Author's Note: Hello! Well, my birthday is on the 17th (hence the Shamrock 17 part of my pen name) and as an 'early' present to all of my awesome reviewers I have been updating my stories. So, here is the next chapter of An Awfully Big Adventure! Please tell me what you think! I'm not really sure about it…it's supposed to be a sort of 'calm before the storm' type thing.
Anyway, enjoy and please review!
Chapter 5
The Perfect Story
Wendy did not tell anyone what had happened at the Living Tree that day. She kept Peter's thimble in a box under her bed. She sometimes slept with it under her pillow and dreamed of Peter.
The only person who heard the full story was Martin. She told him the tale of Peter's return two nights after it had occurred. When she was finished she had expected the fairy to fly into the air with happiness at the news, but he merely sat in silence, a smile playing on his lips.
The next week went by in a blur and soon the night before the battle with Hook was upon them. The Lost Boys, John, Michael, the Warner children and Wendy sat around the dying fire, thinking of the next day.
"Wendy?" Curly asked softly. "Will you tell us a story?"
Wendy smiled at him and nodded. She added a log to the fire and began to think of a story that she had not yet told.
Suddenly, she had the prefect story.
"The story that I am going to tell is one you haven't heard before," she began.
"Even John and me?" asked Michael.
"Even John and you," said Wendy.
"Oh, good!" Michael said enthusiastically. "Then it must be a really good one!"
"It is," said Wendy with a laugh. She looked around at the eager group of faces, waiting for her to begin and so without further ado, she began her story. "All children, except one, grow up. The way they first know that they will grow up is this…"
The little house was quiet and still as everyone listened with rapt attention as Wendy told of the fateful night when Peter Pan had flown into her window, looking for his shadow.
She was describing the scene when she and her brothers were in the nursery while their parents were getting ready to go to a party, when Michael exclaimed, "I remember now! We were acting out the night when we were all born! And then Mother came in and told me that I had to take my medicine!" He made a face at the thought.
"I remember too!" added John. "Father got mad at you because you wouldn't take it but he had to take his medicine too!"
"And, then Wendy told us to take it at the same time!" said Michael, excitedly.
"Which you did while Father slipped his behind his back," Wendy pointed out.
Her brothers nodded vigorously and John muttered, "Father hated that awful stuff!"
"Where was Peter's shadow, Wendy?" asked Nibs.
"In the drawer," she replied. "Mother had folded up and put in the bottom drawer, hoping to forget about it. But, of course, she couldn't."
She then told of the fateful meeting when she had been awakened by Peter's cries.
"I asked him, 'Boy, why are you crying?' He looked up at me with a surprised look on his face and then jumped to his feet and bowed beautifully to me."
"He learned that from the fairies," Slightly cut in.
Wendy smiled. "Yes, and I bowed back. I asked him what his name was and he replied that he was Peter Pan. I knew then it had to be Peter because it was such a comparatively short name."
"And what happened next?" asked Nico.
"Well," said Wendy thoughtfully, "that is the most interesting part about it…."
"Where do you live?" asked Wendy, remembering her role as hostess.
"Second star to the right and straight on till morning," said Peter.
"What a funny address!" Wendy cried. "Is that what they put on the letters?"
"Don't get any letters," said Peter..
"But your mother gets letters."
"Don't have a mother."
"Oh, Peter no wonder you were crying!" Wendy cried.
"I wasn't crying about mothers!" Peter retorted. "I was crying because I couldn't get my shadow to stick on! Besides, I wasn't crying!"
"Has it come off?" Wendy asked.
"Yes."
She saw the shadow at the edge of her bed, looking very crumpled.
"It shall have to be sewn on," she decided.
"What's 'sewn'?" Peter asked, curiously.
"You're dreadfully ignorant."
"No, I'm not!"
"But what is 'sewn'?" cut in one of the Twins.
"Now, you're the one is dreadfully ignorant!" his twin scoffed. "It doesn't matter what it is, be quiet and let Wendy finish the story!" He looked at Wendy and said, "Go on, Wendy, it's a wonderful story!"
Wendy smiled and said, "Thank you, Twin."
"I daresay it will hurt a little," said Wendy as she threaded the needle.
"I shan't cry," said Peter, flatly. He was of the opinion that he had never cried in his life. Yet still he gritted his teeth as Wendy sewed his shadow to his foot.
Peter leapt to his feet and his shadow stuck. He jumped around the room with glee and crowed, "Oh, how clever I am! Oh, the cleverness of me!"
He had completely forgotten about Wendy and had thought that he had stuck it on himself, the cocky boy that he was.
"Of course I did nothing," Wendy muttered.
"You did a little," Peter admitted.
"A little! Well, then it seems that since I am no use, I shall at least withdraw." She jumped back into bed and pulled the covers over her face.
Peter glanced at her and stopped his dancing to sit on the edge of her bed.
"Wendy," he whispered. "Please, Wendy, don't withdraw. I can't help crowing when I'm happy." When, she did not reply, he added, "Wendy, one girl is more use than twenty boys."
She peered out from under the blankets and asked, "Do you really thing so?"
"Yes, I do."
"Oh, Peter, that's very sweet of you." She said, flinging the covers aside.
"Peter," she said, "I should like to give you a kiss."
He held out his hand, expectantly.
"Don't you know what a kiss is?"
"I shall know when you give me one," he answered.
Not wanting to hurt his feelings, Wendy slipped her thimble off of her finger and placed it in his palm.
He looked at it curiously and then said, "I suppose I shall give you one as well."
"If you like," she said.
He dropped an acorn button into her palm. She put it on a chain around her neck where rested above her heart.
"So, that's how you got that acorn button," said John. "I knew Peter had given it to you, but I didn't know it was then."
"What happened next?" asked Margaret.
"Well, then I asked him how old he was and he said that he was quite young and went on to explain about he had run away to Kensington Gardens." Wendy answered. "He then told me about Neverland and the Lost Boys and how none of them had a mother. He told me how he loved my stories and then asked me to come to Neverland to be a mother to all of you." She looked around at the Lost Boys and smiled.
"I said it sounded wonderful and he tried to take me to Neverland at that very moment, but of course I could leave you two," she added, looking at her brothers.
"Is that how I fell out of bed?" John wondered aloud.
Wendy laughed. "Yes, Peter kicked you out and you slept on!"
John chuckled softly as Wendy went on, "And then Peter taught us to fly and that is something I shall never forget. Then, we flew off to Neverland and what a wonderful feeling it was to fly high about the world, knowing you were going to a place that you thought was only in your dreams."
Wendy sighed and looked around at the small group of listeners and said, "And that is how I met Peter Pan and you know the rest."
The Lost Boys smiled and clapped loudly at the conclusion of the story.
"Peter would have loved that story," said Nibs, "since it was about him!"The others nodded their agreement.
"An excellent story, indeed, Miss Wendy," said Martin from his perch on the mantel.
Wendy blushed. "Thank you, Martin."
"I wish Peter was here," Margaret cried. "I've heard so many stories about him. Your story was so magical, Wendy! Do you think he would have liked me?!"
"Of course he would," Jane told her firmly. "Peter Pan likes all children."
"I'm glad that you all liked the story," said Wendy, getting to her feet. "But I believe that now we should all go to bed, we have a very eventful day tomorrow."
"The day we avenge Peter!" yelled Nico.
"The day we do what Peter wanted most! To kill Captain Hook!" added Michael.
Everyone shouted their agreement, and began talking excitedly of the battle as they got ready for bed.
Ten minutes later, Wendy was lying wide awake in bed, thinking of the next day. Her fears of dying soon resurfaced, but then Peter's words from the Living Tree came back to her.
You will not die, Wendy. You will live. You must live for me because to live will be an awfully big adventure.
Smiling at the thought of his reassuring words, Wendy rolled over and quicly fell asleep, dreaming of flying high in the sky with Peter Pan.
