Last Of Spirit Bear

Garden

Lily sat at the edge of her mattress, looking over at Esperanza who sat on the floor completing a crossword puzzle.

"We could go outside and tend to the garden, if you want. I know you said you cant plant much anymore since moving." Lily said calmly. "But it's completely up to you," She quickly added after pausing for a bit to study Esperanza. She didn't want to force her into anything.

Esperanza stopped sketching and looked up at Lily. She was almost jealous of her, she always looked so uneffortlessly pretty, and she got along great with people, the opposite of Esperanza. She was often to scared to ever talk to people.

"Sure," She replied quietly.

Yehl was in the kitchen cooking up a storm, while Garvey watched in horror as his daughter burnt the food he was planning to feed everyone, including the guest. "Yehl, sweetie, dont you think you've cooked it enough?" Garvey coughed as smoke enveloped the air.

Yehl just continued pouring seasonings onto the burnt food, way to much seasoning if you asked Lily or literally anyone else in the world. Lily could just taste the burnt, badly seasoned pot roast she'd be forced to eat later.

Lily covered her nose and hurried out the door, with Esperanza quickly following.

"That smelt like shit." Esperanza laughed as she practically gasped for fresh air.

"Right? Shes horrible at cooking, yet our dad still hasn't given up on trying to teach her. I think my taste buds are officially either burnt off or just ruined."

Esperanza just laughed as she knelt down next to a withering rose, picking at it's fallen petals.

"It's sad, the weather gets so bad we can hardly plant anything," Lily sighed as she examined the once thriving and vibrant withering plants and flowers. "But we can still get alternatives for the winter, like violas or cyclamens!"

Esperanza perked up a bit when she heard that. "Violas? Ive never heard of them before, but there's a instrument with the same title. I used to play cello in orchestra, so I would know."

Lily knelt down next to her. "Really? Ive never heard of a viola before, only violins, cellos, yknow?"

Esperanza chuckled a bit. "Thats normal, most people don't know the viola or mistake it for a violin. Not to mention the bass, I guess a lot of orchestra stuff is forgotten."

"You should invite me over to your place so you could show me your cello skills!"

Esperanza immediately shook her head and brought her attention to the dirt and gravel.

"Oh, no, uhm, I haven't practiced in a long time and I probably suck ass, you wouldn't want to hear it."

Lily shrugged. "I don't really care if you 'suck ass', 'cause I'm sure your over reacting. I bet your great!" Inside, Lily knew Esperanza was hiding something else. But she wouldn't want to make her uncomfortable, so she kept to herself.

"Mm.. Maybe." Esperanza replied, her gaze still fixed on the ground.

Lily smiled and held out some gloves to her. "Here, so you don't get blisters. We can start with the Viola seeds, then cyclamens. We should plant them.." She glanced around. "There." She pointed toward a empty spot toward the middle of the garden.

-

Lily wiped away the sweat on her forehead and admired the progress they'd made so far. They'd already torn out the weeds that had grown from slight neglect due to cold winter seasons, and dug up a big hole to place the seeds. Now all that was left was to actually plant them and cover them up with the dirt.