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DING DONG! Mungo opened the
door. It was Andy. He was dressed like one of the Lost Boys from the book,
Peter Pan, by Sir James M. Barrie. "Look at you," Mungo said. "You’re a
Lost Boy!"
"You’re dressed like
Captain Hook," Andy giggled. "I like your pirate costume." Mungo looked
like a real pirate, with a fake hook for his hand, a patch on his eye, a
black hat, long cape and all the other trimmings. He’d even donned a fake
mustache, just like Captain Hooks.
Andy went inside. Mungo had
covered the walls with pictures of the Peter Pan characters.
DING DONG! "Hello, wee
Fiona and Gavin. Look at the two of you. We’ve got Wendy and Smee here. I
love your costumes. You look just like Smee with your black and white
striped shirt and neckerchief, Gavin. Wendy, I mean, wee Fiona, come
inside." The two bairns went into the living room and saw Andy and all the
pictures on the walls.
DING DONG! "I wonder who’ll
be at the door this time?" Mungo asked, laughing. "Oh my, it’s Tinkerbell!
How are you doing tonight, Morag? Your costume is delightful. Did you fly
over?" he joked.
"Mr. McGee? Of course I
didn’t fly. I’m not really Tinkerbell," she giggled. She had a pale
greenish-blue outfit with pretend wings on and sparkles all over her face,
arms and hair.
"Go inside and see the
others. Wendy, Smee and a Lost Boy are already here." He shut the door and
smiled at the bairns. DING DONG! Mungo opened the door. "Peter Pan. I
wondered if you were going to show up. Come in, Gregor. Look everyone,
Peter Pan showed up." All the bairns were excited and looking at each
other’s costumes.
DING DONG! "Let’s see,
we’ve got Peter Pan, Smee, Wendy, a Lost Boy and Tinkerbell. I wonder who
wee Hamish will be dressed as." Mungo opened the door. "Ah, we’ve got
Wendy’s wee brother, John. You’re even wearing your pajamas, just like he
did in the book. Come in, wee Hamish."
Wee Hamish ran inside. "I
love your costume, Mr. McGee. You look just like Captain Hook," he said.
"Bairns, we’ve got everyone
here; well, almost everyone in the book, Peter Pan. Do you know who wrote
Peter Pan?" he asked.
"I don’t," said wee Fiona.
"I don’t either," said
Andy.
"It was a man named Sir
James Matthew Barrie. Tonight we’re going to celebrate his work, Peter
Pan. Sir James was born right here in Scotland. His father was a weaver.
He worked very hard."
"What’s a weaver?" asked
wee Hamish.
"He made cloth. He worked
with threads and a loom and made cloth so the people could have clothes to
wear," Mungo explained.
"Oh, I see," responded wee
Hamish.
"His father was gone a lot,
working very hard, so James spent most of his time with his mum. If you
read his other books, you’ll see that he quite often mentions mums in the
book. He loved his mum very much. James Barrie wasn’t a big, tall man. He
was a short man. He wasn’t like the other men. He was very small and
because of that, he spent a lot of time speaking to children, even when he
was an adult. Tonight we are going to have a feast and then talk about the
story, Peter Pan. Let’s go in and eat now," Mungo said.
The bairns found bowls
filled with caramel popcorn, thick, gooey, fudge brownies covered with
milk chocolate frosting and nuts, all sorts of sweeties and even some
crackers and cheese. "I’ll bet that the Lost Boys would have loved some of
this food," Andy said, stuffing his mouth with popcorn.
"Be careful not to get
anything sticky on your outfit, Tinkerbell," Gavin mocked.
"Oh, I’ll be careful, Smee.
Thank you," she answered. "It’s nice of you to care so much about a
fairy." She smiled at him and even winked.
Gavin shook his head. "Mr.
McGee, will you tell us a bit about Peter Pan now?"
"Gather round, bairns and
we’ll begin. There were some children, Wendy, Michael, and John. Their
last name was Darling," Mungo began.
"Darling? That’s a funny
last name. Michael Darling, John Darling," Gregor said, laughing at wee
Hamish.
"Stop that! My last name
isn’t really Darling, is it Mr. McGee?" he whined.
"Gregor, stop teasing wee
Hamish. Peter Pan visited the Darling’s house and taught Wendy, Michael
and John how to fly. They flew out of their bedroom window in the night
and went to Neverland, which is where Peter Pan lived. Peter Pan thought
it was fun to always be a boy. He didn’t want to grow up, ever."
"Sometimes I don’t want to
grow up," Andy said.
"Why not? It’s fun to be
grown up. There are a lot of things grown ups can do that bairns cant,"
Mungo explained.
"I want to grow up," said
Morag. "Then I can kiss boys."
The other bairns laughed,
all except Gavin.
"Peter Pan didn’t want to
grow up, not ever. When he took the Darling children to Neverland, they
met the mean, Captain Hook," Mungo said.
"You’re not really a
pirate, are you Mr. McGee?" asked wee Fiona.
"I’m just dressed in
costume, like you all are. When they went to Neverland, they met the Lost
Boys." Mungo pointed to Andy. "They dressed just like Andy is dressed. The
Lost Boys were mischievous chaps. They helped Peter and the gang to fight
Captain Hook."
"What about the Indians?
Weren’t there Indians in that story?" asked Morag. "And what about
Tinkerbell?"
"Tinkerbell was Peter Pan’s
best friend. She was a fairy, yes. She didn’t like Wendy. She thought
Peter Pan liked Wendy more than he liked her and she got very jealous and
did some things that weren’t so nice. Yes, there was a group of Indians.
One of them was called Tiger Lily. She was a brave Indian and she helped
them too. You can go home and ask your mums and dads to take you to the
library and check out the book Peter Pan. You can also read other books by
Sir James Barrie," Mungo said.
"What are some other books?
Have we heard of them?" asked Gavin.
"I don’t know if you’d know
any of his other books. One of them is called, Better Dead. I also wrote
poetry too. For now, I’d stick with Peter Pan. I’ll mention this though,
if you ever get to London, there is a statue of Peter Pan in Kensington
Gardens, which is a large park. You must go and see it if you ever get the
chance."
"I’ve been to London,"
boasted Gregor.
"I’ve been there too, Mr.
McGee, but I was a baby," Morag said.
"I hope you’ve learned a
little bit more about Peter Pan. Go and look at the pictures on the wall.
You’re mums and dads will be here soon to pick you up."
DING DONG! Gregor opened
the door. "Time to go now. Good-bye Captain Hook. Thank you," he called
and left. Soon the others followed. Tinkerbell was last to leave.
Ginger, who had been hiding
under the couch, came crawling out. Mungo rarely had to put her in the
bedroom. She knew to stay out of the way when the bairns came.
"There you are, Ginger,"
Mungo said. Ginger looked up at him. She wasn’t sure who he was as he was
still in his Captain Hook costume. "Sorry, girl," Mungo said, removing the
eye patch, mustache, and hat. "It’s only me," he laughed. Ginger ran to
him and they both fell on the couch. "It was a grand night again tonight,"
he told her, petting her ears. |
