Helen Speaks

Introduction (including more about Teddy): https://helenspeaks.wordpress.com/2025/04/06/lucy-skylarks-magical-year/

Characters: https://helenspeaks.com/characters/

When Lucy met Suki https://helenspeaks.com/2025/04/06/lucy-skylark-entry-1-10th-march/

Dear Vera,

Suki’s eggs have hatched! They are dear little chicks, although very noisy, and since she is on her own, Suki needs a lot of help getting enough food for them.

Teddy does not like this. He wasn’t fond of Suki anyway, and, now there are a whole brood of chicks too, he is very restless. He is in and out of his case, and always bugging me to take him out for a walk around town.

Oh, I didn’t mention, did I? Coastal Coffee have taken me on, just once a week, but it’s something. I did my first shift and Teddy was not happy that I was out and he couldn’t come with me. I told him that I didn’t want to take the case to the café and that it’s unprofessional to take your friend to work with you but he seemed really down about it. I don’t know my new colleagues very well yet, but they all seemed nice enough, and I’ve just been training to use the coffee machine and the till. But when I got back, Suki and Teddy were howling at each other, Suki saying that Teddy was disturbing the chicks and Teddy saying the chicks were disturbing him, and then he started telling her ghoulish stories about how he went upstate in New York as a little boy and used to knock down bird’s nests. Suki was really rattled by that, and I don’t blame her.

I felt like a child last week but this week I felt like a parent! I told Teddy firmly that we were going out, and we went for a walk, but for a long time we were both silent and I think he could sense just how annoyed I was.

After a while, he said, “I never did that to no birds’ nests. Just a story I got told. I thought it was cruel…”

“Yes, it was cruel.”

He was quiet. He looked ashamed. I remembered how I had felt last week, when Mrs Webfoot scolded me. I’d needed Suki’s kindness and understanding so much.

“You seem really unhappy, Teddy,” I said. “I know Suki can be difficult. Maybe we need… ground rules. Some way you can both be happy. And she won’t be around forever. When her chicks can fly…”

Teddy shrugged, but he seemed to relax. “Yeah, I know. I just… it’s so lonely, bein a ghost.”

I suddenly wondered how he’d died. He does only seem about my age.

“And it’s hard being stuck at home too,” I said. I thought about the long summer holidays, the time I’d made a whole indoor garden to keep away the boredom. “Did you really go to the countryside?”

He shrugged. “I never went. Just sometimes Central Park, after dark!”

“We could bring a little countryside inside,” I said. I looked around. It was getting dark but I could see a clump of wildflowers struggling to bloom through the cracks in the concrete. I got down and whispered to them and… they sort of climbed into my hands.

“Wow, I never knew you could do that…”

I smiled. “And I never knew I could fix a gap in space like darning a sock! But you helped me. You help me so much, Teddy, and I want you to be happy. Can I put these in your case?”

“Of course!”

I took them home and we made our own little garden in a box on the window. And we talked to Suki and aired out some feelings. The garden is for me and Teddy, and Suki is happy to leave it alone. He can’t do much but he can make sure that they don’t scorch in the sun and even mist them a bit! He’s so proud. “I never growed nothing before,” he told me.

Things seem a bit happier here! I hope you’re well. Please pass on my love to everyone.

Your friend,

Lucy.

Question: Do you like growing and looking after plants?

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Next entry: https://helenspeaks.com/2025/04/07/lucy-skylark-entry-5-2nd-april/

Next entry about Teddy and Suki: https://helenspeaks.com/2025/04/14/lucy-skylark-entry-7-14th-april/