12. Who is allergic to flowers?

It is pretty late, but I can’t manage to fall asleep. Even when everybody else in the house is sleeping, including Milo, whose snoring I hear all the time. I think and re-think: how come we are all so different? Some people can’t touch, hear, speak, or see. I have never talked to somebody who can’t speak. “Well, I wouldn’t see them, and they wouldn’t speak.” It sounds even funny to me. But we could probably manage to play something. Or play with Milo. It would not matter when it comes to playing with him.

However, tomorrow at school I can have a talk about this with Timo, Dan, and Isabella. I have really never asked if there is something they can’t do. Furthermore, a good thing about this week is that on Friday is the birthday of Maggy. She is a friend from school. We went to kindergarten together, but now she is in a different class. Last year I was also invited to her birthday party, and it was a blast. We had popcorn, candy, cake and all. Her parents really know how to throw good parties. However, last year Mum helped me get something for her. She said that I could not pick it myself, because I would not know what to give her. I still don’t know why, considering that I have talked to her more than Mum. Or perhaps it is because she is a girl, and girls can be complicated sometimes.

Let me explain: Some time ago, we celebrated the birthday of Aunty Eva. Lily wrote a letter for her, Mum bought some flowers and a couple more things. And, well… me? Nothing. But I did not want to show up to her birthday party empty-handed. It would have been easy if she were a kid, so that I could have given her a teddy bear, a doll, a ball, or any other thing. But she is old. According to Mum, she is very old. “When you are walking next to Aunty Eva, be slow because she is old, and she can’t walk fast. Also, speak loudly to her,” Mum always says. Oh! By the way, she also has a white cane. Even though Mum says it is not a white cane, it is only a cane. I don’t understand why people change names for the same things that we use in the same way.

Anyway, I decided to also give her some flowers. Unfortunately, I was not allowed to go to the flower shop myself, nor did I have money. “The garden!” I thought. In our backyard, Mum has done a great job growing a wonderful garden. There are many different flowers to touch and smell. Lily asked me if I needed help in the garden, but I was pretty sure I could handle myself. I went to the garden, and without losing a minute of time, I started touching and smelling, touching and smelling. It was in mid-summer, so it felt like I was in a candy shop. It took me around fifteen to twenty minutes to carefully select and collect the flowers and plants I wanted. It was a big bunch. I got back into the house, and yes, Lily helped me wrap them up as a bouquet. I am very bad at wrapping gifts. She said that there were too many flowers and that some of them she would change. “No!” I told her, because I meticulously picked each one of them.

Afterward, we drove a long way to Aunty Eva. She lives outside the city. As soon as we arrived, I screamed: “Happy Birthday!” And she got really excited. But she said she could not touch some of the flowers because she was allergic to some of them. Also, it seems the bouquet was too big for her house, and she also said she preferred only yellow flowers. You see, regardless the age, girls are just complicated.