The Perfect Gift

Chapter 11

Mary's father was waiting for them at the mercantile when they got back. Anger flushed his face.

"WHERE WERE YOU? I WOULD HAVE EXPECTED BETTER FROM YOU!" he yelled directly at Mary. Then to make things a whole lot worse, Rex came out from behind the door.

Trying to calm down, Mary's father spoke.

"What is that FILTHY dog doing in MY SHOP?!!"

"Filthy? Pa, look at him. Isn't he the sweetest? I promise he's clean!" Mary tried to persuade her father.

"Get him OUT! OUT! NOW!"

"No."

"WHAT did you just say to me?"

"I said no. He's Samuel's best friend... well besides me." Mary looked at Samuel and saw him nod his head.

"I DON'T CARE if he's Samuel's ONLY friend or not - the dog stays outside!"

"But -"

"No other option here, Mary. Now both of you go and put the dog outside. END of discussion."

Mary looked past her father, to see Annabelle seated at the table. She was mouthing the word go.

"Let's go," Mary whispered to Samuel beside her.

They walked out and Samuel told Rex to stay outside. Mary was fascinated by how well Rex listened to him. Then after a few minutes, Annabelle slowly came out through the porch door and shut it again behind her.

"Mary. Samuel, is it? Please do come in for supper now and try your best to stay calm with your father. He's - well... had a rough evening."

Mary wondered what she meant by her words, but decided she was right, and that she should eat supper first, and then they could talk reasonably after a full stomach, or at least as full as she would be. So she and Samuel walked back into the mercantile with Annabelle and quickly washed their hands and sat at the table. Annabelle sat down as well. Mary's father went to his office and grabbed his chair and brought it to the table and called down John and told him to carry down his and Mary's rocking chair from their bedroom, that way, everyone could be seated at the table.

Mary hadn't been in her room since the night before, but if she had been able to spend any time in there, the rocking chair would be the first place she would've thought to go to. The rocking chair had been in her family for years, and she always found it fascinating to see all the signatures of her relatives on the underside of the chair. The story behind the rocking chair was also quite significant. Annabelle's great great great grandfather worked as a woodworker. Everytime he would finish building a new piece of furniture or a new toy, he would carve his name into an unnoticed part of the item. And so, the tradition goes that anyone who holds possession of the chair, and has accomplished something big, gets to sign their name in the chair. Annabelle's name was carved, but Mary's father, John, or Mary herself still waited for a time to come for their names to be carved into the chair. Mary's mother had one of the best inscriptions on the chair. Mary's mother had gone to a special school and had learned from very wise people, and so she was a very smart lady. Most women were not able to go to school. They were often too busy with housework and treated less importantly, but Mary's mother went before she got married and let nothing stand in the way of her dreams.

Mary would always sit in the chair and dream of the day that she would get to carve her name in the chair. The carving wasn't all that the chair held however. Her mother would always sit and read stories that she had brought back from her school like Little Women and one that she said was brand new when she first arrived at her school, Anne of Green Gables. Those were her favorites. Her mother could read very well, unlike the rest of them, and started to teach Mary and her brother, but fell too ill to see properly and couldn't pursue teaching them. She would always let Mary in on her secrets, and Mary knew that she always wanted to be a teacher. Good memories were stored in her head with thoughts about the rocking chair, and she couldn't ever imagine giving it away or losing it.

John was taking a long time to bring down the rocking chair. Doing it carefully, Mary assumed, which she was very thankful for. Mary knew that John wasn't the strongest, but something was very off. He was taking way too long to bring it down, she thought. I better help him. Maybe it would help keep me on Pa's good side for supper. Mary stood up and walked towards the stairs. She started to help John and then looked up at his face, expecting to see agony. Instead, she was reminded of John's eye. So this is why he's hiding! Mary thought to herself, almost with some enthusiasm. I'm not the only one who will be on Pa's bad side. This should be interesting.