Peter Pan
A Different Wendy
Chapter Six
Marie walked into the dimly lit room which she guessed was the Boy's bedroom since there were blankets and pillows everywhere. Marie looked around, straining her eyes against the dark, and tried to see where Slightly was.
"Slightly?" Marie said slowly. "Are you in here?"
Marie heard a sniffle coming from the corner and she looked over and saw Slightly sitting on one of the beds, his back facing her. Marie walked over and sat down next to him, not saying a word. He glanced over at her, but didn't say anything, and looked away once he saw it was her.
"I'm sorry." Marie said finally.
Slightly looked over at her again, "Sorry about what?"
"I'm sorry…I—I –- I…" Marie trailed off. She didn't know why she was sorry; all she knew was that she was. She felt bad that she made him upset, 'cause he didn't do anything to her. And she didn't want him to be sitting alone in here while everyone else was having fun in the other room. She knew that's what she should have said to him, but she hadn't said it out loud.
"You felt bad for me, who cares. You don't have to, you don't even know what you feel bad about. You ladies think you have to feel bad for everyone about everything even when it's none of your business, and it's not any of your business, Marie, so if you came in here to say sorry and to find out what's wrong, you can just leave because if I haven't even told the Boys, why would I tell you? You're just a prissy girl who wants attention from everyone. You aren't going to last any longer than Wendy did, and then Peter's going to be angry again. He falls in love with every lady that he brings here, and when they leave he makes a big deal about it." Slightly was going on and on, and at one point it sounded like he was crying, but then he stopped because he got mad, and Marie didn't know what to do other than listen, even though she wanted more than anything to run away.
"I'm sorry, Slightly. I didn't come to find out why you're upset, I just came to apologize. And I'm sorry you feel that way about me, but you're wrong about one thing, Peter was in love with my mother, you said so yourself, and he might have…You know what? I'm just going to leave now, okay? You got rid of the easy one, okay, you win. I'll just go home if you don't want me here." Marie didn't usually cry in front of people and she held back the tears until she got out of the room where Slightly was probably still staring at the spot she was in, because that was where she left him. She ran out of the room, but as soon as she saw Peter playing with the Boys and Violet and Ethan laughing she let her tears fall.
Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked over at her. She had stopped just outside of the doorway and leaned back against the wall, but she let herself slide down so she was sitting with her knees against her chest and her hands covering her eyes. Violet rushed over and pulled her hands away from her face, asking in her baby voice, "What's wrong, Marie?" Ethan came over too, sitting down next to her and putting his arm around her shoulder he said, "Its okay, whatever it is, its okay."
The Lost Boys had crowded around, some asking her what was wrong, while the others just looked at her. They never really saw many people crying since they didn't have much to cry about, but hadn't Marie just heard Slightly crying, or was that her imagination?
The only person who didn't come over to see her was Peter, and that was because he went into the room she just exited to bring Slightly out so he could see what he did to Marie, but Marie didn't want Slightly to see her crying. She didn't want him to think he made her feel bad. So she got up and tried to find a way to leave the hideout.
She looked over at Tootles who had followed her and asked, "How do you get out of this place?"
"Don't leave, Marie." Barky and Hoppy put on their sad face.
"We're leaving?" Violet asked.
"No, we can't leave, Marie. We just got here." Ethan whined.
By this time Peter had grabbed Slightly by the arm and pulled him out of their room to see her. Marie was only crying a little now, only letting her tears stream silently down her cheeks and drip off her chin onto her dress. When she saw Slightly in the doorway she spun around so he couldn't see her and ferociously wiped the tears off her face with her sleeve.
"Would everyone just get out of the room right now!" Violet shouted and shooed all of the Boys out of the room, including Peter and Ethan. After they all left she went back over to her big sister and held her arms up so Marie would pick her up. Marie complied and she sat down in a chair and rocked her. Violet knew she made Marie feel better.
Marie had calmed down by now and she was grateful to have Violet as her sister, she thought having everyone leave the room had helped her stop crying. "Would you like me to sing you a song?"
"Sure. You know your songs are just about as good as your stories, but I'll still be expecting one later." Violet said.
"Okay." Marie agreed and began to sing,
"Stay awake
Don't
Rest your head.
Don't lie down
Upon
Your bed.
While the moon drifts
In
The skies.
Stay awake
Don't close your eyes.
At this point Ethan had come in and sat by Marie's feet to listen to her sing, and the Lost Boys were listening at the doorway. Ethan turned around and motioned for them to come in. They all came in except for Nibbs, Tootles, Slightly and Peter, but they were all peering in through the doorway still.
"Though the world
Is
Fast asleep.
Though your pillow's
Soft
And deep
You're not sleepy
As
You seem.
Tootles came in when Marie smiled at them, and Nibbs followed him. Peter came in and dragged Slightly with him, so for the last few lines everyone was listening to Marie sing, and for once she wasn't so shy and she managed to finish the song beautifully.
"Stay awake
Don't
Nod and dream
Stay awake
Don't nod
And
Dream."
It was quiet for a minute, and Violet was the one to break the silence, "Doesn't she sing like a angel?" She whispered.
"Yeah, she does." Ethan said first, and the rest of the Boys agreed too.
Marie smiled, then she sniffed the air. "Do I smell something?"
"It wasn't me." Quickie denied.
"No, no, no. I didn't mean that. I meant, do I smell food?" Marie laughed.
Tootles got up and went over to the large wooden table with was set with what was empty serving trays a minute ago. Tootles lifted off the lid on one of them, it was filled with barbequed chicken legs. "Looks like dinner is served," Tootles announced, bowing to them. They all rushed to the table and took the lids off the rest of them, revealing mashed potatoes with gravy, corn, rolls, spaghetti and meatballs, and they dug in.
"Wow!" Violet exclaimed over the table full of food.
"Where did you get all the food from?" Ethan asked in between bites of a chicken leg and a buttered roll at the same time.
"I cooked it." Tootles said.
"It's delicious." Marie commented, after taking a bite of a warm roll loaded with melted butter, and dishing herself some spaghetti and a meatball.
"Of course it is, this is Tootles we're talking about." Peter said.
"Do none of the rest of you know how to cook?" Marie questioned.
"We can cook." The twins offered.
"Only dessert, and that ends up being just a bowl full of raw cookie dough or a spoon full of chocolate frosting." Nibbs said.
"Curly makes the best dessert." Tootles commented.
"Yeah he does, that was his chocolate that Tootles stole from you last time you were here." Nibbs told Marie.
"She remembered being here before?" Peter asked, and everyone stopped eating.
"Yes, I know. Tinkerbelle told me." Marie informed him. "What's wrong with that?"
"Was she not supposed to know or something?" asked Nibbs.
"No, I was just wondering." Peter laughed, and began eating his chicken again. "Why do you always think I'm going to get mad at you when I ask a simple question?"
"I don't know, maybe because you have gotten mad before, and we didn't have a clue why." Nibbs suggested.
"Sorry." Peter said with his mouthful.
"So, Peter, what's our schedule for tomorrow look like?" Nibbs questioned.
"We're relocating our hideout, remember?" Peter said, "Tomorrow we'll scope out a place and mark it…"
"Secretly, of course," Slightly whispered to Ethan, whom he was sitting next to, and Ethan was sitting next to Marie who was at the end of the table, and Peter was at the other end, Violet was next to Marie on her other side. This was also the first thing Slightly had said all evening.
"…and then the next day we'll start planning it out…" Peter continued.
"Secretly, of course," Slightly whispered again.
"…and then we'll start building our new hideout." Peter finished.
"Secretly, of course," Slightly whispered, and winked at Violet.
"Peter, are you sure tomorrow is the best day to start all of this?" Quickie asked.
"Why wouldn't it be a good day?" Peter asked him back.
"Because tomorrow is my birthday," Quickie smiled.
"You say that everyday," Whittle replied.
"That reminds me of something." Peter said, looking at Marie. "Would you go get that paper up there, on top of that shelf?" Peter asked her.
"Sure." Marie got up and retrieved the paper, remembering now what he was up to.
"Read it starting with the littlest first." Peter said.
"Gladly," Marie smiled suspiciously to the Lost Boys.
"Would you all like to know how old you are again, because I have the feeling we've forgotten." Peter asked.
"Yeah." The Lost Boys answered.
"Okay…youngest first…" Marie traced her finger down to the last name and read, "Quickie, age six; Barky and Hoppy, age seven; Whittle, age nine; Curly, age eleven; Tootles, age thirteen; Nibbs, age fourteen; and Slightly, age fourteen."
Marie paused for a second.
"Oh yeah, and Peter, age fifteen," Marie said. "You came to Neverland on your birthday?"
"I guess so," Peter said. "So now you know, Slightly, you are fourteen years old."
"Yeah, thanks." Slightly said, "I told you I wasn't ten, Marie."
"Yep, you told me." Marie said. "You're always right, aren't you, Slightly?"