One Innocent Little Kiss

It was a fine spring morning. The birds were singing and the sun was shining and Mary Lennox was up early to do her daily patch of gardening.

She arrived at the long walk in a very happy mood. She felt refreshed by the morning breeze. She looked over her shoulder to make sure nobody was coming. Then she pulled back the ivy, unlocked the door and entered the secret garden – her secret garden.

'The smell is still as lovely as ever,' she thought merrily to herself.

The ten year old hummed as she got to work pulling out weeds of the assigned patch for the day. She carefully dug out the weeds and created more space for flowers to grow. Any pestilential plant was tossed onto a pile for her fire in her room.

"Dickon should be coming soon. He said he would," Mary commented quietly.

Almost in an instant, the robin that had shown her the way to the garden appeared. He had flown to land in a bush nearby. It whistled a jolly little tune.

"Hello. How are you?" she said playfully.

She continued with her work in the company of her feathered friend.

Suddenly, a cheerful voice called, "Mary! I'm here!"

"Dickon! You're back! I haven't seen you for days. Martha told me you would come and visit today. Where on earth have you been?" exclaimed Mary.

"Soot hurt his wing. Not too seriously but I has to look after him for a while."

"Oh, is he alright?"

"Aye, of course. He's as fit as a fiddle."

"That's good." She then moved her attention to the area she was working at. "I've almost finished pulling out all the weeds. I've just got to do a bit more then I'll be done."

"Okay then. Let's get it done quickly together."

For the next few minutes, Mary and Dickon chatted contently to each other whilst finishing the weeding off.

When it was done, Mary stretched her arms out.

"Will you start the planting? I'm off to have breakfast," she requested.

"Of course I will. You deserve a break."

"I'll get some food for a snack as well."

"Okay. Shall I plant the snowdrops first?"

"Yes. And Dickon?"

Dickon also stood up to face her.

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

Mary stood on her tip toes and gave Dickon a small kiss on the cheek.

Warmth spread through the whole of Dickon's body when she did so. The twelve year old boy held Mary's face in his hands and planted a soft kiss on her lips.

"No, thank you Mary."

Mary stumbled away, back to the house – still with a tingling feeling on her lips.