Matthew Cuthbert was a silent man. He drove a buggy. Mrs. Rachel Lynde, a loud, fat woman, watched him drive by.
– – –
Matthew saw an ugly girl with freckles and red hair. The hair was in braids. He said nothing to her. He stuttered as he spoke to the orphanage head. The orphanage head was a woman, and Matthew only spoke to his sister, Marilla, and Mrs. Rachel Lynde, because she was annoying but she was not annoying to him. The girl sat in the buggy with him and talked and talked. She did not tell him her name. He did not ask her name. Matthew did not mind when she talked and she did not annoy him, much like Mrs. Rachel Lynde did not annoy him when she talked, because he was a homosexual.
– – –
“You don’t want me,” Anne stated. “I am not a boy.”
“Go to hell,” Marilla Cuthbert said.
– – –
Anne made a wreath of berries, lilacs, and lead bullets. She wore it to church. There was laughter, and the laughter was at Anne’s expense.
– – –
“Carrots,” the handsome boy called Gilbert Blythe said. “Your hair is red, and therefore it is like carrots.”
Anne shot Gilbert in the leg.
– – –
Anne gave Diana Barry a tumbler of liquid. Diana drank the entire tumbler. It was filled with grappa. Diana got very drunk until she was red in the cheeks, like Anne’s ugly hair. She stumbled home and vomited in the garden.
“This is because Anne is poor,” Diana’s mother said.
– – –
Diana’s sister Minnie May became very ill. Diana cried. Her parents left the children alone to go dancing and drinking. They were ill-suited to be parents. Diana ran to Anne.
“We are kindred spirits,” Anne said.
“My sister is dying,” Diana said.
Anne nursed Minnie May back to health.
All was forgiven.
The doctor arrived.
– – –
Gilbert recovered from his gunshot wound. “Can we be lovers now?” Gilbert said to Anne.
“I wish you had died,” Anne said.
– – –
Matthew was a man who noticed dresses. He saw the girls in their dresses. Anne’s dresses were not like the other girls’ dresses. The sleeves were wrong. Matthew went to the store. “I would like a dress,” he said to the woman who worked in the store. However, he only spoke in his mind. He did not like to speak to women. Mrs. Rachel Lynde made Anne a dress. Anne had a dress that looked like everyone else’s dress. She was no longer different from the other children, except for her ugly red hair. She was the same as the other girls.
– – –
Anne was smart for a woman. She was almost as smart as men. However, she was not given the teaching position near her home. Anne did not cry.
– – –
Matthew died. No one ever knew that he was a homosexual.
– – –
Gilbert gave his teaching position to Anne.
“We can be lovers now,” Anne said.
