Daisy’s Secret

Daisy had a great affinity with the flowers she was named after. Her mother was the love child of two flower children from the sixties. Daisies grandparents were very proud of her and had taught her how to make daisy chains which she brought into school occasionally. Daisy had a secret she never shared with adults particularly flower children who seemed very odd, even if they were her grandparents. She had seen the pictures of them at various festivals wearing nothing more than the daisy chains they had shown her how to make.

As much as she loved her grandparents those photos were a step too far for her and she tried to disappear politely as soon as they attempted to show them.

At Christmas her granda tended to take out a CD showing similar pictures of other people like him and  Grannie. She had asked him was he drunk when they ran around without clothes, covered only in daisies and all he would say was “Not quite”. She didn't know what he meant by that but felt it was safer to leave it. She suspected they had a secret but then, so did she.

In the rockery at the end of her garden there are a lot of flowers but in one corner is a collection of daisies, lots of different varieties. She often crawled in there and played with her secret friends.

There were four of them and she called them Silly, Smiley, Ben and Sophie. They were all fairies but had different personalities and she tried to reflect this in the names she gave them. She was sure they had fairy names but she preferred to name them herself. She had given them these names before they became friends as they seemed to be afraid of her but now they seemed to have no problem answering to them.

She couldn't remember how young she was when she first came across them but it was a few years ago and they scarpered very quickly then.

Even now she creeps up on them very quietly so as not to disturb them and they always notice her at the last moment. She was finally becoming good friends with them and had good fun most of the time. Sometimes they weren’t there and she still didn’t know where they lived or what type of house it was.

They often disappeared like magic when they wanted and never said where they were going. At first she thought this was very rude but then realised that fairies were different to humans and probably had good reason for what they did.

Some of the books in school were about fairies and her teacher, Mr Thomas, said they weren't real. She knew different but couldn't say anything. Why she wasn't sure, but was old enough to realise that if she did he and the rest of the class would only laugh. Even her crazy grandparents wouldn't believe it.

Only last week she had received a sting on the back of her hand from a nasty bee and she went all red up to her wrist. She was close to her fairy corner when smiley appeared followed by the rest. They said nothing but placed some fairy ointment on it and within seconds it was better. She had no idea how they knew about the sting, another mystery.  This added to her secret and certainly she couldn't tell any adults or they would think she was exaggerating.

This was her secret and a secret it was going to stay for as long as possible.

JC-Dublin-A City defined by it's fairytale's.