Helen Speaks

Introduction: https://helenspeaks.wordpress.com/2025/04/06/lucy-skylarks-magical-year/

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

Dear Vera,

Mrs Edgwood came by again yesterday, but thankfully not to gush about Olive Framley again! She wondered if I could give her niece a hand with her biology homework, because I was so clever with plants. Which was nice! I have helped nurse Mrs Webfoot’s houseplants back to health, mostly without magic, and it was good to feel that maybe I have made an impression beyond being less impressive that the other teenage witch in town.

I did tell her that I’ve not even been to school in the last three or four months, but she seemed to think that anything I could do would be useful. I know I’ve said it would be nice to have a new friend my own age, but I suddenly felt nervous. After all, Olive Framley had just looked down on me and then vanished.

I didn’t need to worry. Mrs Edgwood’s niece was called Suniya and she was funny and kind. And she clearly knew more about biology than me, but we talked about plants anyway. Magic and science aren’t the same thing but I think that’s ok. Science is about knowing and magic is about feeling and being. Suniya was really intrigued about why I don’t go to school. With her exams this year, she sounded a bit jealous and I don’t blame her.

I told her it’s tradition and then I told her what you’d told me… that being a witch is a path we have to find alone. It doesn’t mean that I can’t do exams or learn, but first I have to find my own path. And that can be a lonely thing. I miss Mum and Dad and I miss Grainthorpe, sometimes so much it hurts. Sometimes I wonder why I started this. But I know it’s the right path for me, and that’s the important thing.

Mrs Webfoot made us cakes and fussed around us like she was our aunty. It was nice. I didn’t introduce Suniya to Teddy or Suki and her chicks – not just yet. For a little while, it was nice to just be an ordinary teenager. I hope that’s ok!

Lots of love to you and everyone in Grainthorpe,

Lucy.

Question: Do you remember being introduced to someone as a child just because you were the same age? Did you become friends?

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Next entry: https://helenspeaks.com/2025/04/20/lucy-skylark-entry-9-20th-april/

Next entry about Suniya: https://helenspeaks.com/2025/05/07/lucy-skylark-entry-12-7th-may/