Between the words: Anne with an E

Letter 36

The tea shop at the corner of the street, was littered with people going about their normal business, perhaps that was Toronto, where everyone was suck in their own little words and existing in parallel with each other. This would never work in a place like Avonlea where everyone was in everyone else's business. In the far corner sat a group of elderly women who gossiped about their family woes, a couple sat by the window enjoying a respectable tea with a chaperone looking board out of her mind. A collection of tradesmen sat for their morning cup of tea before returning to their tasks for the day. In the center of it all sat an unlikely pair. And yet, no one paid them any attention.

Anne didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. Oh, how she had waited for this moment for so long she could hardly believe it. The days leading up to it, were a whirlwind of quick letter replies and long waits for responses. But finally, when a letter had arrived that Saturday morning she could hardly contain her joy and disbelief. Finally. At last.

"My name is Hannah now" her soft voice added before Anne could say anything. Hannah didn't seem to even encompass anything of her character, it was such an ordinary name for such an extraordinary woman. Her hair was tied neatly in a sensible bun and she wore a brown skirt and neat white blouse. A world away from her bright smile, red cheeks and ribbon woven braids that Ka'kwet used to wear.

"How are you?" Anne almost didn't recognize herself in the frail sound of the voice. Perhaps because her mind was doing its best to make sense of the situation that her voice was just words.

"I am well thanks to the grace of God, Anne. I hope you are well too?" she asked. Anne couldn't recognize the girl in front of her either. They were both strangers to her, almost as if she stood at her hern of the table watching the pair interact in a bittle and uncharted manner.

"I am well. I am recently married. To Gilbert Blythe actually, he used to purchase items from your tribe" Anne's words dipped into muddy waters, as Hannah flinched at her words. Hannah wasn't sure if she was uncomfortable about the word tribe, or the fact that they were no longer – hers.

"I am glad that you found happiness. You have continued writing that is how I found you. After I graduated the residential school, I saw it in the paper." She added.

"Did you like it? The article?" somehow the opinion of this one person meant so much more than all those who came before.

"I did. But that world is one of the past. I do not know those customs anymore" it broke both their hearts to hear that said out loud.

"I visited them, my husband works in medicine and many of the treatments are being recommended all over Canada and in France." Anne added not meeting her eye and stared at her now cold tea. "Hannah, could I ask, what happened there? I visited so many times but was always turned away." Anne met her eye again.

"The sisters wanted us to get accustomed to our new lives. There was no room for distractions. I am very grateful to them for everything" she mumbled like a string of sentences she had learnt by the top of her head. Anne could tell that she didn't mean a single word of it. There was more that Hannah wasn't telling her, so much more, her warm brown eyes looked like they had lived a thousand lives. It was a look that Anne unfortunately recognized in herself when her heart and mind were held hostage in the orphanage and the countless abusive homes she was made to stay in. It felt as if a knife stabbed her heart and twisted itself around and around. Anne hated that she could not do more for Kakquit, for her friend, who's soul was stolen.

"I lived in an orphanage before I went to Prince Edward Island, the girls there were horrible. It was horrible. Some nights I close my eyes and I see it, and it scares me. I know what it is like...." She started.

"You. Know. Nothing" Hannah said without thinking. "Sorry" she whispered quickly.

"Then tell me Ka'kwet "Anne leaned forward and looked around the busy teahouse "because I am the only one in this place who can remotely identify with your story. Please, I need to know" It had been so long since she had heard that name, her name.

"I work as a servant now. I was beaten, my identity and family were taken. I have no home, no people. I walk along the road and people still hide in fear, as if I will harm them. When your people have done nothing but harm me. I got pregnant, but I lost the child. I suppose that I am lucky, because God knew that the child would have been treated worse than I. I am the lucky one, because they didn't use me to test medicine on or I didn't die of the sicknesses, we were always sick" her voice was deathly calm as she spoke, her eyes dancing around the grains of wood on the table, before finally reaching back to Annes. "I am lucky" she shrugged.

"You have a family, Hannah. You have me." Anne didn't realize that her eyes were full of tears. "We have each other and I have a home for you. A place you can come to whenever you need, you do not need to brave this world on your own, not when I am here for you." And for the first time, Anne meant every single word.