Pippi 3

Chapter 3

Henry and Roland were in Henry's room playing Kingdom hearts 2. Henry played while Roland watched. Hope peered into the room. "Do I hear Neverland?" She jumped onto the bed by Roland, lying down.
"Yeah," said Roland. "The closest will ever get."
Henry made a face while playing the game. "What do you mean?"
"Playing these games is the closest Hope and I will get to having those adventures." Roland said. He was in second grade now. Hope was in first grade.
Henry paused the game. "You want to go to Neverland, after all the stories we told you about my visit there?" He said.
"Maybe not Neverland," Roland said, "but other worlds, like Wonderland."
"Ooh," Hope smiled. "That sounds wonderful."
"Or Atlantis." Roland said.
"Or Atlantica," Hope added.
"Be careful what you wish for. Look at what happened to Hope in Narnia," Henry said.
Roland turned to Hope.
"It wasn't all bad," Hope said. She sat up. "Sure I was locked up there, but that can happen away-where. There was no special Narnian magic keeping me there. It was really a beautiful place when I got to see it. I don't any kids at school who can say they've met centaurs, fauns, and dryads."
"Cool," Roland said with a smile across his face. "Hey," he turned to Henry, "speaking of Narnia, I would like to ride Strawberry again. Can you ask Pippi?"
Henry sighed and continued to play the video game. "Sure."

Later that day, Pippi visited Susan in the quaint apartment complex near the Blanchard laughed. She entered her apartment where Susie scooted her wheelchair towards the front door. "Hi Susan" she greeted her.
"Pippi" she smiled. "I knew it was you. No one else has a key."
Pippi eyed her friend. She had long white hair and wrinkles across her body.
"Is it Thursday already?" Susan asked.
"Ah, no," Pippi said. "This is a bonus visit day." She moved towards the living room area.
Susan wheeled over to her. "What's wrong?"
Pippi giggled a little. She sat down and asked, "I was wondering if...if I visited Narnia a third time. Maybe not with you or Peter, but with Edmund and Lucy."
Susan adjusted herself in the wheelchair. "Pippi..."
"I know. I know you don't like to talk about it. They were your family. But they are mine too. Some of my fondest memories are wth them. I've lost so many people and I'm not ready to let go of anyone else." Pippi took a breath. "I just want to know if I ever saw them again."
Susan wiped an eye. "You and I only visited Nandi twice. That was it.."
"Oh..." Pippi said.
Susan looked up at the mantle. "Would you mind taking that photo down?" She asked.
Pippi got up and looked at getting photo as she brought it down. It was an old black and white photo of the four Pevensie children around the time of their first visit to Narnia. She touched the photo.
Susan watched her. "Open the back."
Pippi's eyes narrowed as she opened the back of the frame. She was puzzled to find another smaller photo hiding in the back. She picked it up and looked at it. "Our photo," she said. "You kept it all these years."
Susan nodded. "It's been one of my most treasured possessions." During Pippi's second visit to Narnia, she took a Polaroid photo of her and the Pevensies.
"Pippi," Susan began, "is there any other reason you wanted to see me today?"
"I would love some tea," Pippi smiled. "A lot has been going on these past few days."

Pippi drove to school the next day with a skittish Archie. "Watch the children. There's a mysterious bag on the road. Don't-" She ran it over.
"It's just a paper bag," Pippi said.
"I could have been glass or rock." Archie said.
She parked the car inside the parking line and left for school. "Bye Archie."
During her English class, her classmate Grace was passing notes with her back and forth
Hansel, Gretel, Henry, Pippi and Grace all sat together for lunch, as usual. They talked about classes and plans for after school.
"We're meeting dad at his car shop after school again," Hansel said.
"We get to organize his files and greet the customers." Gretel says. "It's nice to feel needed."
"Dad lets me help clean up the cars too." Hansel added.
"My dad does the same thing," Grace added. "Except I've expanded from helping make hats to making clothes."
"Ah, and my brother is now asking me to help with his sessions." Pippi added.
"Is that legal?" Grace asked.
"This is Storybrooke. The laws bend." Handle said.
Pippi and Gretel giggled.
"Pippi," Henry finally spoke, "I..."
"What? Is your mom preparing you to be the next sheriff? Or is it Mayor? Anything but their." Pippi joked.
Henry was not amused. "Roland wants to ride your pet again. Can he?"
"Of course."

After lunch, Gretel walked with Pippi to their next class.
"Why do you always joke with Henry?" Gretel asked.
"I don't know. Why-is it not funny? You guys always laugh." Pippi said.
"Henry doesn't."
Pippi walked slower and Gretel kept on walking to her class.

After school, Archie picked her up.
"Bonus driving lesson?" Pippi asked. She peeking into the window.
"Ah, no. I'm taking you to your meeting with Killian." Archie said.
Pippi tossed her backpack into the back of the car and sat in the passenger's seat. She turned up the radio as they drove off.
As they drove closer to the edge of Storybrooke, Pippi asked, "Where is this meeting taking place?"
"The Jolly Roger," he said.
Pippi climbed aboard the ship, while Archie called out, "Ill be back in an hour," before driving off.
Pippi walked down to the bottom deck of the ship where Killian sat at a table with a chess game and a cassette player.
"I'm here for our 'meeting,'" Pippi said.
"I know," he said. He gestured to the other chair across the table.
She sat down and pushed her lips together. "So..."
"Archie thinks we should talk about Jill. She was your friend-" Killian started.
"My best friend." Pippi said.
"Right," he said. "And I regret not knowing her better."
Pippi's tighten face fell. "What do you want to know about her?"
Killian's hand in the table flipped to his palm. "I don't know. What was her favorite color? What was her favorite food?"
"Blue and Grapefruit."
Killian gave a half smile. "I love grapefruit."
"Too bad we never had it in the shoe. It didn't grow near us." Pippi said. "And Jack loved fish. All kinds of fish."
"Jack. Was he...calmer than Jill?"
"He was a model citizen," Pippi said. "You would have loved him. Everyone did."
"Did he keep Jill in check?"
"She was a different person when her brother was alive." Pippi smirked.
"Where they close?"
"Very. And was a skilled hunter. Fish. Birds. One time, he caught a whole pig... one time her and Jill fought off Alligators. Took us a week to eat it all." She smiles in reminiscence.
"Wow. Alligators. Meanwhile I was chasing a crocodile all these years." He said. His smile widened.

On the way home after their meeting, Pippi asked Archie to pull over by the Storybrooke cemetery. She got out of the car and visited Jill's plague. "Jill," she began, "Things are so different without you. I've lost so many people, I feel like it's only a matter of time before I lose someone else." She took a breath. "You brother-Killian-is finally taking an interest in his long lost sister. Too bad he's about three years too late. Henry and I are still together. Our friends are all doing well. They were fine without us." She took another pause. "I still think about things I could have done differently to keep you from going on your path and then I think of all the good that came from it. If you hadn't run away, I wouldn't have ever seen Narnia and met the Pevensies. I've been trying to find a way back, but it seems impossible so I'll have to forget about it. The Pevensies were fine without me. Narnia is in good hands, without me. They haven't called or given me a sign. Maybe it's for the best. I need to focus on the world I do live in. School, driving, and relationships. All the normal land without magic stuff. I wonder how you'd handle all this. You'd probably refuse any boy who asked you to prom. Ask me to help you with all your homework. I'd be the one giving you driving lessons because no one else would be willing to get in a car with you behind the wheel." She giggled to herself and a tear fell down her face. "I hope you and Jack are up there," she looked up, "together and happy."