She looked to their leader for approval, �Darling? How does that sound?�
Peter only nodded, looking important.
It seemed a strange and stilly game to Peter, but the truth was that Wendy really had a difficulty in remembering names, and would try to come up with a bit of information to tag onto the name. She thought for a moment and then asked the tallest of the lost boys what his favorite story was?
�Me, mum? I likes the ones about Indians. All the cuttin� and drums and stuff. Yeah. I likes those ones.� As he talked, he peeled off his shirt, which wasn�t very cleverly made out of rabbit skins. They boy was wiry and blond haired and golden from the sun. Wendy guessed him to be nine or ten.
Prickles did indeed have short, spiky hair and he was the smallest of the bunch, going no higher than Wendy�s waist. And he was sun burnt, not golden and healthy like the rest of them. She asked him what his favorite color was, and his answer quite horrified Mother Wendy.
�Red �cuz of all the pirate blood! ARRRR!!�
She sent him outside. Sticky seemed to try and leave with him, �Wait!� cried Wendy, � I haven�t asked you a question yet!�
But Sticky only stuck out his tongue and disappeared. His shirt was all that was left behind.
Phillip went next, �I am Phillip, and I don�t need a mother!� He stomped out of the room without leaving his shirt. Wendy thought him very adamant.
�Oh dear.� She sighed. Wendy grabbed the nearest shirt and set about gauging the work that needed to be done upon it. A small hole here, a rip up the seam here�and not a pocket in the lot of them. She smiled despite herself, content to be there at all.
She had hoped that Peter would stay there and that they might talk awhile together. She was very fond of talking to him. Sometimes he was even able to say something in reply. He might tell her of an adventure he had, and she in turn would tell him a story about the adventure he had just told her of, and he would laugh, delighted and pretentious. But alas, he had gone out to accompany the boys. Shirtless boys could always have many adventures�especially if they were playing with Peter. She wondered with what tales they would come back with. Would they return with war paint on their brow? Or perhaps the treasure of a pirate, or the hide of a fallen woodland creature? She wondered these things for a long while, sewing away and making repairs.
When she�d finished, it was late afternoon, and getting close to supper. Wendy sat a moment, trying to think what to do. Would it be best to begin making the meal now? Should she go find them and join in their sport? Then she giggled, �All work and no play makes Wendy a dull mother!� and she rose to find her Lost Boys.
There were many trails crisscrossing the woods of Neverland, and it was never a far walk to where one desired to go. It was once said by a very famous person that Neverland was �nicely cramped, so that one might go quickly from one adventure to another.� So it was only a short time later that she found Peter and the boys splashing about in the lagoon.
The tide was in, and it sparkled a shining blue over the fine white sand. The beach was free of the usual debris that plagued the feet of unwary children�no broken seashells or sharp rocks or bits of sea-washed glass. With the friendly green kelp and the warm rays of the sun, the beach and lagoon was perhaps the most pleasant spot in Neverland. Many a grown up would instantly become a youngster again and wildly race down the beach to partake of the sunny waters, and Wendy was no exception.
But still ever practical, as she ran to join the boys (who waved at her, beckoning her to join in their fun) she flung off the lovely dress she wore. A passing breeze, who had become quite fond of the lovely shade of green, caught it and gently placed it hanging on a nearby tree. Her hair, so carefully put up, was allowed to come loose and wave in the wind. Wendy kicked off her shoes, and her socks were thrown madly away, so that by the time she reached the waters, she wore only the cotton slip that all proper young ladies wore. In ecstasy, she leapt into the waters, getting wet up to her neck. A jump off the bottom, and she dived completely in, as she�d often seen the mermaids do, and she swam out to the boys, who seemed to be having a bit of fun with a sea turtle.
�Hullo, Wendy,� said Prickles, �We�ve been waiting for you!�
She smiled prettily, and might have blushed if any boy there had been old enough to noticed.
�We�ve a new game to play! But first, we�ve to go out to Marooner�s Rock!�
