CHAPTER 11
Saturday morning was only the second morning that Wendy had woken up to her new reality, and so when she heard her 06:30 alarm, despite distinctly remembering that it had been broken the previous day, it was natural that she would start to question herself. She crept carefully out of her room, hoping she would see someone. But as was the norm on her weekend shifts, she was the only one awake. She peeped her head into the living room curiously, only to find a pile of empty bedsheets discarded on the sofa.
She shook her head. Surely the bedsheets would not be there if the entire thing had been a dream… But another part of her wondered: if it had been real where was he now? No, even she couldn't imagine something so ridiculous. She fought with herself silently for a minute, before she remembered she did have somewhere to be and got on with her day.
She arrived at the door of the green grocers to find Mrs Davis setting up early. Saturday was their busiest day of the week and Wendy didn't know if she had the will to go through with it. Every week she returned to the house drained, and that was in the days before her new habit of doubting her sanity. The only way she could hope to endure today was to push it all to the very back of her mind. She would confront and accept whatever reality greeted her once she had finished her shift, no matter how ridiculous or depressing it turned out to be.
She spied the first customer lurking by the carrots a full 20 minutes before opening time, and so took a deep breath and put on her most delightful smile.
...
"What do you think?"
Slightly wasn't sure what he thought. Or what he was allowed to think, or say. He had never been in such a lavish shop before. He hadn't even known it had a back room, but there they stood admiring Peter's sixth new outfit. Recommended by the tailor of course. At Slightly's silence, Peter turned to said tailor. The man, Andrew as he introduced himself to 'Master Pan', seemed to have taken on a secondary role as a stylist in light of receiving the custom of such a distinguished guest. Slightly wondered what Andrew would say if he told him he was serving a runaway orphan who spent most days in flight fashioning a scant outfit of leaves, chasing grown men with swords… Perhaps it would have similar results.
"Stunning. Absolutely stunning. I couldn't have imagined you'd have suited it so well, Master Pan." Andrew left to find more clothes. Peter grabbed a top hat from a previous change and perched it on his head at a jaunty angle looking at Slightly in the mirror.
"I didn't realise this would be so much fun."
Slightly watched Peter amuse himself testing out various top hat-cane combinations. He remembered now why Peter loved the way things were. Here was a boy who could jump into the real world at a whim, snatch up a handful of high quality props and play a Lord for the day. Slightly expected a pang of jealousy, but instead he felt like an honoured guest. All those people on the street outside: the bankers and the family men, even Andrew here would never know a joy such as the one he had knowing Peter as a friend. That's what Peter did to people. He wasn't the snobbish young master who presented to you his luxuries and told you not to touch; he was the impish schoolboy who just stumbled across fun, and convinced you to join him.
"I think we have enough now to pass you off as who you're supposed to be." Slightly assured him. "Now you get to try them out."
Andrew walked back in with an arm full of cloth, but Peter interrupted him in a thoroughly exalted tone. "Thank you, Andrew. That will be all."
"Ah, of course Master Pan." Andrew gathered up the approved clothes and accessories and walked out to the front of the shop. "I'll make the arrangements."
They walked through to find Andrew folding the last of the garments into papers bags.
"I should like to leave in this." Peter stated confidently.
"Of course." Andrew replied calmly, smoothing out the last package. "That will be forty six pounds, 4 shillings and a half penny."
Slightly's breath all but left him at hearing the total, but he passed it off as a cough so as not to be outed as the lost-boy-turned-working-class imposter he was.
"Excellent." announced Peter. He took one of his pouches in hand and emptied roughly half onto the table. At first Andrew was understandably surprised, but then as he looked he realised that the gold coins Peter was offering where almost twice the size of the regular sovereign pounds he had been expecting. His eyes grew wide as he looked at Peter again with fresh approval.
"One more thing, Andrew." Peter added, turning away from the shop keep to give Slightly a devilish grin.
"Y-Yes, Master Pan?" This was it, what they had been practising.
Peter put on his best nonchalant expression as he spoke, seemingly ignoring the man as he approached and smoothly placed two more heavy golden coins in his hand. "If you should receive questions about my being here, or what my purpose is…?" Peter left the sentence hanging. Slightly began to doubt if the man was going to take the bait.
"What would you have me tell them, Sir?" Andrew asked, following his lead.
"I would have you tell any interested parties that I am…" Peter obviously wanted to try out the title himself, "Master Pan, from an extremely prestigious and influential family, who has travelled the seas, alone, to capture the heart of the fair maid Wendy Darling."
There was a spark of recognition at the name. "Yes, of course, Master Pan."
Slightly nudged Peter "Oh yes, and if there should come a question about my arrangements with…" Peter had obviously forgotten her name. Slightly mouthed the word 'Davis' to him. "Mrs Davis, let them know that she has been sworn to secrecy and therefore cannot hope to divulge information about me."
"And if they should ask if Master will be attending the suitor's Ball this coming Monday..?" Andrew asked tentatively. He obviously knew the kind of people who would be asking. Peter looked at Slightly. Slightly raised an eyebrow.
"Tell them… I have not yet decided." Slightly gave Peter another queer look. Not yet decided? Peter just shrugged, obviously not seeing his answer as being a problem.
"Of course. I hope you will not hesitate to visit my humble workshop again?"
"I shall see to it that you are my personal tailor." Peter announced proudly.
"T'is much appreciated, Sir."
...
Wendy looked up from the coins she had been counting into the till to see the number of people outside had doubled… She had never known a crowd so large at this time of day, let alone one made up of so many women. It was only 10 minutes until shop closing, but that wasn't the strangest part: There was no queue, and some women weren't entering the shop at all. She supposed that was fortunate. She couldn't hope to serve so many in such a short time.
She noticed young girls too, standing in groups. A few were looking straight at her through the window, which intimidated her slightly. She tried not to stare back, but soon one made the journey inside to the register after an apparently heated discussion with her friends. A petite brunette girl of an age with Wendy walked straight up to her.
"Is he here?" She whispered.
Usually Wendy wouldn't talk directly to her customers whilst on shift, but nobody was buying anything and she hoped to get some answers from this woman. "Is who here?"
"Him… The one they're saying is after the heart of the young woman who works in this green grocers."
Wendy tensed. That was all she needed, more complications. "I'm sure I don't know who you mean…"
"Master Pan!" The girl whispered back enthusiastically. "They say he might be attending the suitor's ball this Monday." A few other girls had come to listen in on the conversation. "They say he's travelled leagues to get here. Una says she saw him leaving with goods purchased from Andrew Glover the tailor." She continued, as if she expected Wendy to know who those people were.
"I heard he was invited to supper at his highness' palace-" Another girl cut in.
"Pan…?" They couldn't possibly mean- "Peter?"
"See!" The first girl said to the others, "She does know him. By name!"
"No," another said, "She's just guessing."
Wendy opened her mouth to protest but she was interrupted by a wave of excited noises from outside…
...
((A/N: ...
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