My Lucky Penny

But What Is So Headstrong As Youth?

Penny Blythe sat alone at the kitchen table on a crisp fall day in Avonlea. The absence of her father and brother almost made her feel uncomfortable in her own home.

Typically, school mornings were spent with her, her father, and Gilbert, her younger brother. They weren't the most boisterous family in the world, but simply sitting there and enjoying each other's company made Penny truly feel at home.

Even when her father became sick and completely bedridden, she and Gilbert would go into his bedroom and eat breakfast with him before school. But that morning, she felt completely isolated from the world.

At the current moment, her father and Gilbert were visiting Alberta, where the Blythes had lived for a few years before moving to Avonlea. They had wanted her to go, but given that someone needed to upkeep the farm and she did not have the desire to travel like the men did, she insisted that this be a father/son trip while she stay and keep the house.

Her loneliness becoming her, she had begun to wonder if her decision to stay was the wrong one.

As if the universe had read her thoughts, a knock sounded on the front door.

Getting up, Penny smoothed her dress and opened the door.

Outside stood her father's caregiver, Mrs. Kincannon, holding an apron.

"Mrs. Kincannon!" she greeted cheerfully. "What a lovely surprise! Please come in."

As she ushered the older woman in, she consciously stood up a little straighter.

"What brings you here?" Penny asked, a little concerned. "My father and Gilbert aren't due back until later tonight. According to Gilbert's last letter, father is doing better than he was here. Most likely due to being able to travel again."

"I am not here on accounts of your father for once, Miss Blythe," Mrs. Kincannon replied kindly. "I am going to be taking care of you today. When you get home from school, I am going to have a snack ready for you and I am going to make you dinner."

This declaration greatly surprised Penny. "Oh, but whatever for? I don't understand."

"You have been keeping the farm and the house for two weeks, you deserve a nice dinner." Mrs. Kincannon walked over and kissed Penny's cheek. "And happy birthday, sweetheart."

Penny's cheeks flushed, not believing that anyone would remember. "Thank you."

Mrs. Kincannon smiled. "Alright, now get to school before you are late. Mr. Phillips will not have that."

Penny's walk to school was also a lonely one. Typically, she and Gilbert would chatter on and on about whatever happened to be occurring in their lives at the time.

Penny was incredibly close with her little brother. Ever since their mother died giving birth to him, Penny took on the role of a motherly figure to him as well as his older sister.

"You are your brother's keeper," their father would always declare.

When she arrived outside school, she was surprised to hear the students chatting excitedly, loud enough to hear from outside.

"My heavens," she sighed. "Who has Mr. Phillips shamed this time?"

Walking in, she was immediately taken aback to see a hat garnished in flowers. The sight stuck out like a sore thumb.

What was going on?

After hanging up her shawl, she walked in to the classroom, relieved that the lesson had not begun yet. She walked over to her seat, searching for anything or anyone out of the ordinary.