Peter Pan and Me

PETER PAN AND ME 35: GooD and dEVIL

"Nonsense! I don't fail!" Peter said.

"But he's flying! On wings!" I directed these as accusations at Peter,
like a child myself, "Or didn't you want him to become human fully?"

"I did," Peter said, not quite believing it himself.

"You wanted him to stay that way?"

"Wellllll. He WAS the best enemy I ever faced. I mean he slew me
and...and...it'll be awfully boring around here if he's human and
besides, what do I do with a human teenager with hair on his body and who
has to shave and..."

"Oh Peter!" I was disappointed in him and then I grew angry, "You little
selfish bastard!"

"Hey! I don't know what that means but I think it's not nice! Take it
back."

"I won't!"

"Will!"

"Won't!"

"Will!"

"Will."

"What?"

"Take it back. I will."

"You will?"

"Yeah but not right now!"

"Right now!"

"We have to go after him!"

"Right now!"

"Okay, I take it back. You're not a bastard. But you are selfish!"

"Of course!" Peter said, not really understanding. "Now, where would he
be going? I mean I can fly faster than he but he's got a big head start."

"Hmmmm, where would he....?" I pondered on everything Seth ever said.

"Well come on, before I have to sniff him out like an...like an animal,"
Peter said, "By the way, where are all the...?"

"We'll bring them back later. I had to send them away and, can't you keep
quiet for two seconds?"

"Huh?"

"I know," I hit upon it, "And you gave me the clue!" I planted a kiss
on Peter's cheek, I loved the lips but sometimes his cheeks were so
inviting. "When we talked about leaving, just after we sent the animals
off on Noah's Ark 2, Seth...Seth wanted to go to Venice."

"Venice? California? Once I was there and there was this vampire version
of me and I drove a ...."

"Peter! Stop! We have to go--Venice, Italy, do you know the way?"

"Sure," Peter said. "I know all of Earth. Don't like it much though."

I pulled his arm, "Let's go at once!"

"The boys? I've haven't seen them much...except to kick their butts."

"They will be okay, get fairy boy to...oh he's on Noah's Ark 2 I think."

"Noah's Ark?"

"We'll tell them," I ran through the snow.

Peter flew, "Why running? Fly?"

"I need some fairy dust, Peter and my thoughts..."

Peter took his hand out and piled some dust on me, without warning it
draped over my eyes. I laughed as the effect made my eyesight 100 times
better. I saw the entire wintery love of Neverland around me and the air
felt cool and refreshing. Peter laughed and took my hand and hand in hand
we flew to the underground home.

There, boys were using hoses and tubing to get some of the water out of
the underground home. The snow had flown down the House and then in the
heat melted somewhat. They all yelled, "Peter!" And then to cheer me
on, "Chase!" This made us both feel good.

Landen hugged Peter, who balked. "Peter, you're alive!"

"Of course!" Peter kissed his head and pulled him off him, "But now a
new adventure calls!"

The boys all rallied round him to ask him to go too but he put them off
and shut his eyes. "Later. This is for Chase and I."

They looked at me for support, for most of them wanted to come badly. I
shook my head affirming Peter's position. "But Peter we are very...proud
of them for holding Seth off..."

"Yes we are, until I came and did the rest!" Peter bragged.

I sighed, "Peter, we are very proud of THEM."

"Yes and of myself," Peter put his hands on his hips. In turn, all the
boys kissed Peter somewhere on his body, his stomach, his arms, legs, and
even THERE. You know. And on his butt. Did they know no shame? Or was it
innocence of love? I think it the later or perhaps both go hand in hand.
Which is how Peter and I flew out of the hole.

"But Peter," I said as he flew outside, hand in hand, "I can only fly a
certain distance without getting tired. Maybe you should go alone..."

"I thought of that. But alone is not as good as not alone. With you, I'm
not alone. Even dead, I felt you a part of me."

"And you, I felt as a part of me," I smiled as we flew over the island,
which was now a pleasant snow covered crisp mound, the fires a thing of
the past and only a few burned ice covered trees to tell that tale.
Peter looked at me so lovingly that I melted like the ice Seth heated
up. Then the name Seth brought me to my senses. "I'll need your help to
fly and sleep..."

"Ahh, of course," he nodded that away, "No problem, my love."

"It's amazing how you embrace love now."

"It's cause of you, baby."

"Baby?"

"You're younger than I and I'm very young!"

"So you keep saying," I said melancholy all of a sudden. I kept
hoping Peter might want to get a bit older. He was looking so 15 years
old now. I looked below and saw the island disappear beneath us as a mist
enveloped it and it shrank in size as we flew on and on. Presently, the
ocean was below us. It was night and calm. A whale was below, swimming. A
dolphin jumped.

"You like dolphins."

"Oh yes."

"I do too. I can talk to em."

"Oh, Peter, you are so magnificent."

"I am, I am."

I laughed.

"But so are you."

I found it hard to swallow. I had a lump in my throat. Peter Pan telling
me something good about myself and not about himself. He rarely did that
to anyone. Still, I had to balance that with the fact that he had called
me really bad names. Even under the influence of the devil and Seth, some
part deep down inside Peter might feel that. Was he just playing a game
with me? A game that he merely said he loved me? Was it a power thing?
Where he could be in control of me? I started to wane and almost fell
from the sky.

"Are you that tired already?" Peter was genuinely surprised and for
once his question didn't have a taint of mockery at my graceful-less and
his gracefulness. He was worried.

"Peter, I guess so..."

"Okay, then do this." He had Excaliber on his back in a holster I
didn't see him grab when we were in the underground home.

My closing eyes felt a heaviness of sleep and peace.

Soon, we were flying in the morning. I had my head on a nice soft pillow.
Peter's butt cheeks. My ear was in his crack. It was amazing that his ass
felt this nice since it was so tight and strong but for me, it was like a
dreamy pillow of feathers. I clung to the Excaliber with both hands as I
put my feet up, bending my legs and knees up. My legs were on his soft
but muscled back and felt warm from his touch. He sailed on, arms out
like a plane now and a big smile on his face. His eyes were wide with
childlike fun. I never rested so comfortably. I heard a plane or two in
the distance but was not worried. Peter would protect me. It was like
being in a womb again. Warm, safe, comfortable. My dreams were so happy
now. This made Peter energized and he flew higher and higher.

Which way we flew I had no idea. Neverland must have bee in the Pacific
but Italy was...where? I think we took the long way around. Who was I to
second guess Peter. I think he was enjoying being back on Earth and
Neverland and taking his time to see the sights or just to enjoy his
flight. I could feel his chest below me breathing in and out the fresh
air and the depths of his joy of life filled him and escalated to me and
my dream state. I had the most marvelous dreams. Peace. World peace. Long
life for all, eternal life in heaven for almost all. Motherly love. Pets
alive. Even the Indian Seth killed was alive in my dream and he told me
he was sorry he was going to kill me and Jennie.

When I woke up I saw his very big calf muscles and licked them. I rubbed
his feet. I massaged them. "How you doing?"

"Better that you're up."

"Peter you say the nicest things to me. I really don't think I..."

"We're there. Land ho!!!!! Or mostly land ho! Some water ho too! Venice
is a strange place on the sea, part water, part land!"

"Can you smell out Seth?"

Peter rolled his eyes, "Yes, of course!"

I turned around on Peter's back and rested my head on the back of his
head. I peered over and saw a strange island and a parade of gondolas.
"Peter, is that...is that?"

"A funeral gondola cade, yes. Someone's died."

"He's at the cemetery in Venice, Italy?"

"Yes....but he's in hiding."

"We'll have to wait until night then."

Peter's face was shocked and angry for a second, "Wait? Waiting!!! I'm
no good at that!"

"Well, we'll just have to find something to do while we wait...." I
smiled. So did Peter.


From the internet:

Death may be permanent, but San Michele is so crowded that graves are on
short-term lease.

The bodies in each row of graves are allowed to decompose for twelve
years, at which point they're dug up. Occupants whose families can pay
for reinterment are transferred to small metal boxes for permanent
storage in smaller quarters. The less well-heeled get tossed into a
nearby boneyard.
In the old days, bones were dumped on the ossuary island of Sant'Ariano,
which Michael Dibdin describes in his novel Dead Lagoon:

"...The surface inside was much higher, almost level with the top of the
wall. Giacomo stepped down and started to push his way through the
undergrowth, following a series of almost imperceptible markers: the torn
ligaments of a branch dangling from a bush, a patch of flattened grass,
the sucker of a bramble bush, thick as a squid's tentacle, lopped off
clean by a fisherman's gutting-knife. The ground crunched and slithered
underfoot, as though he were walking on layers of broken crockery.

In The World of Venice, Jan Morris compares the cemetery island to a ship
where "the director stands as proudly in his great graveyard as any
masterful cruiser captain, god-like on his bridge."

"The church at the corner of the island is beautifully cool, austere and
pallid, and is tended by soft-footed Franciscans ... The cemetery itself
is wide and calm, a series of huge gardens, studded with cypress trees
and awful monuments.
"Not long ago it consisted of two separate islands, San Michele and San
Cristoforo, but now they have been artificially joined, and the whole
area is cluttered with hundreds of thousands of tombs--some lavishly
monumental, with domes and sculputures and wrought-iron gates, some
stacked in high modern terraces, some stacked in high modern terraces,
like filing systems."

The word "cluttered" seems a bit unfair. The Catholic areas of San
Michele are laid out with far greater precision and formality than you'd
find in the typical American or British cemetery. Walls separate the
various areas, and the graves lie in neat (if tightly packed) rows that
are separated by walking paths for the convenience of mourners and
visitors. Here and there, the path leads to a border of contiguous
marble-topped crypts that must be traversed to leave the garden. ("Is it
okay to walk on the tombs, honey?" "I dunno. But we're wearing our
rubber-soled shoes, so maybe the caretaker won't notice.")

"A sudden scuttling noise brought him to a halt, wielding his torch-beam
like a staff. The island was infested with snakes, and Giacomo tried with
limited success to convince himself that this was the only feature of the
place that scared him."
Some tombstones are covered in moss; a few lean at precipitous angles;
several have keeled over in a parody of those whose deaths they
commemorate. The occasional English epitaph reminds visitors of a time
when the British upper classes regarded Venice as a home away from home.
The most famous inscription honors a Staffordshire man who was said to
have "Left us in peace, Febry 2, 1910."

We hid in an crypt, partly underground tomb, Peter quietly and secretly
managed to open. I marveled as his shoulder and back muscles flexed as
he just pried it open and with a wave of his hand invited me to go in
first. I did.

Then he said, "Girls first," And giggled. I stamped my foot.

"And grown women second," I said. Peter's face grew frustrated and he
came in, shut the door, and punched me playfully in my stomach.

"Shh! Sheesh! Shh! We have to be quiet in here. What if they are burying
that guy in here?"

"Then the adults will see you but not me!" Peter laughed.

But as we waited the day out inside the tomb of stone and marble, Peter's
face grew sad, "I don't like cemeteries, Chase."

"Well they are peaceful in the day but...it reminds us of our
mortality....only....only...we aren't that mortal, are we?"

"I'm not and thanks to me, you're not," he put a hand through my hair
and to the back of my neck.

"Peter, have you ever thought about that? I mean sometimes don't you want
to move on?"

"Yes, since my death I have...but I don't want to move on, not for a long
time..."

"What about?"

"Yes?"

"What about getting a bit older?"

"Offensive!"

"Sorry, I'll drop the subject."

"Another time?"

"Yes," I said, downcast eyes.

Peter lifted my chin and hugged me, his arms strong around my back. He
moved in and kissed my nipples, both. They got very hard. He rubbed his
pelvis against me. "Is this adult enough for you? I've seen them do this
through the windows. I did not have the stomach to see more but..."

"Yes, Peter?" I huffed into his neck.

"I think I like it."

"Me too. Do some more..."

He did.

After, we grew tired and fell asleep. To my horror the doors creaked open
and a night watchman came inside. I scuttled around the main tomb to hide
from him and a flashlight gleamed around at me but I managed to avoid the
old man's eyes. Peter, of course, laughed, in full view of me and
ascended to the roof of the crypt. The man, you see, could not see Peter.
Peter landed, bare feet on the stone tomb. The man shined his light right
at Peter but the light went through him. Peter waved his hands in front
of the man in an exaggerated manner. The man, clearly spooked, thought he
heard something when Peter laughed. Peter flipped in the air and landed
back on the tomb. Finally, the man left. I sighed. An adult. I hadn't
seen one since I was thrust back in time to Hook's loss of his hand and
then not long after that time zone visit when I was turned back myself.
It's been a long time since I was in the real world and it felt...odd.
Like either it or I or both were out of whack with each other.

We waited a while longer and closer to a really late time. Peter cracked
open the doors and with exaggerated sounds of grunting to prove he was
doing so with great effort. I rolled my eyes and followed him outside. He
sighed but more to get fresh air in and out of his smooth boyish chest. I
stepped out and as Peter felt invigorated, I felt intimidated. The
graveyard was more scary than I recalled it when we arrived. It was night
for one thing. It was foggy for another. The faint wisps of morning
called upon the horizon but that was not for another hour or two. As we
walked, I squinted to see things ahead of us and forget about even
thinking of looking to my side. I thought for sure I was about to walk
into something so I stayed with my hand Peter's VERY NICE upper back, for
he was still shirtless you see. I began to make out large giant statues
above the gravestones. I heard crunches beneath our feet and didn't want
to imagine what made those. Peter relished it all and it was as if he
could see in the dark. Peter lead me to a larger area where the stones
faced a new angle. All around were giant statues of angels and military
men and Saints. Peter stopped and moved to one side, averting my hand. My
eyes, by this time, adjusted somewhat better. "Why are we stopping?"

Peter had that look. You know the one. He tilted his head down a bit, his
eyebrows furrowed, got low and then went real high up and he had that
huge smile across his entire face. "He's here."

I whirled around and looked every which way. My back was to a military
statue. "What? Seth's right here? I don't see him. Where?"

Peter's face took on an almost demonic look, but it was just a
mischievous one. "Right behind you..."

I turned again and saw the giant military statue come to life in the
smoking mist overhead. I went wide eyed and pale. But the Seth that
emerged and literally shrank down to normal size wasn't the demon Seth.
He was totally human it seemed. Except of course for those damn wings.
Seth began to speak and as he did, what was unsettling to me, was not his
quiet demeanor or soft tones, but the fact that Peter was giving him lots
of air time to speak. It was as if Peter were in some kind of rapport
with Seth or in sync with him. This gave me chills and doubts. Had I
walked into a trap? Was Peter still possessed? No. No way, not after what
we did in the tomb. Creepy place but whatever.

Seth walked around us and a new grave. "My mother was a very good
person. She fled the cult that was after me. When they failed to find me,
my father, the devil as you now know, destroyed them. My mother went
slowly insane but was taken from me by her own family, who left me to die
in an abandoned building. I was young but not young enough to just lay
there and die. I turned 12 that year and I found my own powers. They
helped me survive. I was spirited off by mother's brother, my uncle, to
Venice, for he found me and in Venice I stayed, even though my uncle sold
his soul to my father. I managed to avoid him for a long time, even
setting up my own family, controlling two of the lesser smart Italians in
the villages. Then I went to school and I met....her."

Here, he stopped for effect and paused at her gravesite. He stopped his
slow walk. Peter watched him like a hawk. I watched Peter and Seth at
the same time. Not an easy task in this chilly, misty glare of a place.
The stillness of the fog and the quietness of the surrounding insects and
animals just added to my goosebumps.

Seth went on, "Her name was Juana and she was the sun in my nightmare.
The one who turned my nightmares into dreams of hope and caring. And she
loved me, for who I was. Who I still am. Faults and all. She wasn't about
to leave me no matter what I did to her."

I spoke up and they both stared at me as if for speaking I was doing
something criminal, "What did you do to her?"

"I...I ...I thought that by killing Peter Pan....sorry about that..."

Peter shrugged, "It was an awfully big adventure, Seth, thanks for that!"

"I thought if I got rid of Peter, I would find out which of you, Chase
or Jennie or one of the other Lost Boys could banish the evil part of me.
Could get rid of the demonic genes in my make up. I needed love. I didn't
know that at the time but Juana made me human. More human. But the evil
side was still there and my father wanted a sacrifice."

"You....you didn't?" Me again.

"It happened in the boarding school where we met. Two years after we met.
I...I was in the locker room with her one night, late. For I went
everywhere and anywhere. Juana knew something of my true nature but she
didn't respond by running away or going mad. She followed me and told me
she would stay with me no matter what. Our love would never be over she
said. She was faithful. She knew she would be the one to love me forever
and forever." Seth began to break down. His voice stuck in his throat
and I wanted to move to him but couldn't.

Peter went over to him and put a hand on Seth's bare back. "It's okay."

Seth looked up, a sniveling mess. "No, it's not. I raped her."

"You what? What?" I was stunned and angry all at once. "You did what?
Seth...."

"I know. My evil side just took over. Daddy called. I couldn't help
myself. Passion was equated with evil....I raped her and even then she
told me she didn't mind. She loved me and even though she wanted to wait
to have sex, I raped her. She wasn't mean about it but then there was
this knife that just, well, appeared and I..."

I covered my mouth with both hands.

"I just killed her. I stabbed her. Once but it was enough. And deep."

Peter cocked his head. He couldn't imagine...no, I couldn't imagine him
ever stabbing a female human who was a teen or a child, an Indian savage
warrior, maybe but even then he never hurt Tiger Lily...a female pirate
maybe? A warrior woman like Xena or Bodicca, maybe. But Peter looked so
betrayed by this. He was curious and amazed and shocked a bit and I could
see his face and his eyes, his mind darting to try to get his brain
around this fact, that Seth just brutally stabbed the woman that he loved
so much, loved deeply, stabbed deeply. It was a horror to Peter and his
lip curled. For once, he cried for someone else. He cried for Seth and
Juana. Tears strolled down his face and he got on his butt and put his
head between his legs and cried. Loud sobs.

I shsssed him, "Peter, Peter, be quiet, you'll reveal us!"

I covered my mouth again to make myself quiet. I moved to Seth now and
with both hands wiped away tears from both his cheeks where they dripped
and up to his eyes I rubbed them away. "But if you killed innocents..."

"Just her..."

"How can we ever fully turn you human?"

"By doing this...." Seth made a shovel come to his hand from a nearby
tree.

Peter sprang up and pulled it from his hand, "Let me. I'm good at this!"

I nodded, "He is."

Seth looked and nodded okay to us. Peter began to dig. I wanted to help.
"You think one of us or all of us can raise her from...." I puffed,
"Seth, how long...." I paused. "How long ago was she....did you...how
long?"

"I don't know. It was a few months ago. Six?"

I braced myself for what Juana would look like when Peter finally heaved
up the casket with Seth, Peter's hole well dug. It was going to be
gruesome and difficult to look at. Without waiting for either one of
them, I pried open the lid and threw it back. The sooner I got this over
with the better. The quicker I looked, the faster I would...be able to
stand the look of...

...a beautiful blond girl perfectly preserved. Smooth skin. Pink dress
and shoes. Magnificent looks. Rosy cheeks. "It...it looks like she's just
sleeping." I braved to move to touch her cheeks.

Seth pulled my forearm and thus my whole arm back. He touched her.
"It...it's a miracle."

"I've heard of things like this. Some of the Saints were perfectly
preserved even thousands of years after they died. And there was an
aroma...a smell..." I said for Peter's benefit, for I didn't think he
would know what the word aroma meant... "Of roses or lilacs or... some
scientists try to explain it away as apricots in the area, the juices
from the trees get into the ground and thus the water makes them get into
the coffins and...."

Peter smiled, "If you notice, there are no apricot trees here."

"I know." I turned to Seth, "Seth, what makes you think any of us can
raise...."

Peter raised his sword, Excaliber. Where did he call it from? I thought
he left it in the tomb we were in. He raised it and touched Seth's
shoulder, "I banish all evil from thy very make up!"

Seth began to pray with hands folded and got down onto his knees. I
watched, confused. "Can't we talk about this some...."

Peter grabbed my hand roughly and put it against his NICE, VERY NICE,
chest. "The time for talk is well and truly over! The time is to act!"

I put the hand he had on his chest over his heart and then I leaned into
his face. He whispered to me. I understood. I put my other hand on the
girl's heart and Excaliber began to glow. My hands felt warm. Then hot.
Electric. Shooting energy flowed from me into the girl. Peter. Seth. Me.
Excaliber. We were all reviving the girl. It was impossible but...I had
healed before via Peter sometimes and Peter's heart felt for Juana and
Seth...and Seth's only hope was this. His wings vanished slowly and
seemed to melt away. A human glow began to fill his face. His eyes shut,
slowly opened but he continued praying. He looked so human. The power
intensified. My hands shook on chests. Seth's hair went wild in the wind
of the power. Peter's eyes were popping. His chest heaving. Excaliber
burned almost with the sun's power. Our bodies vibrated and shook and
this spread out to the girl. Her body jumped but I thought at first it
was just us making her jump with residual energy. I shut my eyes and
thought about how her innocence was so right, so just, so loving. Her
loyalty under such evil circumstances was so right. So forgiving, so
kind, so much charity. As Seth shut his eyes again, Juana's eyes opened.
Seth jumped up, "She...she's alive! Oh Peter, she's alive!"

Peter withdrew the sword and looked in as Juana sat up, helped by Seth.
"So she is! Great day! How ripping!"

"You did it! You both did it!" Seth turned to Peter but hugged Juana.

"Hear that Chase, we did it! She is alive!" Peter shook my back but I
fell over to the side.

Yes, she was alive. But I was not.


DON'T WORRY, TO BE CONTINUED...


The play Peter Pan and its characters are trademarks of and copyrightJ.M.
Barrie.