In case you haven’t been able to tell in this blog series, one of my favorite literary characters is Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables. Both she and the author that wrote her, L. M. Montgomery stand for a freedom of the mind that was fought hard for and won. L. M. Montgomery empowered women with her words and teaching. Anne, though a fictional character, did the same. I hope I am, or will some day be doing the same. I believe in the freedom of the mind and of the spirit. We must be able to think and speak for ourselves in a way that empowers who we were created to be. As this is the last Sunday of October, I will again share a piece of my novel, Emma’s Journey, with you. I couldn’t write my first novel without paying tribute to one of my favorite characters. I hope you enjoy it. If you do, please do me a favor and subscribe to my blog. That’s the best way to guaruantee you will always receive a new post from me. Happy reading!
By the time Emma was back, there were only a couple of hours before she had to be at the bookstore. It was Halloween, and Emma still worried about her decision to let everyone dress up as a literary character. She hoped she didn’t regret it.
She let herself into David’s house once again. Jenny ran up to tell her and Lady hello. Together, all three of them entered the house. Emma turned on the heat. She didn’t have enough time to try her hand at making another fire.
She went to the closest and carefully pulled out the costume she’d left. She had tried it on at the playhouse, so she knew it fit, but there were other details that needed fine-tuning. Emma decided to take a shower and start fresh with getting ready for the evening. Once in her robe, she carefully laid out everything she would need to become her favorite literary character.
An hour later, she stood in front of the bathroom mirror. She
used a light brown eye pencil to dab freckles on her nose and cheeks. Having auburn hair and skin a slight shade darker than fair, Emma closely fit her character’s traits. Her character was redheaded, green-eyed, and fair skinned with freckles, so Emma added the freckles.
When she was done, she took a good look at herself in the mirror. Her hair was in two braids, one on each side of her head. The dress she wore was as close as she could get to the time-period of her character. It was blue-and-white gingham that stopped at her knees. Emma had purchased some white knee high stockings and black Mary Jane flats to wear with the outfit. She topped it all off with a straw hat she pinned to her head.
“I’ll be back later, Lady. You and Jenny play nice while I’m gone,” she said as left.
Emma arrived at the store to find only Gary out on the floor.
“Where is everyone?” she asked.
Gary turned from the table of refreshments he was setting up. He stammered, unsure what to say. “Christine is in the bathroom changing into her costume. I’m going to change into mine when she’s done. Karl said you went back to Texas.”
“Well, I thought I was, but I decided to stay. What about
Karl?” Emma asked. “Where is he?”
“He went home to change, and then I think he was going to get Ben and Nicole. Stacy has to work tonight, so he’ll take them trick-or-treating.”
Gary looked at Emma for the first time. He stared for a minute.
It made Emma nervous. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“Nothing, I wasn’t sure if you were going to dress up.” Gary’s cheeks were red from being caught staring. “It looks very nice.
What character are you?”
“You can’t tell?” Emma said.
“Good grief, Gary, she’s Anne Shirley.” Christine came up from behind them. “Anybody can see that.”
Gary still had a questioning look on his face. “You’ve never read Anne of Green Gables have you?” Christine asked.
