she's the one who's sweet to him and I'm the one who's being mean to him!"
Gilbert pulled her close. He felt awful for her. And he knew she was absolutely right, she couldn't take the gift away after Walter had seen it and knew that it had been given to him.
"If he were older, maybe I could explain why I don't want him to accept her gifts. But he's little and he wouldn't understand."
They were quiet a moment.
After relaxing in Gilbert's arms, Anne said sadly: "So now he knows that Aunt Jane's Mama gave him a brownie camera. At least I could keep the card away from him, he can't read and he had no interest in it."
"Can I see it?" Gilbert asked.
Anne handed it over. It was a mint green card, which on the outside said Wishing you the happiest of birthdays, and had an illustration of a pig wearing a party hat and pulling open a cracker.
He opened it up to see that Mrs. Andrews had written a note inside: Dear Walter, I hope you had a lovely fourth birthday. I know I wasn't at your party, but I was thinking of you all the time. Have lots of fun with your own little brownie camera, darling. With love, Aunt Jane's Mama.
Anne commented: "He ought to be calling her Mrs. Andrews, I think. I only called her 'Aunt Jane's Mama' because I wanted it to be clear that the relationship was not with her, the relationship was with Jane. As in- Jane was their link to each other! But now 'Aunt Jane's Mama' has a ring of familiarity to it and I'd rather him call her Mrs. Andrews so there's a little more...more distance."
Anne leaned into Gilbert, and he laid the card down so he could hold her.
"You know what, Gilbert? Maybe it's a good thing Walter isn't the brightest candle in the window. If he's going to be dim, it could help me, actually- maybe- just maybe- he'll never realize what we've all been hiding."
