In the Darling household, you cannot put the kids to sleep without telling them about their beloved pea-pod, Peter Pan. Every night, Wendy, John, and Michael huddled together, eager and expectant, as their mother spun stories of a young boy who could soar through the heavens without the need for wings and effortlessly best any adversary, be it a shiny sword or a crusty hook, with his trusty dusty cutlass.
With memory worse than a goldfish's and no sense of time as he had forever to himself, Peter went about as the undisputed leader of the Lost boys in the land of forever spring- Neverland. His shadow had a merry little life of it's own, dancing about creepers and climbers and one such day, it waltzed straight into Wendy's room. In a not-so-sneaky attempt to retrieve the shadow back, he woke up the Darling siblings.
It did not take Wendy long to identify the pointy-elf ears under the Robin-Hood hat from the stories she grew up listening. Disbelief followed denial, as she pinched herself to reality. “Hello comrades of itsy-bitsy clan, 'tis I Peter, Peter Pan”, the boy exclaimed as he hopped down the window sill and scurried after his sneaky shadow, which later Wendy stitched back onto him.
The idea of a twelve-year old never growing up resonated with her and Peter, very gladly offered to take her to Neverland. With a wish, and a pinch of pixie dust, he taught them all to swirl and sweep without warning, and off they petered out to the second star to right, and straight on till the morning.
Neverland had its own charms. With the mermaids fishing around for the right temperatures and the native Indians that walked the land in full stature, Captain Hook and his pirated deceit and the Lost boys, no longer lost in Peter's niche retreat; it all lived up to the books.
Captain Hook was Peter's favourite arch nemesis, no sike and Peter's new friends were the last thing he'd like. Thanks to Peter, he knew what death sounded like, every time he heard the ticking crocodile, that swallowed his watch as a bonus besides his arm that Peter cut off in a sour fight.
One fine day, Hook tricked Peter unconscious into a day long nap as he held Wendy, her brothers and the Lost boys hostage. It was all fun and games, all laughs and no dismay, until it wasn't. Peter woke up to the alarming news, and armed with his cutlass he scuttled to the pirate's ship.
The kids were all tied to masts, as Wendy (who might have ruffled Hook's feathers a little too much for speaking oh so highly about Peter) walked the plank. Peter with his surprising duel skills single-handedly managed to take down all of Hook's sidekicks. As for Hook, Peter, with his excellent con skills, impersonated the tick-tocking crocodile and lo, Hook ran or rather, swam for his life never to return.
All so vivid, all so clear, you'd think it was real. So did Wendy. The Voices blended so well with her mother's, how would she know. The sights, the sounds, the experiences, it all made sense to her, as much as it did to you and me. The contrast was uncanny. The psychosis wasn't.
She would not age as fast, but not because she was in Neverland.
"All children, except one, grow up", wasn't only for Peter Pan after all.
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