Peter Pantomime

Mothers Wanted

Gwen took a step back. Peter, out of instinct, moved closer towards her. Had he actually set foot on the ground, he would have been two inches shorter than Gwen. However, perhaps he was able to sense this, and out of conceit he decided to keep himself exactly eye-level with her.

"Hullo, madam," Peter smiled and bowed politely before walking towards her. If he had not been flying above the floor like some mystical boy-god, she would have taken him for a vagrant. He wore a rakish cap, faded trousers and an overly large coat that did not seem to fit him. "How do you do?" The strange apparition asked her in a voice that was not fully developed yet, holding out a hand that was larger than a child's but much smaller than a man's.

Gwen stopped herself from taking another step back. "Well, I think-"

"Her name is Wendy!" Rug Rat yelled out.

There was a pause and several of the boys turned towards each other, their mouths agape. They began to whisper wildly.

Perhaps they've only known one or two girls, Gwen thought to herself, quite foolishly forgetting Tinker Bell. She felt her face grow hot with embarrassment.

But Peter looked completely unruffled, as if this was exactly what he had expected. He grinned at Gwen. "So it is," he replied, satisfied.

Gwen opened her mouth to say it wasn't so, but before she could, she was swarmed by a horde of little boys demanding bandages.

After Foxface had started to hush the boys and Peter had somewhat uselessly flown above their heads saying things like "Pipe down, now" and kicking whenever he felt like it, they all finally settled down on the floor. Gwen sat on the little stool by the fireplace facing them, feeling rather out of place.

"I'm sorry, but I'm terribly confused," she spoke. Several faces stared back at her. "Who are you and why am I here? And what is this place?"

Foxface glanced silently at Peter, who had already started talking. "You're our mother, of course. These," he pointed at the crowd of boys of various ages behind him, "are the Lost Boys. And I brought you here to Neverland. This is just our home."

"I see," Gwen frowned. "And what about that…that tiny little house I was inside of? Why was I up there?"

"Why, that's because it's the Wendy House," a boy dressed up like a rabbit replied. He had introduced himself as Nibbles. "It's where all the mothers sleep."

Gwen shook her head. "Where is this place? Is this an uncharted territory…in a foreign country, like America perhaps?"

Peter narrowed his eyes. The Lost Boys' ears perked up, and Gwen guessed that they had heard of the name but never fully been explained what it was. "This is Neverland. Haven't you ever seen it before?"

"Neverland…" Gwen muttered. She shook her head. The name already sounded a little corny to her.

Peter frowned. He looked as if he had no idea how to react when confronted with someone who did not immediately understand the concept of Neverland. "You mean to say, you don't recognize this place?"

"I do beg your pardon," Gwen retorted, feeling as if she was being accused of being airheaded, "but the last thing that I remember was screaming and falling into nothingness."

Peter frowned. "You don't even remember flying over the island?" He began to raise and lower himself slowly, his feet never touching the ground but his entire body floating in place.

Gwen started to feel the back of her neck get hot. "I have no idea what this place is or how I got here, but I have a feeling you are the one who really does." She took a deep breath. "In fact I think I've seen you somewhere. Or heard of you. You haven't introduced yourself, but you're Peter Pan, aren't you?"

The Lost Boys were now looking between Peter and Gwen, wondering who to root for or how to react while Foxface bit his lip anxiously.

"Why yes, I am," Peter replied, grinning. "Here at your service."

"You can't possibly be. Most likely you're just a hallucination. Or perhaps I'm stuck in some strange tier of the afterlife," she muttered, running her hands nervously through her hair.

Peter looked offended. "Of course I'm real, lady! Foxface can tell you. And so can Tink. For someone who's supposed to like children, you certainly don't have much imagination."

Gwen was appalled. "What a thing to say to a lady! Of course I have imagination, you entitled boy," she snapped.

Just then, she felt somewhat foolish, arguing with a boy at least two years younger than her whose feet weren't even on the ground.

"Besides," she pushed a strand of hair behind her ear coolly, "if this is all real- you, this island, and the fairies- how did you even find me? And why would you even bring me here?"

"Peter rescues lost children," Rug Rat spoke.

"Yes, and I brought you here all by myself," Peter crossed his arms proudly. He now practically glowed as the Lost Boys looked up, admiration glittering in their eyes.

What a cocky boy, Gwen thought to herself, not impressed at all.

"It wasn't that hard. I just asked around until I found some children who knew your name. I flew you here all by myself, and you didn't even notice," he bragged. This, of course, must have been a lie as most likely Tinker Bell had accompanied him-assuming she was not a made-up night light.

"How did you? When did you even…find me and fly me over?"

Peter frowned. "Oh, just forget it. You're here now, and that's all that matters. Stop worrying so much."

"And what exactly do you want me here for?"

The boys all stared at each other nervously. Foxface looked a little pale, as if he might collapse at any moment. Peter looked completely unaffected. "Well, it would be nice if you could help us with spring cleaning." This was followed by a silence so tense that one could have heard a pin drop into a pile of straw and break a camel's back. "I can also take you back if you don't want to be mother."

Gwen felt something inside of her squirm. Although this Neverland hadn't exactly grown on her, something in her mind told her that she did not want to leave it. "And why would you?" she croaked faintly.

"Because," Peter drew himself up to his fullest (exaggerated) height and crossed his arms, "we always need someone to do the mending and cooking, but there isn't anyone. And we can't just take in someone who sits around lazily."

"Wait, you mean there aren't any…you don't have any Lost Girls?"

"Well that's because there's no such thing as a Lost Girl."

"Really…"

"Girls are too smart to be Lost."

Gwen raised an eyebrow, wondering if the more grammatically correct expression should be "to get lost", but decided not to comment.

"So, do you want to stay or go?" Peter asked, crossing his arms.

There was a silence. Gwen gazed around her.

"Well-" She opened her mouth, but just then she heard the sound of discordant, cacophonous bells ringing loudly in her ear and felt her hair being yanked back. "Ow! What is that?" Gwen shrieked, swiveling around and swatting at the air, but whatever had caught ahold of her hair was holding fast.

"Hang on-Tink, stop that!" Peter ordered. The angry bells responded to him, growing even more high-pitched and tinny until the Lost Boys started covering their ears and wincing at their unpleasant clanging. Foxface, however, approached Gwen and started waving at something.

"Stop that, Tink! You're hurting her! I think she's already fairly scared,"

"What are you-oh!"

Gwen fell back, as whatever had been plaguing her spontaneously let go. Foxface now stood in the center of the room, glaring at a bright light that illuminated the entire underground room. The bright light glared right back at him and revealed herself to be another fairy-this one, however, was much older than the little baby sprites from before. She was brighter than any light Gwen had ever seen, and more beautiful than any woman she had ever met, even the mother who she used to conjure in her mind when she was a child.

Before Gwen could speak, however, the little fairy turned towards her with a silent look of loathing and flew back behind the curtain into her little nook. All caught a glimpse of a richly decorated room with dainty, exquisitely- carved miniature furniture and that was it. The curtain now glowed a deep ruby light and all the Lost Boys knew better than to remark on it.

"She does that every time," Foxface explained laboriously. "I think she's just mad because she can't do very much since she's so tiny and only a few people can understand what she's saying."

"Oh, I see," Gwen muttered sympathetically. She already had trouble getting people to listen to her at her age, and yet she was currently the tallest person in the room.

"At any rate," Peter cleared his throat, "are you or aren't you going to-"

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to stay a little longer," Gwen replied. The Lost Boys tried to contain looks of euphoria and shifted in place.

"Well, you heard her boys," Peter remarked, somewhat annoyed at having been interrupted. "Go ahead."

The Lost Boys cheered loudly, then made a line and all shook Gwen's hand until she felt quite disoriented. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed two boys who were not wearing any animal skins or patchy forest animal pajamas. They introduced themselves as Michael and John, and in fact looked quite normal.

"How do you do," John nodded at Gwen politely. Michael, who appeared to be about five years old, hid behind John's legs and glared at Gwen silently.

"How do you do," she nodded back. "What do you Lost Boys do when you're not, I don't know, doing whatever else it is that you do?"

"Oh, Michael and I aren't Lost Boys, ma'am," John replied.

Gwen blinked. "Then what do you call yourselves?"

"Well, John and Michael."

"Ah." Gwen found her eyes wandering the room again as the two boys walked away.

"Dodger says that John and Michael knew Margaret, or at least one of them did," Rug Rat, who had been tagging along with her, tugged on her nightgown and whispered urgently. "But I asked them about it and they won't tell me anything."

"I see," Gwen nodded. "And where is this Margaret? I should like to meet her."

"You can't meet Margaret," Rug Rat looked distressed, "She left already!" He had spoken a little too loudly, and now the Lost Boys were staring at them. Foxface coughed and looked wearily at something far away.

"Yeah, you can't meet Margaret," Dodger piped up, "Because she was the mother before you until she grew up and now you have to replace her!"

Gwen stared at him, then opened her mouth. "What did you say-"

Peter, who had been sharpening his stone knife, suddenly looked up at them and frowned. All of the Lost Boys hushed instantly and turned instead towards Dodger and Rug Rat, staring expectantly. Both caught themselves and closed their mouths, looking down at the ground with repentance in their posture.

Peter then turned towards Gwen and spoke. "I'm afraid there aren't any other girls right now, but if you like I can take you to see the mermaids."

"Mermaids…?"

"Aye, all the mothers always want to see the mermaids," Dodger piped up. He turned towards Gwen. "Is supper going to be ready soon? I'm very hungry right now."

Before Gwen could say anything, Foxface sent him a reproachful glance and turned towards Peter. "How was the hunt, sir?"

"Oh, great fun," Peter replied. "We saw an enormous bear the size of three houses, but we had to leave because Nibbles got scared, so we set a trap for it and we'll catch him by tomorrow."

"I wasn't scared," Nibbles frowned, tugging at his bunny ears.

"That wasn't a bear, that was a badger," John remarked.

"Silence! Of course it was a bear, I've seen tons of them and I can tell when I've heard one. Why, I can tell you right now where every bear in the world is!" Peter replied. John did not appear to care and went back to talking with Michael and Nibbles.

"So, did you catch anything else?" Dodger asked hopefully.

"No. Not yet," Peter replied stiffly.

The Lost Boys began to wail and their stomachs all made frightful groaning sounds.

"Now now, I thought we all agreed to take everything like real men, otherwise you're not allowed to sleep here," Peter frowned. "We'll just make-believe that we've got a perfect full meal and that'll be just fine. Isn't that right, Dodger?"

Dodger nodded, obedient but still ravenous.

"Rug Rat? Nibbles? I see John isn't complaining, isn't he?" The boys all nodded one after another. John modestly said nothing.

"Then you should follow their example. I'll go off to hunt by myself while Wendy can prepare the supper."

"Excuse me, but my name is Gwen, and how am I supposed to-"

"Good luck, chaps!" Peter saluted the Lost Boys, who in return saluted him instantly. With that, he walked over to one of the holes in the wall and flew right up and away.

Gwen, on the other hand, was left in a room of starving and plaintive little boys who all smelled like animals.

"So, what are we going to have for supper?" Dodger asked eagerly.