accepted | anne with an e

03

chapter three

for the past few days, things were very repetitive. gilbert would go to school, leaving bash at home doing farm work and lucy would help out with little things here and there. gilbert had talked about wanting to become a doctor and lucy found it interesting. she began to wonder what her future holds for her. it gave her a lot of stress and anxiety but she would distract herself by fantasizing about crazy possibilities.

lucy and anne had become good friends. this made lucy hopefull about the other people her age in town. she hoped that they would be just as accepting if they ever did meet.

"when you go to school and leave me here whole day with no one to talk to except lucy, i keep myself busy. if you cook and the food ain't have no taste, i chew and swallow." bash said as lucy sat at the table drawing with some chalk and gilbert listened while studying. bash was tying a string to his tooth.
"i've carried this pain, quiet, into the cold canadian spring. you know me, blythe. i don't like to complain. so when i say lesser men would've cracked by now..." bash tied the other end to the door handle and lucy looked up at him in curiosity.

"then?" gilbert asked.

"exactly. i'm ready. close the door." bash looked at gilbert.

"uh no." gilbert replied.

"i'm not sure if that's a good idea." lucy said.

"you're right. give it a good slam. i only wanna do this once. i can take it." he assured them.

"go see a doctor." gilbert said.

"for a toothache? just be my friend. you two are the onliest ones i have in this vast, lonely country." bash watched gilbert stand up and slam the door shut. lucy jumped and her eyes widened. the tooth fell out and bash groaned in pain. gilbert simply patted his back.

"nothing like a little peace and quiet." he said as he left for school and lucy laughed.

"are you ok?" she asked. bash looked at her and held up his tooth, one hand over his cheek.

꧁꧂

later on lucy and bash decided to go look for some help. they walked into town and bash found a store. lucy got uncomfortable.

"bash, i don't think we should be here." she said.

"why not? let's go." he opened the door and lucy held her breath while following him. the man at the counter was baffled.
"hello. good morning, sir. tooth trouble." bash greeted him. lucy noticed the man quickly put away the money.
"actually it's gum trouble causing the tooth trouble. i was hoping for some coconut water. my mum used to give it to me as a kind of healing. maybe a trade ship came in with some huang lian?" they walked closer to the counter.
"it's chinese." bash said. the man stared at the two.

"i have no idea what you're saying." he replied.

"you don't like me." bash sighed and pulled out some change. "but i see you like money. just sell me some salt to gargle with." he said. the man looked at him.

"we're all out." lucy looked at the bags of salt behind him.

"no you're not." she spoke up with a little attitude. she was getting mad. the man looked at her in shock.

"sometimes i find bigotry very inconvenient." bash began to walk away.

"you won't find care anywhere around here. you should be with your own kind in the bog." the man said.

"the what?" bash asked.

"don't play dumb you know what i'm talking about. the slum... for people like you outside of charlottetown." he said.