A/N: Here is the third of my 'mini-series' of drabbles detailing the SA&D's "coming of age" stories. This one concerns Peggy's 16th birthday night. Special thanks to Solo2863 for his critique of my previous stories in this series.
Disclaimer: Honestly? I'm not Arthur Ransome, y'know.
She couldn't sleep.
Peggy Blackett turned over and sat up. It was very stuffy in the Blackett girls' room, even with the window open. I have to get outside.
After debating the merits of the door vs. the rose trellis, she got up and quietly crept out the door. Nancy turned over, but did not wake up.
The stairs squeaked horribly as she maneuvered her way down them, but fortunately, no one noticed. Peggy made her way through the kitchen and out the back door. She sat down on the step, gazing at the setting moon above the trees.
Sixteen years old, she mused. Who would have thought?
She didn't feel ready to be sixteen yet. After all, Mother (even though she was a duck) had started to clamp down on Nancy at that age. Undoubtedly, she, Peggy, was next.
Oddly enough, I don't really mind, do I? I'm ready for a change.
Nancy had always been the one who was really the tomboy of the two. It was simply easier—and it WAS fun for some time—to go along with her plans.
No-one had asked whether or not Peggy would have preferred to cook, or sew, or play the piano. It had always been accepted that she would run with Nancy. "The two wild Blackett girls" they had always been called. But now...
Life was changing. Childhood was over. And Peggy, watching the moon set, didn't mind at all.