Another Year In Avonlea

Perfect

     Three months down time, and Avonlea finds itself pretty much as it was left in this story. Diana Barry found herself sitting at her dinner table with her family, yet again, still not smiling.

     "Diana would you like friends over? Maybe it would take your mind off whatever is bothering you?"

     Her parents had been having her bring friends over recently, but they always left early, or were told to not come when Diana went on walks.

     She stayed silent in resentment, and put some more food into her mouth. "You must answer your mother, Diana," her father said.

     "No thanks. I don't want friends over."

     "Alright. Perhaps you would like to go to a friends? I'm sure Anne would love to see you!"

     Diana sighed, standing up from the table. "May I be excused?"

     "I suppose so."

     Diana gave her practically full plate to a maid, and walked to her room with her shoulders held high. The moment she walked in, she closed the door and turned straight to her piano, still in her room, and began to play what she had written herself.

     She had about two songs fully worked out, and another in the making.  It was here, and only here, where she played piano alone, behind a closed door, did she smile. She smiled contently as her fingers danced on the keys, and she enjoyed her solitude as she listened to the melodies in her head play out in real life. She needed another tune to incorporate into her new song, and that was the only struggle she had faced in a long time.

———

     Ruby also sat at her dinner table, facing her own problems. As much as she tried to hold in her feelings, she couldn't help it any longer. "Mother? Did you ever feel as though you couldn't love and never would be loved yourself?"

     "Why do you ask Ruby?"

     Here, Ruby spilled all of her secrets, and her entire heart, to her mother. All the romance, and the troubles she had faced for the last six years, all the way up to her now liking two boys, Gilbert and Moody, and feeling that because she liked both, she actually didn't like any. She felt that there were perfect boys, but none perfect for her.

     "Oh darling! You will find someone perfect for you!"

     "How mother? How do I know who is perfect for me?"

———

     It was harvest time in Avonlea,  and Anne and Gilbert, as well as Sebastian found themselves together, learning how to work.

     "So you have to take it out gently now," Matthew explained. "If the soil is still cold, don't touch it! The dirt should be easy to dig up, and cold means it's not quite easy yet."

     "How do you tell if the soil is cold?" Gilbert asked.

     "You put your hands into the dirt. It'll be wet"

     "I have one out Matthew!" Anne gleamed. "Isn't it just the most incredible thing! How a bit of potato can create a whole new one?"

     "That's exactly how you want to do it," Matthew smiled, getting to work himself.

     Anne smiled, digging up a couple more potatoes, then bringing and dropping them into a wheel barrow. Gilbert couldn't help but smile as she did so.

     "Hey Anne! You want to help Blythe out? I know he likes potatoes but I think I'm getting this down better than he is," Bash laughed, pulling up a potato from the ground.