Unrequited// OC x Gilbert Blyth // OC x OC

15

THERE WERE MANY YOUNG TOWNSFOLK INSIDE THE DARK-LIT PUB. In the far back, however, an older man was sitting alone at the table. He had graying hair and a shaven beard with a sullen look upon his face.

"Uh, excuse me, sir," Anne greeted. "We're sorry to intrude. Uh, are you Mr. Malcolm Frost?"

He ignored them and addressed the bartender. "I'll take another."

"Mr. Frost, you covered a story about gold for The Island Announcer ten years ago?" Anne questioned.

"Thirteen," he corrected. "But I don't talk about my work anymore. Good day."

"May I ask why not?" Anne asked.

"See, that question sets me up to talk, which not one second ago I said I would not do," he responded.

"I'll talk, then," Anne said, taking a seat, Katherine and Diana following suit. "Everyone in our town - Avonlea - has gold fever. Apparently, everyone in Cape Wolfe had gold fever too, but there was no gold."

"Incorrect."

"What part is incorrect?" Anne asked.

"Hopefully the 'no gold' part," Diana spoke.

"A year of my life that I'll never get back," he said. "Barkeep?!"

"I'm scared," Diana said. "We should go."

"Sir, please," Anne pleaded. "Is there anything you can tell us? I'm sorry you're sad. And I'm also sorry to disturb you from your sadness. I know how difficult that can be. But if you can tell us anything at all about the gold, we'd be much obliged."

He took out a book and placed it on the table. "Educate yourselves," he said. Anne took it and Katherine and Diana looked over. "Quietly."

"Oh, how beautiful," Anne complimented. "Your handwriting is so neat. You have an organized mind, Mr. Frost. I admire that. These sketches remind me a bit of the book Nate gave me."

"Uh, Nate's the geologist who found the gold in the soil of Avonlea," Diana informed Mr. Frost.

"He showed me the gold under his microscope, but I couldn't see anything," Anne added with a sigh.

"You didn't see any gold?" he asked skeptically, turning to them.

"Once I learn more about the topic, I'll be better able to perceive what's right in front of me," Anne said.

"Gold is very shiny," he said.

"The particles were very small," Diana said defensively.

"Or not there." He let out a sigh. "You're aggravating but you don't seem dumb or blind. If there was gold, you would've seen it."

"No, I- "

"See, right right away!" he interjected. "No one listens to reason. I - That's why I didn't want to talk about this. You came here specifically to talk to me about this specific topic. Then I tell you something true, something I know because of decades of research, and you say no. I'll tell you something right now. Since you insist on me telling you something, I'll bet my last dollar that your town will do exactly what everyone in Cape Wolfe did.

"Yes, there are trace amounts of gold in the soil of P.E.I. No, it is not enough to justify the cost of digging. Even if you mined for nine hundred years, it wouldn't be enough." He calmed as everyone in the pub stared. "Your foolish town will repeat history. What company is this so-called geologist working for?"

"I don't know," Anne answered. "He never said."

"Did he ever talk numbers? Calculate how much gold a ton of ore would produce?" Mr. Frost asked.