The Three of Us

13. Onion Baby

On Saturday Gilbert came over. It was the first time Anne had seen him since she'd told him her news.

He brought his geometry book- they were both having trouble- and with a test coming up, he thought maybe they could tackle it together.

Anne couldn't seem to concentrate, though, and finally he closed his book. He said, "Maybe we should do something else."

"I'm ready for a break," Anne agreed, stretching and closing her book, too. "I'm hungry. Let's have something to eat."

She got up and moved around the kitchen, trying to decide on a snack. "I still have some Victory Cookies. Do you want some?"

"Sure," Gilbert said. "Sounds good."

Anne put the cookies on a plate and set it on the table. She got two glasses of milk.

"Why are they called Victory Cookies?" Gilbert asked curiously. "What's in them?"

Anne smiled. "They're oatmeal raisin. I call them Victory Cookies because after I made them, Marilla said, 'congratulations, Anne- you've finally had a victory over the oven!' ...Because I normally burn them."

Gilbert laughed. He bit into a Victory Cookie. "Mmm, Anne- these are delicious!"

Anne smiled.

The cookies, which sounded good to her only a moment ago, no longer felt like enough.

"I wish Marilla were here," she said. "I'm hungry for real food- not just cookies- meat and potatoes, and onions, and..." she sighed wistfully. "She doesn't like me to use the stove when I'm by myself."

But then she brightened up. "I'm not by myself, though, am I? You're here."

Anne got a pan and buttered it.

"You don't think she'll mind?" Gilbert asked worriedly.

"No," Anne said, rummaging around for an onion. "She just doesn't want me to do it by myself because she thinks I'll burn down the house."

"Well," said Gilbert. "All right, then. I'll save you from the ravaging flames, if need be. What are you going to cook?"

"I want liver and onions," Anne announced.

Gilbert was not looking forward to the stench of liver and onions.

"Maybe you'd like beef again," he suggested. "We could go to my house. We've still got leftovers."

Anne felt her stomach turn. "No," she said, "No beef. Ugh. It sounds awful."

That was when Gilbert was reminded that Anne was expecting- he realized now that her adoration of beef stew and her subsequent repulsion of it, was probably pregnancy-related. ...The liver and onions might be, too.

"Well, if you have to have liver and onions, then you have to have liver and onions," he conceded.

Anne suddenly stopped and came back to the table. She sat down next to him, seemingly deflated.

"What is it?" Gilbert asked, worried.

Anne sighed. She rolled the onion back and forth between her hands. "I'm hungry all the time."

"Well, that's good, isn't it? You need to eat."

"No," she said, setting the onion down. "I'm probably hungry all the time because...because The Thing is eating all my food!"

Gilbert didn't know how to respond to this. "Shouldn't it? I thought all expecting ladies had to eat more than usual. What's that saying- you're 'eating for two' now?"