Peter Pan

Chapter One: Peter Breaks Through

All children grow up.
All except one.

Wendy found this out one day.
She was two years old.
She picked a flower.
She ran to show her mother.

Wendy looked so sweet.
Mrs. Darling said, "Oh! Stay this way forever!"

That is all they said.
But Wendy knew the truth now.
She would grow up one day.
You always know, after you turn two.
Two is when growing up begins.

The Darling family lived at Number 14.
Mrs. Darling was the first Darling.
She was a lovely mother.
She had a kind, funny smile.
One little kiss lived in the corner of her mouth.
No one could ever get that kiss.
Not even Wendy.

Mr. Darling wanted to marry her.
Many men wanted to marry her too.
But Mr. Darling took a cab.
He got there first.
So he won her heart.

He got almost all of her.
But not that one kiss.
He tried for a while.
Then he stopped trying.

Mr. Darling liked to say he was smart.
He talked about "stocks" and "shares."
That means buying and selling for money.
No one really understood him.
But he sounded very smart.
So people believed him.

Mrs. Darling kept track of the money.
At first, she wrote down every penny.
Later, she got a little messy.
She drew pictures of babies instead.
Those babies were the children she wished for.

First came Wendy.
Then came John.
Then came Michael.

When Wendy was born, money was tight.
Mr. Darling worried about the cost.
He sat with paper and pencil.
He added up numbers again and again.

"Don't interrupt me," he told his wife.

He counted coffee money.
He counted doctor money.
He counted mumps and measles money.
The numbers changed every time.

At last, he said yes.
They would keep Wendy.

The same worry happened for John.
And again for Michael.
But they kept all three children.

Soon, all three children went to school.
Their nurse walked them there.

Mrs. Darling liked things neat and proper.
Mr. Darling liked to be just like his neighbors.
So they got a nurse, like other families.

Their nurse was not a person.
She was a dog!
A Newfoundland dog named Nana.

Nana loved children very much.
She used to watch babies in the park.
The Darlings met her there.
Then they hired her as their nurse.

Nana was wonderful at her job.
She gave baths.
She woke up for every cry in the night.
She knew when a cough was serious.
She carried John's sweater to school.
She carried an umbrella for rainy days.

Other nurses were people, not dogs.
They looked down on Nana.
But Nana did not care.
She thought their talk was silly.

Mr. Darling worried what people would think.
He had an important job in the city.

He also worried that Nana did not like him.
"She likes you very much," Mrs. Darling always said.

The family loved to dance together.
Mrs. Darling danced best of all.
She spun so fast, you could only see her smile.

They were a happy family.
Then Peter Pan came into their lives.

Every night, mothers do something special.
After children fall asleep, mothers tidy their minds.
They put good thoughts on top.
They tuck bad thoughts away at the bottom.

A child's mind is like a magic map.
It has strange lands and secret places.
Every child's map is a little different.

John's mind had a lake with pink birds.
Michael's mind had a bird as big as a lake!
Wendy's mind had a house made of leaves.

These magic lands are called "Neverlands."
Every child has their own Neverland.

One night, Mrs. Darling was tidying minds.
She found something strange.
A name kept appearing.

The name was Peter.

She did not know anyone named Peter.
But the name was in John's mind.
It was in Michael's mind too.
And it was written all over Wendy's mind.

The letters looked bold and proud.
Mrs. Darling wondered who Peter could be.