From Sarah
Instead of Anne being filled with some inexplicable drive to do Lavender Chelsey's bidding after being so cruelly berated by that girl, as Zoe had written, this reparation has her reacting a lot more realistically, the way Anne would have. She seeks comfort from Miss Stacy, who had been more than just a teacher, but was also a good friend. This takes place just after that terrible tongue-lashing Lavender gives Anne, with people all around, including Elizabeth and Miss Stacy.
--
Elizabeth scowled, and Miss Stacy looked incensed. Something would have to give.
Miss Stacy ran out after Anne until she caught up with her. "Anne, are you all right?" she asked in concern.
Anne sniffled and let a soft sob escape her. "I'm just so discouraged," she lamented. "I thought all the gossip about me was over now and...I have no idea what that girl was talking about, us lying to her about her mother? All I wanted to do was help her, and she called me selfish and a liar and...I didn't do anything wrong!"
""I'm so sorry, Anne," Miss Stacy put an arm around her for a moment to comfort her. "It sounds like that child has some very serious emotional issues. But for every one like her, just think about how many other people there are who really do appreciate what you're doing for them. You do your best, and that's all anyone has a right to ask."
"This was worse than Mrs. Lynde, or Gilbert Blythe calling me Carrots. I didn't lie to her, I didn't even know enough about her to make up a lie in the first place."
"I know, Anne," Miss Stacy said compassionately, "She wasn't making any sense, she might not even have known what she was saying. I can assure you that no one I know of would take her seriously and start disliking you."
Anne sniffed. "I know. But it's just so discouraging. I'd rather she just ignored me than say all these things."
"Shhh, shhh, there there, I know." Miss Stacy responded. "But maybe Lavender will wish she'd stayed quiet as well,when Elizabeth Montague gets through with her. Now come, let's go back to your place before Marilla starts to wonder what's keeping you."
They walked back to Green Gables together.
In the mean time, Lavender was about to find out she would not be allowed to get away with her terrible behavior.
Miss Elizabeth Montague stalked briskly into the room, picked up Lavender and shook her.
"Lavender Chelsey! You should be ashamed of yourself, upsetting Anne Shirley like that! All she's done is try to help and this is what you do in return!"
"How could you be so mean!?" Lavender squealed back. "I'm blind!"
"Listen, child!" Elizabeth said sternly, "Do you think you're the only one who's lost a mother? And you're special and should be treated like a princess and get away with acting like a brat just for being blind? Well, you're wrong! Your behavior is enough to send any mother into hiding - if she even exists..."
"She does exist! She does exist! I saw her! I saw her I saw her I SAW HER!" Lavender shrieked and began kicking her legs and flailing her arms in a tantrum.
"That's enough, now be Quiet!" Elizabeth raised her voice above Lavender's childish tirade, re-enforcing the point with a slap to the face.
Lavender's ego was more bruised than anything else, and tears of rage started to fill her eyes.
Elizabeth remained unmoved. "As for this prattle about seeing your mother at the ball, that's just your over-active imagination playing tricks. More likely, it's just you trying to get all the attention."
"No! I told you I saw her!"
"No one else did." Elizabeth countered.
"Then they're the ones who are blind! Or they're all liars trying to keep her away from me!"
"Now why would anyone do that, Lavender?" Elizabeth probed, trying to get even a trace of something that remotely resembled common sense from the beastly child.
"Because they hate me!" Lavender said.
"Have you given them any reason to like you?" Elizabeth asked.
"They're supposed to be kind to me! I'm a poor blind orphan!"
"Who sees her phantom mother at a dance and goes tearing into a complete stranger because of it."
"My mother is real!" Lavender shouted back, determined to make this woman sorry for her if it took her last breath to do it.
"If she is real, and you want help finding her, you can darn well stop acting like a two-year-old, stop lipping off at everyone and putting on these fainting fits. I don't believe they're real either...And tell us what you can about your mother...Her name, age, show us a picture if you have one. Then maybe we can start getting somewhere! At the rate you're carrying on, all you'll do is land yourself in umteen more orphanages until you're old enough to run one!"
"How could you be so cruel!?" Lavender wailed. "I'm blind! And stop looking at me like you don't believe me!"
"Lavender Chelsey," Elizabeth said in a low, ominous tone, "the next thing out of your mouth better be an apology. You're not crying your way out of this. Now, you stay here and think this over. I will be back."
With that, Elizabeth turned and walked out, shutting the door, leaving Lavender alone with her thoughts.
Two women's voices could be heard. One was Elizabeth's, the other was the woman who had been at the desk.
"I was just about to come and settle her," the desk nurse said, "But I guess you did?"
"She's got a little while to think about it, and if she still doesn't decide to shape up when I return, someone's gonna have to do something about it."
"Good luck, Elizabeth. This girl should be glad she's gonna be living with you and not Mathilda Blewett - well, you know the only reason she wouldn't take the child is because of the...blindness."
"I won't take her in if this is how she is determined to behave. Ever since that disgraceful performance at the dance, I've been having serious second thoughts." replied Elizabeth.
Lavender made a rude face at the wall. So this was the woman who they were going to let her go to. Not at all like the image of the pretty, demure little Elizabeth Montague who, in Lavender's wishful thinking, would speak soft, sweet adorations and pity for the blind child, and cater to her every wish until such a time as her real mother could be found.
The voices faded out for a while as the women seemed to move out of hearing range.
Lavender startled when the door opened after several minutes.
"Well, young lady," Elizabeth said, coming toward her. "Are you ready to go to Anne Shirley's to apologize and promise not to act like that again?"
But Lavender remained as stubborn and unrepentant as ever. She glared hatefully, determined to win this battle and have this woman feel sorry for her or ashamed of herself yet. Then she thought of something to say that she hoped would really hurt Miss Elizabeth. "I'm glad I'm not going to live with you, Miss Elizabeth. You're dark, tall and ugly. You have the ugliest, harshest voice I ever heard, and you shouldn't have yelled at me. You're supposed to be kind to me, I'm blind and i--"
"That's enough!" Elizabeth snapped forcefully. This quieted Lavender's sniveling long enough for Elizabeth to continue. "You might've gotten away with making Anne Shirley run out in tears, but that won't work with me, little girl. I'm not going to ask you again; are you ready to say sorry to Miss Shirley?"
Lavender sat there, pouting sullenly.
"All right, get up." Elizabeth demanded brusquely, seizing Lavender by an arm.
"Ow!"
"Knock it off, I'm not hurting you. Stand up!" Elizabeth got Lavender to stand up hurriedly. "Come on." she said, still holding the girl by the arm.
Lavender struggled, "I don't need you leading me around!"
"So much for the poor blind girl, eh?" Elizabeth challenged.
"Where are you taking me!? Let go of my arm! You're hurting me! And I *am* blind!"
"Blind to consideration for anyone but yourself." Elizabeth responded curtly.
This comment went completely over Lavender's head, so, she couldn't come up with a rude or self-pitying reply as Elizabeth continued hurriedly dragging Lavender along. That was no way to guide a blind person, but Lavender was being treated just like any other child with a bad attitude and terrible manners.
Elizabeth lead her outside and to a water pump.
There, she stopped, and let go of Lavender's arm. "Close your eyes, open your mouth."
"And if I don't?" Lavender challenged defiantly.
"Then you'll get a spanking."
"You wouldn't hit me, I'm blind!"
"You were already slapped once, and I will turn you over my knee if you keep this up." Elizabeth warned her. "Now open your mouth."
As Lavender closed her eyes and opened her mouth, she heard Elizabeth pump water into a bowl, then put it down.
The next thing Lavender was aware of was Elizabeth's arm around her, and something being put into her mouth.
"Blech!!" Lavender spat, struggled wildly, and made many exclamations to show her distaste for the soap in her mouth.
Elizabeth let her go, bent down, picked up the bowl and offered the clean water to her. "Now, rinse." she said.
Lavender did, spitting out mouthfuls of water and yelling rude comments at Elizabeth Montague the whole time.
"Couple more rinses should do it, and then you can take a drink." Elizabeth said, ignoring Lavender's tears and exclamations of how mean and ugly, and unlike her name she was.
When Lavender was finished drinking and rinsing, Elizabeth took her back inside.
"Now, are you ready to go to Anne Shirley's and say you're sorry?"
"No. I just want to sleep." Lavender said irritably.
Elizabeth frowned, exasperated. "Have it your way." she said, and left the room abruptly.
--
So does Lavender shape up after that?
I vote no!
None of the canon characters, not even Anne, the main character in the series, could get through to, let alone straighten her out a little. In the books and movie series, Anne was treading very close to Sue territory, managing to change a lot of series characters for the better. But in this fangirl's fanfic, Lavender Chelsey just trampled in, all over everybody and totally steamrolled over anne. So there was nothing more written after this plot repair that restored two of the series characters to what they should be. This implies that if anything else was written, the other characters would go back to the way they should be once the ill winds of Lavendar Chelsey had blown over.
So, having this other fan's character be the one to succeed in straightening Lav out would make her a bit of a Sue, even if not as odious as Lavender, but generally having some fan-made character out-do canon characters is MS/GS. If Anne couldn't get Lavender to shape up, neither should Elizabeth. So, she fails too, but at least she tried.
What of Lavender's exit? Nobody knows.
She just disappeared from whence she came, out of nowhere, into nowhere.
Perhaps she just hopped a train and rode out of there into the sunset, big chip on her shoulder, sorry for herself as ever, looking for new victims to browbeat into submission to her out of pity. Woe to the next fanbase and series to have her darken their doorstep. This child was just too awful to be redeemed. There is no convincing way to have her turn over a new leaf. Lavender is simply odious from start to finish.
Comment options: