The Words She Didn't Wright – er, Write
"You better come home to me tonight," Anne said to Gilbert, tying his cravat.
"None of this going out on calls, and then getting yourself trapped somewhere."
Gilbert said, "Can I help it if every matron in the Glen who gets a new lace nightgown wants me to see her in it?"
Anne said, "Let them. You know that's not what I meant."
Gilbert said, "I'd promise you that if I could, Anne-girl."
Anne and Susan sent Gilbert on his way after his breakfast. Then, they sent the older children off to school after their breakfasts. Susan went to the market. Anne sat down with the mail.
The mail contained a letter from Mrs. Fred Wright. Diana actually found time to write her after all.
Mrs. Fred Wright – the former Diana Barry – was a busy wife and mother, just like Anne. Little Jack had fallen down the stairs and cried about it for the next day. Fred Jr. had gotten sent home from Sunday School for sassing the Sunday School teacher. Anne Cordelia had dropped the pie that Diana made for the A.V.I.S. bake sale. A cow had disappeared for an entire day. Then, the same cow reappeared. Nobody had solved that mystery yet.
Did Anne hear that one of Davy's boys burned down the privy at Green Gables? Forgive Diana for repeating this (it really wasn't proper talk) but Millie told Diana that after the loss of the privy, Davy had gotten a bad case of poison ivy on his backside.
Oh, and the A.V.I.S. wanted to paint the hall again! This time in pink.
Anne cared for very little of what Diana wrote. Anne cared about what Diana Wright did NOT write.
Diana did not write enough about Gilbert's cave accident. Diana said one sentence about it. She said that she was glad that Gilbert was okay.
Didn't Diana read the newspaper? It was in all the newspapers. Everyone in North America covered it. Since it happened on P.E.I., and Diana lived on P.E.I., Diana would have known everything about it.
For goodness sakes, she wrote half a page about a cow! She wrote a paragraph about her dropped pie!
Anne didn't exactly expect Diana to hoof it to the Bright River Station and hop on the next train to Glen St. Mary . . . but it would have been nice if Diana had done exactly that. It would have been nice to have Diana at Anne's side during those terrible hours when Anne wasn't sure whether Gilbert was – well, you know.
Anne berated herself for being a spoiled brat. Gilbert came home to her alive. Everything was back to normal. Diana had been Anne's truest, most loyal friend for years. The Barry family had been more than generous to Anne. Diana and her family didn't owe anything more to Anne.
