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Thursday 2/8/90
Dear Spencer
School has finished for the summer and already I'm wishing that I had more time to myself for something other than chores. Even the little spare time I have had I've spent at the restaurant helping out in return for a proper meal. I don't begrudge them the help, they've been marvellous feeding me as often as they do and I like helping out and feeling like part of the employees and not just a charity case, but I haven't been able to get to the library and I ran out of things to read days ago.
My aunt has decided to redo the back yard so in addition to helping out in the restaurant in exchange for leftovers and my regular chores and outdoor spring cleaning, I've been busy clearing it to get ready. Thank goodness it's fashionable to hire a garden designer or I'd be doing all the work. I don't know why she thinks the yard needs doing, they never use it. I think it's more about having the designer's truck parked out the front for the neighbours to see. It's a fancy new truck, bright lime green, with the landscaping company's name and logo on the back and both sides and very noticeable. The landscaper thinks I'm too small to do much of the heavy lifting so helping him is easy enough and he likes to talk so I've learnt a lot about the plants he's using and the care they need as well as about laying out suburban backyards in general. It's been fun though the contractor gives Petunia funny looks about the way she treats me and he's started bringing enough lunch to share with me. He pretends it's not for me but that he's just got too much and I'm going along with it. He's careful that the Dursleys don't see him give me food or rest breaks though so I'm still getting fed at night as well, and Aunt Petunia stopped Vernon from hitting me the other night so I wouldn't be too banged up to help with the garden layout. I asked him about whether I could keep helping him on his next project but he says I'm too young to hire, that it would get him in trouble with the labour laws. I told him that he didn't work me anywhere near as hard as my Uncle and Aunt do when he's not here but he only looked sad and said that he was sorry he couldn't do anything about that. I wanted to tell him that I already had a job buit I don't want to get the people at the restaurant in trouble and I guess it's for the best. If Vernon and Petunia knew I had a job they'd expect me to give them my wages in return for living in their house and eating the food they give me. He jokingly told me to look him up again when I'm sixteen. Maybe I will, it's interesting work if I can't get an apprenticeship as a chef, and it's outdoors and active. I like seeing the new garden coming together though the landscaper isn't very impressed with Petunia's ideas. He thinks that it's all a little boring not deviating at all from what's in the latest issue of the most popular gardening magazine. She's determined to have a garden that's the best in the street and at the same time perfectly normal in every way. The landscaper told me that she was wasting her money hiring him if she wanted the garden off the magazine cover, the magazine had instructions on how to do it. I told him I'm glad she hired him or she'd be expecting me to produce that exact garden by myself.
You said something that I can't stop thinking about a couple of letters ago. That if Petunia and Vernon really loved Dudley, they'd limit the amount of sweets and treats they let him eat, and encourage him to eat more healthy foods. At first I thought you were wrong, of course Vernon and Petunia love Dudley, they think he's perfect. Then I started to realise, I'd never thought about it like that, I just thought they spoiled him too much because they loved him but the truth is probably that they buy him so much junk because otherwise he whines about not having enough good things to eat. They do it because it's easier than making him eat healthy. In fact, Petunia feeds me more healthy food than Dudley. That's not really love at all, is it?
I'm glad things went well with your Aunt Ethel and Uncle Daniel and that they'll help out with your mum. I don't blame her or you for wanting to stay in your home. Your mother might be better looked after at your aunt and uncle's but she'd also lose a lot of the precious memories of you as a family at home. I wouldn't want to leave a place where I was loved and cared for.
You asked if I thought that you could learn to make deductions like Sherlock Holmes, I think you could. It's just noticing things and counting cards has helped me notice more details of things. The hard part is knowing what the things that you notice mean, and you're already pretty good at that with your mum, just like I am with Petunia, Vernon and Dudley and his friends. I know when they're most likely to hurt me and when I can get away with sneaking food while I cook and when Dudley's friends are going along with him because they think they should and when they're genuinely feeling like helping belt me up. We just need to start learning how to use that with other people.
Your friend
Harry
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