The Hired Boy |Ruby Gillis & Jerry Baynard|

Seven | waltz of the broomstick

It was no easy task calming a distressed Ruby Gillis down. But Anne, despite her oddities, was gifted with a certain understanding of humans and soon Ruby was wiping away the last of her tears.

"Marilla will be able to clean this dress up in no time at all. And meanwhile you can wear this." Anne handed Ruby her brown dress. "It wouldn't be the first time you've borrowed one of my dresses so we know it fits." Anne smiled at her friend who was sitting on her bed.

It was almost more difficult to convince Ruby that she should continue her "hired hand lessons" with Jerry than it was to get her to stop crying. But, again, Anne managed it. Ruby liked Ms. Stacey very much and she did want to please her by doing well in class, and the only way to do that was to learn from Jerry what it was like to be a hired hand.

After breakfast, Ruby went back outside with Jerry. This time Anne was accompanying so it was more enjoyable. They fed the chickens, gathered eggs, and cleaned out a dirty stall before going inside to eat lunch.

After their meal, Anne departed and Jerry proposed that they go chop some wood. Ruby, who remained convinced that chopping wood was boy's work, was much less than enthusiastic about this idea.

While Jerry chopped steadily away at the logs in front of him with skill and experience, Ruby struggled beside him with a second axe. She was quite the pathetic figure, struggling to swing the axe up and over her head. Admittedly it was quite heavy, but if Ruby had given it more effort she likely would've had more success.

As she worked, Ruby felt like crying again. She'd always been quite emotional. It wasn't that Ruby was a new comer to hard work. Her family were farmers as well, but Ruby preferred what she considered "ladylike tasks" like baking and sewing.

Although he pretended otherwise, Jerry was quite aware of the difficulties Ruby was having. Throughout the whole process, he was watching the blonde girl out of the corner of his eye.

Not wanting to over work the girl Jerry asked, after about a half an hour or so at the task, "Would you like to take a break?"

Ruby dropped the axe faster than if she'd been holding a burning coal. "Yes! My arms hurt!"

While Ruby examined her hands, Jerry picked up her axe from the dirt and leaned it against the tree stump she had been chopping on. Then he sat on the ground and looked up at Ruby. He patted the grass covered ground. "You can sit down if you'd like."

Ruby hesitated before sitting beside the boy. "This is real hard work," she said.

Jerry nodded. From his pocket he pulled some bread he'd saved from lunch. It was carefully wrapped in a slightly less than clean handkerchief. He undid the cloth and offered a slice to Ruby.

"No thank you," said Ruby politely. She eyed the dirty handkerchief.

Jerry shrugged. "Suit yourself."

As Jerry ate, Ruby's gaze wandered across the Green Gables yard and to the it porch. Anne was dancing about upon it with what looked to be a broomstick draped in Anne's own apron.

Ruby frowned. "What is Anne doing?"

Jerry looked up. "Anne is always doing strange things," Jerry told Ruby. "You get used to it eventually."

"What else does she do?" asked Ruby eagerly. Although she knew Anne was odd, she'd never really been witness to Anne's private imaginary sessions like Jerry had.

Jerry swallowed down a large chunk of bread. "Once I found her giving a recitation to a clump of daffodils."

Ruby giggled. "Really?"

Jerry looked around in surprise at the girls laugh, and then looked quite pleased with the success of his story.

"And another time I found her dressing up pinecones on the porch," said Jerry. "She said she was pretending to be a maid for a royal family who was actually a spy from a neighboring kingdom." Jerry shrugged. "Most of the time I do not have any idea what she is talking about."

"Neither do I!" exclaimed Ruby. "She says the strangest things!"

"And does the strangest things."

They both looked at the porch where Anne was now humming loudly and waltzing with the broomstick while her red braids flew in opposite directions.

The door of Green Gables flew open and Marilla Cuthbert poked her head out. Ruby and Jerry could hear her from across the yard.

"Anne Shirley, what're you doing? You're supposed to be sweeping the porch!"

Anne dropped the broom in alarm and then scrambled to pick it up. "Oh, I am sorry, Marilla! I was imagining I was at a ball and —"

"Never mind what you were imagining, take your apron off if the room and finish sweeping." Marilla disappeared back into Green Gables.

"Yes, Marilla!" Anne called after her. She got her apron back from the broom and started sweeping, but continued to hum the same tune that had accompanied her previous waltzing.

With no more of Anne's antics to amuse them, Jerry and Ruby fell into silence. Jerry continued eating bread while Ruby absently smoothed out the fabric on the skirt of Anne's brown dress.

"I was wondering —" Jerry finished off his bread and folded up hid handkerchief. "Do you know if Diana likes anyone?" Jerry sent Ruby a furtive glance from beneath his cap.

Ruby's eyebrows rose in surprise. "Diana? I don't know. Why?"

Jerry shrugged not looking at Ruby. "Just wondering."

"Do you like her?" asked Ruby, confused.

Jerry shrugged again. 

"Oh." Ruby stared at the boy. "I could ask her, if you'd like."

It was Jerry's turn to be surprised. "That would be kind of you." He stood. "We'd better get back to work."

Ruby nodded but didn't immediately stand. She'd been so convinced that Jerry liked her, it was quite unsettling for him to ask about Diana. Ruby had liked the idea of somebody liking her, even it was just Jerry.

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A/N: sorry to anyone who tried to read this when I updated earlier. It was a false alarm. I accidentally hit publish. Also, I relate to Ruby in the chapter. Several my dad tried to teach me to chop wood and I bawled my eyes out, lol.