The Three of Us

13. Onion Baby

Anne looked depressed at that thought. "You don't understand. The more it eats, the bigger it will get!"

Gilbert thought that didn't make much sense- it was going to get bigger regardless of what Anne ate. But he said, "It won't grow any faster than it should."

"I suppose," Anne said with a sigh.

"Anyway, it must be very small, to not even be seen," Gilbert pointed out.

"But it keeps eating."

He tried to sound more convincing: "It's so small, Anne- even if it gets a little bigger, I bet you won't even see it. I bet you'll have a good long time before it gets big enough to notice."

They were quiet a moment.

"The thing is..." she began, feeling foolish. "The thing is, I'm...I'm sort of afraid of it."

"You mean, for it to be born?"

"No," Anne said. "Just...of it. The Thing. Just afraid of The Thing in general."

He wasn't sure what to say. He watched her. Finally he shook his head. "It's too small to be afraid of."

Anne sighed.

Gilbert looked around. What could he do?

He saw the onion. "Look, I bet it's no bigger than this onion! You can't be afraid of something as little as this onion, can you?"

Anne looked at the onion doubtfully.

Gilbert grabbed Anne's pen from where she'd laid it across the top of her inkwell.

"Now," he said as he worked, "There."

He showed Anne the onion. It had a face. Gilbert had given it a goofy face, with big bulging eyes, curly lashes, a nose shaped like a squash, and a big silly grin with a tongue hanging out.

Anne couldn't help laughing just a little bit at the face he'd drawn.

Seeing that she'd lightened up, he added to it: "Uh-oh. It hasn't got any clothes on. What a scandal. How can I fix this?"

He glanced around. He leaned out to grab a tea towel. "Is it a boy onion or a girl onion?"

Anne smiled. "I don't know."

"It'll be a girl onion," Gilbert decided. He pulled the tea towel around the onion.

"That's the longest skirt in the world," Anne laughed.

Gilbert accidentally dropped the onion and it rolled down into the tea towel. He fished around for it and pulled it out.

Retrieving it, he gave it a critical look. "Doesn't have any legs," he said with a frown.

"We have toothpicks," Anne said, jumping up to get them.

She watched as Gilbert gave the onion arms and legs.

"They're awfully skinny limbs," Gilbert said.

"That's all right," she answered. "Mine are, too."

"Hmmm," Gilbert said. "It's not quite done. What else does it need?"

"Hair," Anne told him.

Gilbert thought a moment. "Got any cinnamon? I can make it stick with butter."

"Cinnamon! No, I won't give you any cinnamon. You're going to make red hair!"

Gilbert smiled sheepishly. Anne laughed. "I'd rather it be bald than have red hair."