I miss you, Peter

When I was little I loved the book Peter Pan by JM Barrie.

I still have it to this day, even though the cover is ripped off and it’s falling apart.

I loved that book. It was full of so much wonder. Swordfighting, flying, mermaids and much more was always happening in Never Never Land. I just loved the action and adventure, and had a crush on Peter Pan.

I imagined Peter was my best friend. I was three, and we lived in the country so I didn’t go to daycare everyday. I guess I figured Peter would be a great friend to spend time with. And then, suddenly he came to visit me at my window. He seemed so real to me that I remember it all as though he was.

One day after we had become great friends, Peter and I were playing upstairs in this giant house my parents and I lived in near Kingston, Ontario. At least, it seemed giant to me at the time, but I was very small so maybe my perception of it would be different if I were to see it today. Anyway, as I remember it, it was huge, with a long railed corridor that led to the bedrooms and an upstairs bathroom.

My dad was at work and my mom was working at the table on the main floor, so Peter and I had the upstairs to ourselves. Peter was always getting into mischief and getting me to join. His ideas were always so much fun but I knew I would get into trouble if I listened to him, and we followed through on them.

Sometimes I did it anyway.

On this particular day, in the early ‘80s, Peter suggested we draw on the walls.

It was cold outside, my mom was too busy to take us out, and Peter and I were really bored. We had been drawing on the floor in my bedroom and there were crayons and papers everywhere. We had already coloured on all of the paper, creating typical child go-to pictures, such as a landscape picture of trees, clouds, the sun, a rainbow (always a rainbow), along with grass and blue sky. Usually I would add a house with a chimney, and perhaps a dog or cat sitting outside. I loved drawing then, and I still do now, although my art repertoire has since advanced from doodled scenery to much more detailed pictures of various things, usually faces.

“Just do it”, Peter said, pointing at a green crayon.” It will look good”.

I picked up the crayon, and started to draw a tree. Peter was right, this looked great! Soon Peter and I were both creating a masterpiece on the wallpaper. It was fun to create on such a large canvas. I jumped to reach higher while Peter flew,but wouldn’t carry me up when I asked.

We must have been quiet for too long because my mom called to me from her desk downstairs.

“Alison! What are you doing?” She said in a sing-song voice which really meant she was asking if I was up to something.

“Nothing”. I said, and I immediately panicked. I looked to Peter for help, but he was gone. He probably flew out the window back to Never Never Land. He was ALWAYS doing that when we were about to get into trouble. And he never brought me with him. I had asked him before, and he always promised he would, but he never did.

My mom came upstairs and into the bedroom. She gasped and looked at me sternly. “What happened here?”

“Peter Pan did it!” I cried pitifully.

“No, You did it, Alison, and now you’re going to clean it up”.

I think she got some soap and water and tried to scrub it off the wall, I know I had to put all my crayons back in the box where they belonged and then she took them away from me for what seemed like forever, but was probably only for the day.

And I think in the days forthcoming, we just removed the wallpaper, along with Peter Pans and my masterpiece, altogether.

That’s ok, it wasn’t my best work.

I had other adventures with my best friend, Peter, but I think I eventually got sick of him bailing out when the going got tough, so I dumped his sorry keister and became best friends with Kerrie from my daycare when I started going there more.

But I never forgot about Peter. And I never stopped loving Peter Pan.