Peggy
Takes place sometime in the future.
Before Peggy was born everyone knew she was destined for great things. With parents like that how could she not be.
She was born on a chilly November night eyes sparkling bright blue just like her fathers'. She was a fighter like her mother, having almost died from the cord wrapped around her neck. That night, when she fell asleep on her mum's chest and wrapped her little hands around her dad's finger, her mum and dad realised that she had a healing touch.
When Peggy was one, she decided to go against her mum's utilitarian fashion sense. Her first words were "pretty dress". She demanded frills and sparkles. She unpacked all of mum's high heel shoes (she really didn't have nearly enough) and marched around the house. She stole her lipstick and drew red patches all around her little face. She showed her superior technical skills by somehow managing to pry open the nail polish and paint all her toes and feet and even her legs. Mum spent a good hour trying to scrub it all off. Peggy also loved helping her dad in the kitchen, especially on Sundays when they made pancakes for breakfast. Peggy learnt about impact and fracture by banging the eggs on the kitchen counter. She giggled as she whisked the flour energetically, until their heads, both crowned with unruly curls were all covered in white fine dust. Mum grumbled a little about the mess in the kitchen, but they all agreed that the pancakes she made were the best.
When Peggy was two she taught her mum how to play pretend picnic with the teddies properly. She cheerfully disregarded her mum's attempts of trying to label each stuffed animal right (rat versus mouse, whale versus dolphin). Mom was quite terrible at the pretend picnic and needed lots of practice, while her dad was looking at them from the couch holding back his laughter. Dad also had some catching up to do. Peggy thought there was nothing more hilarious than his tongue getting all twisted up as he stumbled through endless pages of Dr Seuss. She insisted he practice every day. Once he mastered One Fish, Two Fish, she moved him up to Green Eggs and Ham. When mum tried to improve her vocabulary with flash cards, Peggy threw them in the corner. She got easily bored with puzzles and blocks. She wanted to go for walks instead crawling through piles of autumn leaves and jumping into puddles.
When Peggy was three, she made three best friends on the first day of kindergarten. She insisted her parents invite them all for playdates. She watched with amusement as her terrified mum threw herself into the preparation; from researching healthy snacks to laying out different activities. She needn't worry. Peggy was a smooth operator. She decided that they show her best friend Julia the magic, colourful bubbles her mum could make. The two girls shrieked with delight as they chased tiny bubbles in the backyard and Julia stared with amazement whenPeggy's mum made giant bubbles so big that they could both fit inside. Her other best friend Robin liked building things she explained to her dad. So, she recruited him and the three of them built huge, intricate marble works and spent a magical afternoon racing the colourful marbles down the different tracks. Robin was clearly impressed and asked when he could come back. Peggy showed her big, colourful space book to her best friend Tessa and confessed in secret that her favourite planet was Saturn, because, well, a planet with all the pretty rings had to be something special. They sat in the laundry basket and pretended it was a spaceship. Dad stuck some fluorescent stars on the ceiling of the basement and mum brought them real astronaut cookies.
When Peggy was four, she was taken for assessment at a gifted child programme. At the end the teachers told her parents that while Peggy was certainly bright, charming and had an inimitable flair with zest for life, she would be better off in a regular school. Peggy was not sure if her parents were relieved or disappointed, but she forgot about the whole thing when her dad said that it was time to celebrate the news with some ice cream. Instead of the gifted program, she went on mini beast hunts with her mum (who knew the name of ALL the creepy crawlies) and when Peggy found three worms she took them home in her sticky palm and put them in her doll house. She called them mum, dad and Peggy. On Saturday afternoons dad took her to the zoo. She loved the elephants best and his favourites were the monkeys, but mostly she enjoyed running up and down on the huge playground of the zoo, inevitably emerging with new friends every time.
When Peggy was five, she realised with horror that mum and dad had some basic gaps in their education (like neither of them couldn't tell apart Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle and neither of them had heard of Trolls). She declared Fridays movie night. Everyone had to be home from work on time. They made popcorn and took turns choosing movies. Peggy chose animated movies and musicals (she made them sit through Sounds of Music three times in the span of a month). Her dad chose old, cheesy sci-fi movies with terrible special effects, which then they all made fun of. Turned out Mum had a thing for superheroes and time travel. Peggy couldn't decide if she wanted to be a popstar or a doctor or a zookeeper. To cover all her bases, she started to take piano lessons, joined up school theatre and arts class. She insisted on doing both swimming and judo. For her dad's birthday, she painted a monkey. For her mum's she played happy birthday on the piano, tongue sticking out with the effort (she missed a few notes) but her parents were still beaming.
When Peggy was six, she begged her parents to take her to Disneyland for her birthday. It was a tough negotiation. They tried to distract her with counter offers of science museums, beach trip, even a safari in Africa, but Peggy stood her ground until they yielded. She disregarded her parents' grumps and threw herself into the experience. There was no resisting her enthusiasm. By the end of the trip, they have ridden every ride multiple times, took selfies with all the characters and watched the parade and the fireworks every night. On the way home her parents confessed to her that they had a surprisingly wonderful time.
When Peggy was seven a special friend of her parents came to visit. Her name was Daisy. She stayed for a couple of days. Peggy decided that she was just the best. She knew all about all the neat stuff that mum and dad had no idea about (like pop-stars and TV shows and how to paint your nails in rainbow colours). She showed Peggy her secret superpower: she could tickle you from the inside. Peggy giggled as she was tingling from head to toe. "I wish I had a superpower too", Peggy sighed. Daisy told Peggy that indeed she had a superpower: she could turn back time. Daisy told Peggy that she gave something to her mum and dad that they never had and because of her they were complete.
When Peggy was eight, someone told her in school that the Sun will die one day. When she got home, she asked her mum and dad about it, who after many words she didn't quite understand, indeed confirmed that this was the case. Peggy was inconsolable. Her mum and dad tried to explain that it was still billions of years away and that it is unlikely they would be affected, Peggy still found the whole thing unbearably sad. She came every day with new ideas on how to save the Sun (such as let's build a big fire inside it). She kept thinking about it for weeks. Finally, after her parents poked holes in all her solutions, Peggy decided that the only way to survive would be to become space explorers and find another solar system with a new sun. Since everyone knew that to become space explorer, you needed top grades, so for the first time in her life, Peggy started to pay attention in school (instead of daydreaming and socializing) and by the end of the year she was at the top of her class. They discussed with mum and dad the pros and cons of transferring to a different school, but Peggy wanted to stay with her friends and her parents agreed. She had time to be both a child and future space explorer. Or time to change her mind again. She was destined to do great things, and her first mission was a success. She taught her parents how to be children.