Doctor ~ G.Blythe [1]

thirty-six.

+ family tree +

I sat at my desk next to Jane, all of them being moved into a horse shoe around the front on the class as we all sat in our chairs, listening to Diana as she read our from a piece of paper she was holding, which had written on it her project from last week, which was to find out about your family tree.

Jane and I both had fountain pens in our hands as we did some writing for the newspaper, the article I was copying from a separate piece of paper being the one Anne had written about the hockey match, Jane making a crossword. "And I can trace my grandfather's family line back to 1303, when my ancestor, Lord Pembroke, negotiated a famous peace treaty with Scotland on behalf of England" Diana said as he looked up at all of us, Miss Stacy listening intently from her desk.

"His daughter, Lady Charlotte, went on to wed Earl of Canterbury, so I have some very distant cousins in Kensington Palace" Diana finished as she closed her book, nodding her head as Moody let out a breath, clearly impressed about her royal lineage. "That's it" Diana said as I nodded my head, continuing to write as Jane looked over at me and raised her eyebrows quickly. "Well done, Diana" Miss stacy said as she clapped her hands quickly, looking over at Gilbert who was leaning against a desk with his arms folded, nodding his head.

"I have no notes" He said as Diana nodded his head at him, moving around to his desk as Anne nodded her head in agreement. "None from me either, bedsides to say that your lineage sounds like a fairytale" Anne said as Miss Stacy stood up, holding up a piece of paper as we all looked over at her, putting down the pen to avoid ink leaking onto the article I was copying for the 10th time. "I've just proofed the article on the Mi'kmaq Indians that Anne wrote, and it's excellent" she said as she walked around her desk to stand in front of us.

We all held our breaths for a moment before she passed it over to Josie, thankful that we didn't have to write even more than we currently were. "Now that our circulation is growing outside the confines of our school, I'm sure everyone will be riveted" Miss Stacy exclaimed as Josie let out a sigh, taking the article in her hands as she read over it. "But Anne is so wordy" she moaned as Miss Stacy looked over at her with a soft sympathetic look.

"It's the price you pay for your beautiful penmanship" She said as she took her position in the middle of the horseshoe, everyone still watching her as we waited for what she was going to say. "But take heart l, I have some good news" she told us as I sat on top of my hands, wondering why she was going to tell us. "I've got a line on a printing press" she said as we all gasped, whispering to each other, mostly in excitement for not having to write repeatedly all day.

"It's broken, but - fingers crossed I'll be able to repair it" she said as we all talked to each other, never having actually seen a printing press in action before. Soon we'll be more than a school paper.
We'll be publishing for all of Avonlea" she told us as we all clapped, continuing to talk as she made her way back to her desk, looking down at her book. "Let's see who's next on the Getting to Know You beat" she said as she read over the list quickly.

"Anne Shirley-Cuthbert" she announced as a i picked up my pen again, continuing to the write the sentence I hadn't finished yet, glancing down at the proof copy every so often. "I am a mystery shrouded in an enigmatic riddle, the end" Anne said simply before clasping her hands in front of her, sitting back down as we all looked up at her, expecting a little bit of a longer presentation than that. "I'm an orphan" she said simply as we all nodded our heads, my eyes drifting back down to me writing.

"I don't have any information about my lineage, just skip to the next person" Anne said as Miss Stacy nodded her head, a bit flustered as she looked down at her book with the role call on it once again. "Catherine Prewett" she read out as I looked up, nodding my head as I put the lid back on my pen, knowing that my full name was on the roll call rather than my nickname. "Anne please come with me" Miss Stacy said as the two left the room, my fingers flipping through my notebook to try and find the page I had written on as Gilbert turned to look towards me with an encouraging smile.

"I managed to trace back to my great grandfather on my paternal side" I started as I held my book in my hand, looking up to see everyone's eyes on me, making me look straight back down at my book. "My family wasn't always from Australia considering it was only colonised at the beginning on the century, but I managed to discover that my great grandfather was a vicar in a small church in the east of England" I read off of the page, not wanting to look up, though I did seeing Gilbert looking at me which sort of soothes the nerves in the pit of my stomach.

"My grandfather was also born in england and pursued medicine, which was were my families fortune was founded, as he was one of the doctors who discovered morphine, the painkilling drug" I added, looking down at my book before holding it further away from my face, not needing it much anymore as I had it memorised already. "He moved to Australia which is where he met my grandmother, and my father was born" I said as I closed the book, setting it back down on the table.

"And then he met my mother and that's it" I said as I sat back down, everyone clapping as I smiled over at Jane who was still looking at me with an impressed look on her face. "Your grandfather invented morphine?" Moody asked me as I nodded my head, looking over at Gilbert who was looking at me quite intrigued on that information, which I know meant he would definitely be asking my father about that when they were at the clinic one day.

"That was very interesting, Kate" Charlie said with a smile as she nodded his head, causing me to thank him before Tillie stood up, ready to give her presentation as I picked up my pen once again, continuing to copy down the article.

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A/N: I had to do so much googling for this chapter I hope you all appreciate it lol
I completely made this up btw don't read too much into it about whoever discovered morphine please and thank you
please vote and comment and I will see you soon