The Three of Us

186. Good

Anne had promised to take Walter to play at the house of one of her grown up friends for the afternoon.

She had been avoiding everyone- not even taking Walter to church, much to Marilla's chagrin- because she was so embarrassed by how he had been acting. But she had finally agreed to an outing because Marilla pointed out that if Walter stopped socializing, he'd be even less likely to learn how to act around people.

So Anne reluctantly took him to Rose Connor's house to play with Dennis. It wasn't long before there was a tantrum- only it wasn't from Walter, it was from Dennis.

Dennis shoved Walter in the chest. Rose rushed to pull Dennis away from the toy he was grabbing right out of Walter's hands, and she told him that if he couldn't behave himself then he couldn't play with Walter at all.

Dennis stomped and screamed because he had wanted the red train engine to drive through the blocks but he had the blue caboose instead, and the whole world would come to an end if he couldn't snatch the red train away from Walter.

Walter did not react when the toy was pulled from his hands, but he looked to Rose for what to do. Rose pulled Dennis away from him, saying, "You go ahead and play, Walter. You haven't done anything wrong. Dennis needs to remember his manners before he can play with you again."

But Dennis did not remember his manners, and continued throwing a fit, his face screwed up in anger, until finally Rose threatened to spank him if he wouldn't stop this at once. He did stop, but then sat pouting because Rose had told him he had to apologize to Walter and he did not want to.

At long last he told Walter he was sorry, and the two went back to playing, the incident forgotten.

Anne was quiet on the walk home.

Rose's husband Charley was one of the kindest, gentlest men she knew. She couldn't imagine a better husband- except for Gilbert, of course.

Yet there was Charley's son, throwing and hitting and being selfish in general. And Anne with all her child care experience knew that children do have little temper tantrums, but she'd been so focused on Walter being like his father that she could not see anything beyond that. But now...maybe it was true, what everyone said- maybe it was just a phase Walter was going through like any other little child. After all, if Dennis could act that way despite having such a lovely father...

Walter reached for her hand, wanting to be closer to her.

Anne let him take her hand absentmindedly.

They strolled along.

"I was good, mama," Walter said suddenly, proud of himself. "I wasn't bad like Dennis."

Anne didn't answer.

"I was good, mama," he repeated, louder this time, pulling on her hand.

Anne stopped. She looked down at him as if considering him for the first time, and impulsively picked him up.

"You're right," she whispered to him. "You are good."

Things were easier in their home that evening.

After supper, Anne took Walter outside to catch lightning bugs. Marilla and Matthew sat on the back porch, amused at the sight. Anne was running around like a little girl again, and Walter was doing his best to imitate his mama.

Once it was too dark to see any longer, they went into the house, the jam jar held tight in Walter's little hands.

Marilla had gotten the tub ready for Walter to have a bath when he came in from playing outside. Anne set the jam jar in the window sill so that his bath could be lit by the flickering lights while he washed, though he was more interested in making soap bubbles than in washing.