The Coming of Anne Smith (Chapter 1 of Anne)

She kept running, trying not to trip over the mole hills in the
abandoned paddock outside the orphanage gates. Luckily, it was night
time and so nobody would be able to see the small figure escaping to
beyond the horizon. The rather tall, brown - haired girl, called Anne
was escaping from her boring old life in the orphanage to a new life
somewhere, anywhere.
After about two days of running and walking Anne came to the docks
where she found a ferry going to Prince Edward Island. Just as the boat
began to move Anne jumped into the cargo area and hid herself in a
wooden box behind a red carriage.
Half an hour later the boat stopped and people began to come for their
carriages and horses. Anne climbed out of her box and ran towards the
exit. Fortunately, the security guards didn't see her sneak past them
without paying.
Anne started walking along the cobbled pavement and turned round after
about two hundred yards to see how very smart the streets in
Charlottetown really were. The pathways going towards the houses were
unspoilt, just as they were over thirty years ago.
Anne did not know what to do with herself. She felt wretched and
lonely. Her heart was telling her to go on walking until she found a
place where she could stay but she was becoming too weak from
hunger.
'It must be Providence that got me here and it will be Providence that
gets me to a safe place,' she thought to herself. This thought was her
only comfort until Jessi came along.
Anne had been sitting on a log in a lane leading towards a place
called Marresville when Jessi appeared. Jessi was a little dog that was
white on her stomach, on her mouth, up to her forehead and on her legs.
She was orange on her neck, her cheeks, on half of her right back leg
and also there was a darker shade of orange in a border going around
the edge of her ears. All the rest of Jessi was black. She was walking
along gazing up at the beautiful sky and when she reached the thin and
weak brown - haired human she sat on Anne's little suitcase watching
her with admiring eyes.
"Oh I'm glad you are here little dog," she uttered.
Little Jessi stood up jumped onto Anne's lap, but had to jump off as
Anne started walking along. The signpost at the end of the road pointed
in all different directions and the one Anne was looking at pointed
north. She looked in that direction and saw an old man on a horse. He
was towing behind him a cart with about ten sacks full of potatoes that
he had been growing in his farm. The old man was not alone. He was
accompanied by a twenty year old man, also on a horse. The old man had
short white hair, and was wearing some old dungarees and a beige shirt.
The young man had a rather tanned face, he had blonde hair and was
wearing some worn trousers and a white shirt.
The old man looked over at Anne as he passed by and stopped making the
young man almost crash into the back of the cart.
"Hey, little missy, what you doing all alone with nobody but little
Jessi?"
"You know this dog?"
"Course I do. My adopted daughter owns her," said the old man.
"I am all alone because I succeeded in escaping from my orphanage in
Colinton. Unfortunately I do not know anybody here so I am stuck until
somebody comes and takes me to their home." Anne explained.
"Come over here and sit in the cart and Fred and I will take you to my
house. I just hope that Shirley doesn't object."
"What's your name?" Anne asked.
"My name is Sam Taylor. We will have to go to town first to sell these
potatoes to the food store. Then when we get home you can meet Joy,
Shirley and our next door neighbours, Gil, his mother and his brother
Matthew."
The journey was rather enjoyable for Anne in spite of being squashed
between two sacks full of big potatoes. When they finally got to town
Sam had a little bit of trouble selling the potatoes so he told Fred to
stay back with Anne and keep her company (this what he had said, but he
might have been fibbing).
"So what is your name?" asked Fred.
"My name is Anne Chloe. I am eleven years old but I will be twelve in
three month's time. I have come from a horrible orphanage and hope to
find a home here in Prince Edward Island. I became an orphan when I was
only one year of age and have had a terrible life ever since.
Why are you with Samuel Taylor if you are not related to him and don't
live in his household?"
"I am with Sam because I am his hired man. He is getting older and
older and needs someone to help in his farm. I live about two hundred
yards away from his property and so he decided to ask me. I get to the
paddock every morning at approximately eight am by horse to meet him to
begin the day's work. Mind you, he is usually up at about five a.m. to
have his breakfast and get ready then he is in the garden making sure
none of the chickens or other animals have escaped," was Fred's
response.
"Well I suppose getting up early is a normal part of a farmer's day.
That is what the teacher at the orphanage said. Do you know Gil and
Matthew?"
"Yes, in fact, Gil and I used to play with each other at school
although I am two years older than him. Gil is the same age as Joy and
they go on walks regularly together with friends. I think it is to
discuss college. Marresville is lucky enough to be near a town with a
college in and so they all go there every day in carriages as if they
were going to the village's school.
Matthew looks very like Gil. Some people who haven't known them long
enough get them mixed up in spite of their six year difference. They
have both got chestnut hair and dark brown eyes. They are actually
quite tall. Unfortunately their father died when the ship he was on
sank in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. He died when Gil was only
seven and so Matthew would probably not have any memories of him at
all. Even if he did they would be very vague."
"That is a bit unfortunate. Well, at least they still have their
mother. I don't have either. It gets very upsetting at times, not
having parents because you have nobody to ask advice from," mumbled
Anne.
"Sam and Shirley are brother and sister so you should call Shirley
either Shirley or Miss Taylor. She despises people who call her Mrs
Taylor. That is a warning." Fred whispered and Sam came to the
cart.
"How are you, little missy?" Sam asked.
"I am fine. I really enjoyed my little chat with Fred here. Now I think
I know most of the important things about your community. I also know
lots about Gil and Matthew but I do not know their surname."
"Ashton is their surname." Sam stated.
With Anne in the now empty cart, Sam and Fred on horses they all set
off for Sunset Lodge. The journey this time was more exciting as Anne
would be able to meet and know new people and maybe even have a house
to live in. She hoped that Matthew and her would be good friends
because she had forgotten what it was like to have a young friend. Her
only friend at the orphanage was a twenty-six year old cleaner who only
saw her for ten minutes every two days.
When they arrived at Sunset Lodge, Anne jumped out of the cart and
gazed up at the sky. Sam felt very sorry for her. He knew what had
happened to her. The real reason he took so long getting rid of the
potatoes was because one of the teachers in the orphanage had come
looking for her and was asking everyone if they had seen Anne. He had
told her that she was with him and asked to sign an adoption form (he
knew this was a bit risky, thinking of Shirley). Without knowing it
Anne Chloe now was "owned" by Mr Samuel and Miss Shirley Taylor.
Fred led the way into the house, through the porch and into the lounge
where Sam told her to leave her suitcase until he found a better place
for it. Joy, at hearing people go into the house, came out of Gil and
Matthew's garden and rushed in through the back door to find out who
Sam's brown - haired guest was. 'He never has any girls visiting him,'
she thought. 'Let alone one's with suitcases.'
When Joy came into the room Sam stood up and intoduced her to Anne and
then took her outside to explain about the adoption.
"Well, you're going to have to have some strength to make Shirley
agree," Joy chuckled.
"Shh, she can probably hear you, we don't want to let her know until
the final decision is made." Sam said, "We don't want to disappoint
her.
"What happens if Shirley doesn't agree?" Joy whispered.
"I'll have to give her to Mrs Ashton next door. She's been telling me
for months that she wanted a girl around the house to talk to. She
said, when Gil is away and Matthew is at home he goes off and plays in
the woodshed, goes fishing in the nearby lake or watches birds with his
father's old binoculars. This leaves her with no one to talk to but
Shirley and you know how uninteresting her conversations can be."
With this Sam took his way back to the lounge and Joy went next door to
tell Gil about it all. She explained to him about the idea of his
mother taking in Anne if Shirley objected.
"Has he told her then?" Gil asked.
"No, he said that we should not tell her until Shirley agrees or
disagrees. She would be disappointed if she knew and was cast away. Sam
told me that he could see in her eyes that she wanted to stay but that
we shouldn't raise her hopes in any way."
"She wouldn't be cast away because she would come here and if mother
says no then I could adopt her in a year's time. Of course you could as
well. Should I tell Matthew?"
Matthew already knew, he had been rather nosy and gone and listened to
Joy and Gil's conversation behind the door.
Gil and Joy had been very good friends for a year now because Joy's
main friend, Marigold, had got married to Thomas Bynde and moved away
to Ontario, but she promised to come back for a two month visit every
year to see Joy and the rest of her family. Marigold was due to have a
baby any moment and so she had arranged for Joy and Gil to go over
there for three weeks in their vacation.If Anne was adopted then she
would be taken there as well because neither Shirley nor Sam would be
interesting enough for day dreaming Anne.
After supper Joy took Anne upstairs to her room to show her pictures
of her parents who were dead.
"This is my father, Collin and this my mother, Betsy. I have got a
diary that my mum wrote in for a year just before I was born and one
that she wrote in for a year and three months before she died. My
father gave them to me just before he died three years after my mother
died. He knew that I wouldn't understand what they were and so made the
maid promise to put them in my suitcase when I go off to the orphanage.
He used to call me his angel and take me through the woods beyond our
house to the forest behind it with a great oak tree in it. He used to
sit under the great boughs and read me books about fairies. One day he
took me there and when we got to the oak tree I noticed Jessi. We took
him in and when I went to the orphanage Jessi followed me. I smuggled
him into my room and swore my dormitory companions to secrecy. I was
only caught once but I brought him back in."
"You're rather lucky having your father for an extra three years, my
mother and father died both at the same time when I was a baby. They
died of tuberculosis." Anne remarked.
"Well, I think I had better put you in my spare bed in here. Go and get
your bags from downstairs and then I can show you my book that I wrote
with the help of Gil and Marigold."
Anne went down the stairs and by now it was getting dark. She looked
out of the big window next to the staircase. The sky was almost black
but she could just make out the trees beyond the lake.