In the Woods When First We Met

43. Sharing a Spoon

Anne was grateful for the warmth of the bowl and for what it did for her hands, but it didn't help the rest of her. She was cold through and through, and dead tired on top of that.

As she approached the woods, Gilbert said, "Morning, Anne," as he stepped out of the trees.

She knew he had spoken first to avoiding startling her like he had the other day, and she was grateful for his thoughtfulness. Seeing a boy come out suddenly from behind the trees with no warning was hard, even if it was only Gilbert.

"Hi, Gilbert," she said quietly. "I wasn't sure if you'd still be here...I wouldn't have blamed you if you'd walked on to school...I hope we're not late. I had a little bit of difficulty in waking up this morning," she explained.

Gilbert was looking at her with concern. "You look exhausted," he said.

"Thanks a lot," she replied.

"I didn't mean you look bad. You just look..."

"Exhausted?" Anne supplied.

Well, he wasn't wrong. Her face was even whiter than usual, she had bags under her eyes and they were red and sleepy looking.

"Trouble sleeping last night?" He asked, concerned.

"I didn't have trouble sleeping last night because I didn't sleep last night," she said tiredly. "I only slept this morning. For maybe an hour or two."

"Ouch," Gilbert said, feeling for her that she was up at all. "Was it..."

"I don't want to talk about it," she answered softly.

Gilbert looked like he wanted to press the issue, but didn't. He walked along beside her.

After a few minutes of walking in the quiet, he asked- motioning to her oatmeal- "Aren't you going to eat that?"

She stopped walking, looked at it, and shook her head. "I'm not hungry. Do you want it?"

"Thanks, no. I ate breakfast," he said. "Why don't you eat it? It'll be good on a cold day like this."

"Well, if you don't want it, I'm going to dump it out." She started to tip the bowl over to dump it, but hesitated. "...I hate to waste, though," she said, biting her lip. Wasting food always made her think of all the times in her past when she'd been hungry.

"Maybe I could just save it and take it home later, or have it for lunch...no, it wouldn't still be good by then. It would be cold and sticky, and I don't even have a cheesecloth to cover it with." That settled, she started to tip the bowl over to dump it.

But then she stopped again. "Are you sure you don't want it? I'm sure it's very good. Everything Marilla makes is good."

"I ate already. You haven't."

Anne shook her head. "I'm not hungry, though."

"You weren't hungry yesterday, either," Gilbert said.

"So?"

"You can't just stop eating, Anne."

Anne frowned. "I'm going to dump it out and waste it, then."

Gilbert smiled. "Well, how about this- why don't we share it?"

"Because I don't want it," Anne said.

"Five bites," he said. "If you eat five bites, then I'll eat the rest. Then it won't be wasted. Okay?"

Anne sighed. "Fine."

After Anne ate five very small bites, she handed the bowl off to Gilbert.

She watched him dig right in, taking a big bite with her spoon. "You don't mind eating off the same spoon I used?"

"Not a bit. And it's good this wasn't wasted, because it's delicious."