All children, except one, grow up. Millions have, and millions will. Matilda Sainsbury wasn't any different, of course. She had one brother and two sisters who had already done it, and she'd shared a room with one of them, so she was already an expert on the matter.

The sister with whom Matilda had shared a room, Georgia as she was known, was packed off to a very grown-up place called Cambridge, where they sent you if you were good. As it turned out, Matilda's sister must have been very good at growing up, because she could go to Cambridge totally free (this, for anyone who isn't sure, is a very good thing which makes mothers very happy).

But even so, Matilda knew plenty about growing up, and the key thing was not to do it. Matilda's relatives always told her, 'Oh, you mustn't grow up, my dear!', or 'Always stay the way you are, my Matilda, always the way you are'. But Matilda couldn't observe any of her siblings not growing up, because only one had done so.

The sibling who didn't grow up was baby Bryony Sainsbury. As Matilda's mother put it, she had 'fallen asleep'.

'Is it good to fall asleep, Mother?' asked Matilda.

'Oh yes, wonderfully good!' cried Mother, teary-eyed. 'It means you're going someplace better.'

'What place, Mother? Where is Bryony going?'

'She's going to a special garden, Matilda. Where she can play forever and never grow up.'

'But why is she going?'

'She was too good for us, Matilda. So she's going someplace better.'

'But, Mother, what if she gets lost on the way!' shrieked Matilda in alarm.

'She won't, precious,' soothed Mother. 'There'll be somebody taking her there, until the sun rises and she can find her own way.'

'But who, Mother?' Matilda asked, and to this Mother had to think for a while. When she replied, she sounded terribly sad.

'His name is Peter Pan. He goes to the garden with children so they don't get frightened.'

'Can I go to the garden, too, Mother?'

'Oh, but we'll all miss you! And I might not be able to visit you, you know. You might get lonely. But I'll tell you what. We'll make a paper lantern for Bryony and Peter so it isn't too dark for them to find the way.'

And so it was, Matilda's first taste of Peter Pan. But, with childhood being so full of things to do and questions to ask, Matilda forgot about it almost instantly. As for Mother, she could barely even remember having the conversation. As I mentioned, she had been very sad.

But funnily enough, in one of Mother's dreams, years later, the name Peter Pan came back to her. She could picture his face perfectly - she felt that she had seen it before. But where? Oh, of course! This was the boy that guided her daughter Bryony to Heaven. But she knew him from elsewhere. He was a nice boy, but even his face was very cocky. In the dream, she said thank you to Peter for taking Bryony, and that she only wished she could return the favour.

She forgot about this dream, too, for a while.