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Surprising gifts
Aug. 6th, 2007 02:00 pmThe package had actually arrived on Saturday the fourth, but Anne hadn't opened it that day. She'd recognized the handwriting on it and been more than a little hesitant, not at all sure why Bridget would be sending her anything. But by Monday, her curiosity got the better of her.
The first thing she saw when she opened the box was the butterfly headband, which she vaguely remembered seeing Sarah wear a few times. Below it was the shawl, wrapped around something. Why is she sending me stuff of Sarah's?
When she opened up the shawl and saw what was inside, though, she burst into tears.
Suddenly she understood everything, a lot more than she had. Sarah had, indeed, stolen the shoes and the earrings; Bridget was returning them with "interest," two things she not only knew Sarah valued, but which she coveted herself. Anne could vaguely remember one visit to the Holloway house, a few years earlier, and hearing the two sisters arguing over whether or not Bridget could borrow these very things.
I always envied both of them so much, and they never knew it. They had a mother, and she doted on them... or I thought she did... But now it was much clearer. Sarah had been doted on; Bridget had been as much of an orphan as Anne was. Sarah had gotten the kind of attention that Anne had always longed after, and Bridget, to save face, had pretended she was getting that kind of attention, too. If she'd been more perceptive, Anne would have realized that the pose was just that, a pose.
All this time we could have been friends... She wondered if there was any way they could be now, or if it was too late, if too many cruel barbs had been buried in the things they said to each other for too long.
Maybe she could help Bridget adjust to, and fit into, the school more than she'd planned to. She could at least try; it was a start, right?
She had no idea that these were only the first tears she'd cry over her cousin; so many more would be shed in the months to come.
The first thing she saw when she opened the box was the butterfly headband, which she vaguely remembered seeing Sarah wear a few times. Below it was the shawl, wrapped around something. Why is she sending me stuff of Sarah's?
When she opened up the shawl and saw what was inside, though, she burst into tears.
Suddenly she understood everything, a lot more than she had. Sarah had, indeed, stolen the shoes and the earrings; Bridget was returning them with "interest," two things she not only knew Sarah valued, but which she coveted herself. Anne could vaguely remember one visit to the Holloway house, a few years earlier, and hearing the two sisters arguing over whether or not Bridget could borrow these very things.
I always envied both of them so much, and they never knew it. They had a mother, and she doted on them... or I thought she did... But now it was much clearer. Sarah had been doted on; Bridget had been as much of an orphan as Anne was. Sarah had gotten the kind of attention that Anne had always longed after, and Bridget, to save face, had pretended she was getting that kind of attention, too. If she'd been more perceptive, Anne would have realized that the pose was just that, a pose.
All this time we could have been friends... She wondered if there was any way they could be now, or if it was too late, if too many cruel barbs had been buried in the things they said to each other for too long.
Maybe she could help Bridget adjust to, and fit into, the school more than she'd planned to. She could at least try; it was a start, right?
She had no idea that these were only the first tears she'd cry over her cousin; so many more would be shed in the months to come.