peter was away once again and neverland went into it's slumber the way it so often did when peter pan was away. it also meant that the lost boys were free to do whatever they wished. slightly had taken this chance to go a-hunting for adventure. he wasn't expecting to find anything more that a brave or maybe a very large bear. of course, he would never be able to take either of them on his own but, when he got back to the hollow tree, he would boast that he had killed whatever he had happened upon.
of course, what he actually happened upon shocked, stunned, and excited the boy. it was a girl! just like wendy had been. he could tell it was a girl because the hair on her head was long. and her face was rounder and, well, softer than a boy's. plus, she was wearing clothes that didn't have pants. slightly never understood why girl's wore things that you could see up if you looked.
the girl was sleeping, as far as he could see. he didn't want to leave her but to drag her all the way back to the hollow tree would be a lot of work and he'd be like a sitting duck; an easy target. but slightly couldn't just leave her there. so he tried to wake her up like he would his fellow tree mates. he roughly shook her, kicked her, and yelled in her ear.
she awoke slowly, confused and befuddled, but awake
she was. which meant slightly could rush her off to the hollow
tree. which is exactly what he did.
lottie awoke to
pain in her ear and in her side. she had no idea what was going on
but she wasn't too happy with whatever was going on. it felt like she
was being dragged along. but, in her half-awake state, she managed to
scramble after whoever was tugging her arm. and then she was stopped
and felt like she was being lifted. then dropped. and then lottie
was in free fall. the ground came abruptly up from nowhere but
luckily it was soft.
and squirming? 'oi! sligh-...
it's another one!' lottie 'it another one of what?' lottie 'oof! slightly!
watch where you fall!' 'hi tootles, did you see what i
found?' lottie 'where
am i?'
silence rarely ever existed in this particular hollow tree but when lottie spoke, it brought about a rare occasion. silence could exist in a tree filled with boisterous boys. lottie looked from each face, seeing the same expressions; shock and interest.
and after a moment, the silence was broken with every lost boy trying to talk over each other. poor little lottie was more overwhelmed than she had ever been before, not that lottie had had much to be overwhelmed about in her entire twelve years of life.
'will you be our mother?' 'what stories do you
know' 'you won't leave will you?' 'tell us a story
now!' 'we'll make you a special bed that you'll have all to
yourself if you want!'
lottie's head was spinning with all the noise that she put her hands up and shouted, 'quiet!'
the noise stopped instantly.
'thank you.'
lottie took a deep breath, gathering her thoughts as she did.
'firstly,' she said a little primly, 'where am i?'
'neverland, miss.' the chubby boy, tootles, informed her, taking a small step forward.
'neverland? i've never heard of neverland.' 'but
that's where you are.'
'okay, well, next,' lottie said, going down her mental list, 'what's this about being your mother?'
'we don't have one and we want one,' slightly explained, pushing tootles to get closer to lottie.
lottie wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that so she moved onto her next question.
'who are
you?' 'slightly.' 'tootles.' 'the
twins' 'curly.' 'nibs.'
they had spoken all at once so lottie had to go back and ask each boy their name. this task, while seemingly easy, was much more difficult with each boy eager to be introduced to the new girl who was also potentially their new mother. every time lottie was about to learn a name a boy would burst out in excitement their own name. and, finally, she had each boy's name which meant it was her turn.
'i'm lottie. pleased to meet all of you but i can't be your mother.'
there was an uproar of moans, groans, and sobs. of course, the sobs were exaggerated and not real. well, tootles really was sobbing. he was so looking forward to a new mother and lottie seemed like she would make a wonderful new mother.
'now, now.' lottie hushed them. 'i am just far too young to be a mother!' lottie was still very much in love with playing pretend but to actually be someone's mother seemed a very daunting task. and to five boys on top of it! it just seemed a little too imposible. not to mention some of them, especially nibs and slightly, seemed to be around her age.
the boys looked pleadingly at lottie, making their eyes as large and tearful as possible. they had learned somewhere that this would work although where they had learned it, they weren't too sure. maybe it had been with another mother. lottie tried valantly to hold out against those heart-melting looks but her sweet nature just couldn't hold out. she pulled the twins into a hug.
'i suppose i could be your mother for a bit.' she let go of the twins and began to go to each boy, hugging them. 'but i will not tolerate speaking over one another.' lottie had straightened her back, wearing her mother role as if she had always been a mother. the boys nodded obediantly. lottie smiled, touched.
