Authors Note: Hey everyone, just a quick chapter (and I mean really quick), to make way for Chapter 6, which will be set in the same time and place. Enjoy 3's - V

Chapter 5

Hetty King, September 1876, Aged 17

Part I

Out of the whole year, my favourite season was always autumn, not only was it the beginning of the new school year, but the whole world was in flux, trees changing, leaves falling. Now, of course I was never an expert at prose, but if I had ever possessed the talent, I would write countless volumes about autumn.

"Henrietta King?!"

"Present." I nearly squeaked.

"Present, Ma'am. Miss King. You will find you are no long in your little backwater communities here at the Prince Edward Island Normal School we use the Queens English. You will do well to remember that.

"Yes, Ma'am.

However, that September morning, my usual love for both autumn and school was no where to be seen. It was on that day, in the beginning of September, when I was seventeen, that I attended my first day of school at the Prince Edward Island Normal School. If I had the chance I would have liked to have gone to a University far far away from Prince Edward Island, but in those days women rarely went to any type of higher education, except for teaching colleges and, with my siblings still so young, it would have been irresponsible for me to go very far for a long period of time. To be very honest, I considered myself very lucky to be able to attend the Prince Edward Island Normal School for the term that I needed to receive my teaching degree.

When I first contemplated attending school to receive education in the art of teaching there were many different problems. The first and foremost of these problems was my father. Old beyond his years, he had taken the death of my mother very hard, and found his solace in traveling around the country working jobs here and there, in order to make the best money he could. At the same time, being the oldest, I began to fulfil a promise made to my mother to take care of my four younger siblings.

A year previous to my seventeenth, Ms Wigins who had been teaching the young minds of Avonlea for over twenty years had decided to retire in two years time. Now, of course publicly she didn't name her successor, but, over the years she had told me that I always reminded her of a teacher. That, combined with the fact that I needed to stay close to home, made becoming a teacher the perfect plan. It was something I could do well, without really having to ever settle down, and, once the children were grown up, if I ever got the mind to, I could always travel, and see the world as I taught about it.

So, in the autumn of my sixteenth year I applied to the Prince Edward Island Normal School, where that December I was summoned for interviews and personality observances. And, that was when the change in my father began, subtle at first, and then broad and sweeping as my father began to seem less like the man he had been for the previous two or three years, and more like the father I had always loved and idolized. Like I previously stated the changes were small at first, except for a brief moment after Alec and Roger broke a window in the front parlor, father managed to happily take care of the children for an entire week while I was away for interviews and tests. He did of course have some help from our neighbor Miss Irene Steamer, but I will admit that even I could not have survived those two years without her help. After that week father went back to roaming around looking for jobs, but he came back to Avonlea more and more frequently, until at the party for my seventeenth birthday he announced he had decided he would be staying home for good, and getting an honest, safe job in Avonlea.

To say I was shocked at his announcement would have been an understatement, in truth we all were, except Irene Steamer, as he had asked her advice on this whole matter. But, since it meant I could attend teachers college, I decided not to question him, and true to his word, when it came time he dropped me off at the station in the end of August, the children in tow, and with minimal protest from Olivia, here I was.

Looking back on my first days at teachers college I wish I could say that they went well. However, that would be far from the truth. Not only did it seem as if I were completely unprepared for this level of education, I was also nearly crippled by homesickness, which wasn't helped when on my fourth day of school I received a letter from Roger and Ruth, who at the time were eight and five, respectively. Instead of telling all of the letters contents I feel I should just copy the letter, to make it all the more easier, now of course Roger wrote most of the letter - he always was the most thoughtful of my siblings - but I have corrected some of the spelling mistakes that he had made:

Dear Hetty,

How is school going? Everything here is good. We miss you a lot. Father does very good, even with Olivia, who cries a lot. Dad says hi and study hard. Alec tells me to leave him alone - he has a new girlfriend, Sara Damon. Ruth sleeps in your bed at night, Olivia too. Olivia says come home. Tell us everything. Send a postcard.
Love, Roger, Ruth and Olivia

Now, it doesn't seem like a very sad letter, but for me it will always be one of the saddest I ever read. Not only did it break my heart to hear about poor little Olivia, but it also was painful to realize that without me, everyones' lives continued. Even though I had seen so early in life that one person was not essential for the continuation of life, for the children I thought my presence would always be necessary. Thankfully something in the next day changed my mind about everything I had ever known, and made me forget about the children, my father and Avonlea as a whole. That thing was Wallace Duncan.

What did you all think? Excited? Confused? Send me a review ;) 3's - V