Ablaze with possibility

Chapter 10: The heavenly dinner

A dinner was to be held at "Blythe's orchard" and Anne had just told Marilla the news after a long berating of why Anne never could be in time. 

"A dinner? How considerate of Gilbert, I hope everything is well with him?" Marilla asked.

"Why yes I think so, and it's not only Gilbert but Sebastian is there also. He came back last week from the Bog." Anne said excitedly. "Oh Marilla, his and Mary's skin was so extraordinary to witness! And they are both so very kind. I'm bursting with happiness that you'll finally have the opportunity to meet Sebastian, Marilla!" 

"Is he from the Bog?" Marilla exclaimed. "I thought he was from Trinidad." 

"No, you see he helped Mary who lives in the Bog, for about seven weeks, if I am correct and now he's back home with Gilbert!" Anne's eyes sparkled as she remembered. "Gilbert also told me that Sebastian seems to hold of Mary very dearly! I hope there will be a wedding! I've never actually been to a wedding before but it sounds ever so sublime!" Marilla sighed at the girl's eternal babbling. 

"Anne, you need to learn when to hold your tongue for heavens sake! I can't hear a single word you're saying!" 

"I'm sorry Marilla, I'm just so thrilled to see Gil--I mean Sebastian." Anne corrected and Marilla smiled to herself. 

When the time was right to leave Green gables, the three Cuthbert's were already out the door. 

The dark clouds had cleared up, letting the sun shine down over them and as the birds dared to fly out of their nests, harmonious melodies echoed from tree to tree-like a duet. 

"I wish I was a Blue Jay!" Anne uttered and the siblings turned their attention to her with curiousity. "Then I could fly high, high up in the sky and let my wings guide me over Mother Earth while singing the most beautiful of tunes!" She said dreamingly. "And I would be blue instead of this awful red!" She added, holding up her left braid to demonstrate.

"First you wished to be a seagull, then a blossom and now a Blue Jay?" Marilla noted. "You sure wish to be anything but yourself!" 

"But that's because of the reason that I am not beautiful enough to wish to be! My red hair, freckled face and skinny body is nothing to admire!" She said, her complain making the quiet Matthew speak out.

"Um...Anne, I don't find anything you're saying to be true. Don't...be so hard on yourself." 

"You're too kind Matthew but I already know I'm not beautiful so stop try to convince me otherwise!" 

"Stop this foolishness Anne!" Marilla yelled at the girl. "You're too smart to bother about such nonsense as beauty!" 

"But no one wants to marry a smart girl!" Anne exclaimed despondently. "They want a pretty wife with good manners but I am so homely and plain!" Anne kicked away a stone laying on the ground.

"A man who marries because of a woman's looks is a man with no sense." Marilla simply stated. "Do you believe a woman would want a senseless man Anne?" 

"I...I suppose not." Anne looked down. "But wouldn't it be lovely if my hair at least was in a beautiful auburn shade! Like the leaves in the autumn!" 

Marilla laughed at her sudden shift of mood. 

"Though I may not be a woman who spoils you with compliments, I can say that your hair has grown darker than it was last year." A smile spread across Anne's face. 

"Do you think so, Marilla! Diana told me so last week but I couldn't think she actually meant it but now that you have too than it must be true!" Anne twirled around in joy, her arms out in the air.